Thursday, February 28, 2013

I Feel So Lost

I Feel So Lost
by Jennifer Daniel

I feel so lost dear Lord
Upon this planet earth
So small-a tiny entity
What can my life be worth?

How can Thy love be reaching me
I'm lost within the crowd
My plaintive cry for Thee to hear
Expires midst voices loud

What am I doing here dear Lord?
What worth my being here?
Life is so meaningless and void
None see each falling tear

My child, 'creation of My hands'
My precious, precious one
Look up to see my nail scarred hands
Which bid you nearer come

I died to save your sinful soul
I rose to give you power
I live to lead you step by step
Each God-appointed hour

You're here upon the planet earth
To do my Sovereign will
Complete my tasks-do what I ask
Your calling, child, fulfil



Since I live out 'in-the-sticks'... friends, like you are a long ways away!!
Sooo, I'd love you to follow me on: 

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:


~Judith~


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

A Different Path & WholeHearted Home Wednesday LINKUP

A Different Path

My child it is a different path
I've planned for you below
Lift up the roots you've planted, dear
I would not have them grow

I want you, dearest child of Mine
To let Me lead the way
Submit and let Me be the one
Who governs every day

Within the home or far abroad
I've wisdom to direct
And when you are within My plan
Dear child, I will protect



Many of you ladies are like me and you are hustling and bustling about each day. Slow down. Take time to be thankful for all that God has done for you. It doesn't take long to slip away from the mindset of gratitude!!

Since you have taken my advice to slow down, why not stop long enough to read the two posts I put up this week?? They are from my heart to yours. 

I have been humbled at how many ladies have 'followed' me this week!! Stop over at my Facebook page and see what is going on. Sometimes I post something extra!!

Just in case you think that I haven't included your blog button, check out  my Bloggie Love page at the top. It was on the sidebar but that proved difficult as my blog keeps growing. I update it frequently.

I have been Pinning Pinteresting posts lately so check out my boards!!

So far, the Lord has made it possible for me read all your posts each week. They are such a blessing. I don't end up with time to be polite and notify you when you are featured. You'll just have to stop by!!




One day I was eating Dove chocolates and reading the 'sayings' inside the wrappers. I came up with several writing ideas (and extra pounds) from those candies. Click the picture and you will enter my woods!!





Sometimes life is challenging, just do the next thing and find yourself encouraged from this post!!

Just Click the Pic!!




Doesn't that Title just grab you?!

This post received the most reads this week!!

Click the Pic!!




Mary at Woman to Woman shared:

This post is a must read!!




Jacqueline over a Deep Roots at Home shared:

Be My Valentine~All Year Long With Rose Petals & Lavender

Jacqueline shared several interesting posts.
 This is one of them. It is such a blessing to have her sharing here at  WholeHearted Home. I think she is new here, but she is not new to me but one of my favorite blogs!!




~Judith~




Linkup #30



Time has flown by and it's time to share again!!

I love reading the posts you link, so hurry, hurry, hurry and linkup your sweet posts along these lines:

Mothering
Marriage is for Keeps
Homemaking
Homeschooling
From Your Kitchen
Organizing your Home
Gardening
Mom's Sharing Jesus
And any way you have
WholeHeartedly served Christ in your Home!!
  1. Keep each post honoring to God.
  2. Remember the purpose is for community; and women love conversation!! So, please visit at least one blogger who posted on my Linky Party :-)
  3. I would be so thrilled if you linked back to WholeHearted Home. 
  4. This Linky Party is open until Saturdays at 11:59pm
  5. Thank you from the bottom of my heart as each of your posts are always such a blessing to me and other ladies. Happy linking! 
Thanks for dropping by!!!
Comments make my day!!

Hopefully this button will work??










Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Overwhelmed? Do the Next Thing!


Motherhood can seem like the most daunting of jobs to do and often the most unappreciated things we will give of our time and energy. If you are a mother, I know you will know what I mean.





I know you are a wonderful mother. You love your children, you are up in the night with them, you keep your home fairly neat, you don't neglect your husband (too much), and over all you are just thrilled to be in this season of your life with little ones in tow all day, through the night, and when you're out and about.

But there are times that you wake up in the morning with that overwhelming feeling of being so totally exhausted from the baby who kept you up during the night. You wonder, like I once did, how you will drive that half hour to town this afternoon without falling asleep at the wheel, you wonder how you will (patiently) homeschool yet another day, and you wonder how you will ever get even a few moments of quiet for just yourself. You feel guilty.

