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!!

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Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:

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In Christ Alone,

~Judith~

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: 

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Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:

WholeHearted Home Wednesdays

In Christ Alone,

~Judith~

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: 

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Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:

WholeHearted Home Wednesdays

In Christ Alone,

~Judith~

"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:

Bite Size Bible Study: Bullets & Bibles

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: 

Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

In Christ Alone,

~Judith~

WholeHearted Home Wednesday

Linkup #29

Click the Pic!!

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: 

Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:

WholeHearted Home Wednesdays

In Christ Alone,

~Judith~

Enter In by the Door

Doors are fascinating!! If you are in doubt, just take a ride in your car in search of doors. You will see them everywhere. In the country, in villages and towns, in cities, downtown, wherever you go. 

Doors are inviting. You have to enter a door to see what is inside and to meet the person who lives or works within. You have to ring a doorbell or pull the knocker if they have one. If not, you have to knock.

A door makes me wonder about the story that is told on the other side. Are they poor or rich? Are they mean, kind, or what? 

I am intrigued by the entrance to homes that I have visited over the years. They are expressive and tell so much about the friend who lives inside. Some friends put great effort into their porches whether simple or exquisite. Some entrances are simple or even a cluttered mess. 

If I didn't have a big dog that would run off with anything pretty around my door, I would place a few inviting things around my door to make friends feel welcomed. Maybe an attractive welcome mat with a cute greeting for my guests. Some potted flowers in summer would give a pleasant welcome. My dog loves to scatter dirt and would run off with a mat!! Keeping my doorway clean will have to suffice.

Have you ever visited a friend whose front porch stored everything they couldn't fit into their home? Every door tells a story of the people who live within. A door has personality that is a reflection of its owner.

When someone rolls into our driveway, you can easily see them coming through the four-bay-windows of the kitchen. I love to meet my friends at the door because it is a long drive to our home and I am glad to have them come. A warm greeting also warms the heart of our company!!

I like doors because of the story they tell. A drive through town or the country is made interesting by imagining what the story would be like. It leaves me in suspense. 

There is another kind of door that intrigues me. It is the door to the sheepfold. When you enter someone's home, you don't climb into the window!! If you did, you might end up in jail because you would be mistaken for a thief!! 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."  ~John 10:1-3~

Jesus is the one knocking at the door to our heart. He is asking for permission to guide our lives, abiding in and through us. He is offering us an opportunity that we don't deserve. He offers us love and understanding when we turn to Him for help. 

Jesus knocks at our door, seeking to enter. He won't barge in but if given permission He will transform our lives into something beautiful, just like the entrances to my favorite doors.

He offers acceptance and forgiveness of our sins and will never forsake us for the rest of our life. My heart and life is like the most cluttered and messy entrance door I have ever seen. My life is cluttered both inside and outside but the Lord takes me on right where I am, mess and all!! 

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: 

Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:

WholeHearted Home Wednesdays

In Christ Alone,

~Judith~

Do You Ignore the Alarms of Life?

Startled by the deafening din of fire alarms going off all over the house this morning piercing my silence at 5:45am!! I flew downstairs and threw the wood stove into high burn to evict the imaginary smoke from the house, opened two doors to the outside to welcome the balmy 2F into our home, like we weren't already cold enough?? A wood stove will sometimes puff smoke back into the room instead of up the chimney. 

I stood on a table waving a denim skirt under the fire alarm (an old trick to make it stop blaring!!) as it continued to blast our ears. One of my children reluctantly showed up, another was trying to sleep in after getting up for work other days at 2am), and another simply figured there was no fire so relaxed to our new music.

What would we do if there was really an emergency??

Would we continue to sleep??

Would we ignore the alarm??

Do we 'tune out' real alarms in our life and those Spiritual ones that God places before us as warnings??

Do we keep trucking on in life when alarms are blaring their warning??

I think we often do!!

In modern Christianity it is common to play the middle-of-the-road, not living our lives fervently consecrated in total surrender to the Lord and His will for our lives.

We are not concerned about being holy. 

"Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

~1 Peter 1:16~

There is a real fire raging in hell. 

"Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, 

and cast into the fire."

~Matthew 7:19~

Each one of us needs to be sure our salvation is secure; searching our heart making sure we are not just playing the game of Christianity without truly knowing Jesus Christ. 

It is not enough to live your life like a Christian; going to church, baptized, teaching Sunday school, reading your Bible, praying, and yet, not knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior of your life. 

It is a good thing to search your heart in this matter rather than waking up in hell because you did not heed the alarms in your life.

It is not 'a prayer' that saves you or anything else you can rely on but Jesus ONLY who saves. 

If you are like me, you have examined your heart carefully. I have sat through salvation messages and afterwards spent time really searching my heart until I knew from the Lord and Scriptures that I was truly saved. I would rather be sure now than surprised within the first minute after my life is over!!

There is another way of ignoring the alarms of life.

Have you ever noticed how busy life is these days compared to maybe ten or fifteen years ago?? (OK, so you are only 23 with four children and you were only 8 years old 15 years ago!!)

Even though my children are grown (18 and older) I still need to get up early so I am ready to roll with my day. People don't have time for each other (other than tweeting no more than 140 characters, REALLY?!) 

We find it difficult to slow down with God for more than 5 minutes!!

Not spending quality time in God's Word is NOT heeding the alarms of life. God's alarms...His warnings. 

When I was in my late teens and twenties, I did things that I would never include in my life any longer. Just a little dabbling in this and that and not ever thinking what God would really think of it. 

I was not heeding the alarms of life. 

I was rushing through each day as if there was not a holy God.

Heeding the alarms of life is a daily thing as we pay attention, spend time with God in His Word (not just reading the Bible), and purging the things that have no place in a Christian's life, repenting from sin and moving on in God's righteousness.

Are you heeding the alarms going off in your life?

Time is short!!

I find comfort and assurance in these words:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴ To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

⁵ Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶ Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

⁷ That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

⁸ Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

⁹ Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."

~1 Peter 1:4-9~

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: 

Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Don't forget to linkup your favorite posts:

WholeHearted Home Wednesdays

In Christ Alone,

~Judith~