Recently, I was feeling (those crazy unreliable feelings) the burdens in my life and that old familiar feeling of being overwhelmed came flooding back. 

You might have several things going on in your life. We mommas might have an emotional meltdown when the burdens pile until there are about five things going wrong (or seemingly wrong) and we collapse under the  pile up!!

We forget to pray.

We just collapse under the avalanche!!

When I was feeling terribly distressed, I found a printed post from Elizabeth Elliot that poured encouragement into my heart, though she has passed away. I could hear her voice speaking words of wisdom into my life once again. Our words can speak life even after we are gone from this earth...or speak death into another soul.

She shared a poem from an old Saxon legend which is carved into a stone in England. 

Do it immediately,
Do it with prayer,
Do it reliantly,
Casting all care.
Do it with reverence,
Tracing His hand who placed it,
Before thee with earnest command.
Stayed on omnipotence,
Safe 'neath His wing,
Leave all resultings,
Do the next thing!!

When life just doesn't make sense, when the baby and toddler are both cranky, or when you don't know why but you know you are depressed...just do the next thing.

Elizabeth Elliot has some wonderful books and has had sound encouragement over the years. 

Just do the next thing!!


I'd LOVE you to leave a comment!!

Since I live out 'in-the-sticks'... friends, like you are a long ways away!!
Sooo, I'd love you to follow me on: 

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:


~Judith~

Monday, February 25, 2013

Enjoy the Childhood Joys of Winter



Would you rather it was spring?? Have you ever noticed that in the summer we complain over the sweltering heat and wish for cooler weather and winter; while in the winter we look forward to the warmth of summer??




The picnics and hikes along mosquito infested swamps looking for frogs and crayfish will come but for now; are you enjoying the childhood joys of winter??





When my children were young, I used to LOVE to get out there in the snow with them and glide down the hill on a sled. I was 8 months pregnant one year and all dressed up in a purple snowsuit shoveling snow and playing with my children with three feet of snow in the yard. Some of my children were small enough that I needed to watch out for them so they wouldn't get lost under the snow.

My children loved the snow (unless we were cleaning the rabbit barn and chicken coop, LOL) and they would tirelessly play until their socks were a soggy wetness inside their boots and we would have to change socks, gloves, hats, and boots if there were extras that year for something dry. They didn't like coming inside!!

Do you get outside with your children?? Do you enjoy it?? Or do you send them out and check out your favorite blog or write pithy posts??

Pictures stay in your memory (and I hear memories improve with the aging process, LOL) so you can write later what you don't have time for today!!

If you busy yourself with something other than your children in these happy golden years (Ooops, is that from "Little House?") you might someday look back with regret. 

Or, you might look a little dorky like I did last week when it snowed!!

I was outside trying to make a snowman!! I would have except that the snow was too fluffy and wouldn't pack. We needed a snowman and my children are grown. It is funny how they aren't interested in playing outside in the wonderful whiteness that God provides in winter, but in a few years when they have children they are most likely to be back outside again.

How about you??

Are you enjoying the childhood joys of winter??

Not only have I been enjoying the childhood joys of winter; I have been enjoying eating Dove chocolates and reading the 'saying' inside the wrappers. They make GREAT post titles, LOL!! Where else did you think I was inspired to write this post?!




Sooo, I'd love you to follow me on: 

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:


~Judith~


Friday, February 22, 2013

Time for Chocolate Relaxation


What do you do when you run out of pithy post titles??




Why you de-stress with chocolate, of course!! Dove chocolates, to be sure!!

If you have ever had one of those small dove chocolates, you would have noticed the quirky sayings inside of the wrapping. Hey!! Where else do I get ideas for posts?? You tell me?!

It has been a day, you tried cleaning up the kitchen in order to start the day. You were too tired last night to scrub and shine that sink and finish the dishes that appeared out-of-nowhere before going to bed. The baby wanted to nurse at 5am after keeping you up until two!! The toddler is roaring that big truck up and down the hall at 6am now that you settled your baby back down. 

Is there any rest for the weary??

So, you give up on sleep, try to read some verses from the Bible. Your Luke study will work, it is short and about 'Living Like Jesus', so that should help with the day you are beginning. 

But hey, your five year old is hungry and asking what is for breakfast!! So, you, being the wonderful mom that you are, whipped some pancakes up by 7am...but still in your jammies, you begin to wonder if life will ever be normal again??

Exercise?? Next to impossible...so if you are like me, you figure exercise is good for the kids too...and you turn the DVD on and have them do the moves with you!! The babies crawl around your legs while the older children complain and you feel like your day is spiraling down (real-to-life examples with 7 kiddos.)

So, still in your jammies (sorry Flylady) you clean up the kitchen (again) and start a load of laundry (or two) and keep chaos away from the laundry room but certainly not from your life as the baby is screaming and wanting to nurse again, the toddler is wanting (lacking?) attention and the other children are impatient to start school (more truthfully, they have escaped and are making tents out of blankets in the living room) and you are quickly loosing it!!

So, what's a mother to do??

I'll tell you what!! I am here to encourage you!! 

First, you just need a little mom time. Maybe just five minutes. If you don't have any chocolate in the house, then what you need to do is find where you stashed those chocolate chips and stealthily sneak some (because the sugar in the chocolate will make those kiddos hyperactive a.k.a. ADHD.) 

Now, sit down (in the bathroom if you have to) for about five minutes (otherwise known as, "Take Five") and grab your copy of Ann Voskamp's book, "One Thousand Gifts Devotional" and read one chapter and write a gift, something you are thankful for in the back. Why this book instead of her other one?? Because THAT one is good for when the children are sleeping. This one is good for when you need to "Take Five." The chapters are short and easy to read on the go with just a moment or two to spare between math questions or diaper changes.

You will feel better (at least until the sugar let down in the chocolate...easily solved...just have some more, LOL) and more encouraged in your thankfulness and ready to go back with your children. Don't go back, though, until you pray for a minute or two of those five minutes. It will do wonders!!

Where was that older woman when I was taking those 'chocolate fives' and forgetting to pray when my children were little?! Take my lessons learned and run with them. Prayer and chocolate works!!

I am in a writing mode today and eating chocolate to find those quirky sayings!! I used to eat chocolate when stressed. Now I am blessed (and still eating chocolate!!)


I'd LOVE you to leave a comment!!

Since I live out 'in-the-sticks'... friends, like you are a long ways away!!
Sooo, I'd love you to follow me on: 

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:



~Judith~



Tuesday, February 19, 2013

"Dog Days" of Summer! WHHW LINKUP #29


'Dog Days' of Summer

I'm looking forward to the 'dog days' of summer, aren't you?? This is Malka and she is camera shy and feeling dejected. She runs away whenever she sees me with my camera but today she couldn't escape so easily. She kept going behind the rocking chairs on my front porch and putting her head behind them. Yes, that is snow on her head and NO she does NOT come inside!! And NO, I am not particularly a 'dog person' of big huge dogs. I did think you would like a glimpse into my life? I am looking forward to feeling warm and even hot instead of shivering!!





I am looking forward to summer but I am looking forward to the return of Jesus even more!!


"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord."
~1 Thessalonians 4:17~



WholeHearted Faves

Each week I read down through each and every post and thoroughly enjoy my visit on each of your blogs. What a blessing!!
When I choose features, it is sooo hard because there are often so many of my dear blogging friends who I'd like to feature!! It is sure hard to choose!!
I have started to Pin some of my favorite posts on Pinterest
so check out my boards!! 


Gail over at Bible Love Notes has shared
her new Bible study:


Naomi over at Titus 2 Homemaker shared her sweet courtship story:
How We Met





I'd LOVE you to leave a comment!!

Since I live out 'in-the-sticks'... friends, like you are a long ways away!!
Sooo, I'd love you to follow me on: 


~Judith~


WholeHearted Home Wednesday

Linkup #29



Time has flown by and it's time to share again!!

I love reading the posts you link, so hurry, hurry, hurry and linkup.


Please keep your posts family-friendly on 
topics such as the suggestions below. 
(We reserve the right to delete posts that are not appropriate 
for WholeHearted Home's vision)

Please be courteous and link back to WholeHearted Home  

Mothering
Marriage is for Keeps
Homemaking
Homeschooling
From Your Kitchen
Organizing your Home
Gardening
Mom's Sharing Jesus
And any way you have
WholeHeartedly served Christ in your Home!!
  1. Keep each post honoring to God.
  2. Remember the purpose is for community; and women love conversation!! So, please visit at least one blogger who posted on my Linky Party :-)
  3. Be sure to link back to WholeHearted Home.
  4. This Linky Party is open until Saturdays at 11:59pm
  5. Thank you from the bottom of my heart as each of your posts are always such a blessing to me and other ladies. Happy linking! 
Thanks for dropping by!!!
Comments make my day!!




Wilderness Living or Surrendered Living


After forty years of Wilderness living would you want to stay??

Can you imagine the anticipation and excitement in the Israelite camp as they were about to cross over the Jordan River??



I used to think the trip from Egypt to the Promised Land, was an extremely looong one. After all, it took the Israelites FORTY Years to make the trip!! 

Did you ever wonder why they wandered in the wilderness soo long??

The Israelites who stood along the banks of the swollen Jordan River that day were not the same people who left Egypt forty years before!!




How come?!

Those Israelites who left Egypt behind were content to live in the wilderness. They complained a LOT and they lacked faith. They were content to live where it was hot and dry; and  spiritually they were dry and discontent with their life and with God. 

Crossing the Jordan River took courage as the Israelites saw the river swelling with the water rushing greatness of harvest time. It took faith to believe in a God able to push the water into a wall with dry soil between the towering crested river. Real faith.

They remembered hearing about the Red Sea crossing before they were born. Their faith wasn't based on a memory but on a relationship with the One true God.

It was a point of surrender. Total surrender of all that they were hanging on to in their wilderness experience. 

Consecration. 

Holiness. 

A point of decision.

The Wilderness brings dryness and discouragement and sometimes we don't really want to leave that wilderness. We would rather stay in our closet crying out to the Lord, depressed and discontent with life.

God wants to meet us right where we are. 

He will take us just as we are in all our self-righteous holimess of existence in our wilderness. Like a lamb, without one plea before a holy God who can truly take our discouraged self and make us into Christ-likeness for His glory.

The thing is, we don't realize how wonderful it is 'on the other side of the Jordan' because we are content in our discontent, satisfied to complain, rant, and live our life in some form of misery. Have you ever felt perfectly happy in your misery??

It is so wonderful on the other side of the Jordan, that we will never want to cross back again to the wilderness-side. 

Crossing the Jordan brings victorious Christian living. 

You start thanksliving and thanksloving instead of living a life of ungratefulness any longer.

This takes effort because it means walking with Christ and isn't just some sort of magical thing where there is no change involved on your part. 

It means living the abiding life with Christ. 

Christ living in you. 

It means taking a new step in your eternal life, moving a step closer to heaven.

You need to make a better 'house of God' in your life. A Bethel. A place to worship God. 

A place where you get alone with God and cry out to Him in surrender.

You can't do it in your own strength. It is time to stop trying.

Maybe your home is out-of-control.

Maybe you are out-of-control.

Maybe your children are out-of-control and you aren't seeking the Lord in this but instead are sinking into depression out of concern for them instead of laying this burden down at Jesus' feet.

If you cross the Jordan of Life, you will never be the same!!

Are you caught in a wilderness?

Are you living in defeat?

Are you perpetually living in discouragement and/or depression?

I have been there...and recently needed to renew my surrender and totally and absolutely surrender my life (again) to Jesus Christ.

Many people die in their wilderness just like the Israelites. 

Literally, they live their whole live in misery, complaining, defeated, discouraged, down-hearted, and don't really want to accept the help to get out. They don't want to take the first step into the water and watch the miracle of the water back off into towers on either side of dry ground.

The Lord actually takes them. They die like the Israelites without ever knowing what it is like to live joyfully and thankfully in victory through Jesus.

God told the Israelites to "Be of good courage" over and over. There were giants in the Promised land on the other side of the Jordan. Even when we are right where God wants us, there are problems. Victorious thanksliving doesn't come without  hassles and difficulties, it is just a way of walking with the Lord through these valleys and mountain tops.

Have you been in a wilderness?? Are you going to get your feet wet in the Jordan River as you step towards total surrender??

I am going to learn daily to walk in victory in Jesus with the tools of thanksliving and thanksloving joyfully as I journey this life. How about coming along with me??


I'd LOVE you to leave a comment!!

Since I live out 'in-the-sticks'... friends, like you are a long ways away!!
Sooo, I'd love you to follow me on: 

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:


~Judith~

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