If you have a Vision for a Godly Home; are seeking a home of Peace and Joy, where the heart of Jesus is reflected, I pray this blog will be of encouragement to you. Grab a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee...let's reflect and ponder together...
"Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;
Home-keeping hearts are happiest,
For those that wander they know not where
Are full of trouble and full of care;
To stay at home is best."
~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Hello, Thank you for stopping by. I'm a middle-aged veteran home educator, happily married over 43 years, mother of four sweet daughters, grandmother of 4 precious toddlers, three boys and a girl. We live in the forest. I design, sew, write, enjoy art, cook, and take care of our many fur angels. ...I'm also a hopeless romantic who wishes it were the 40s again. Follower of Christ, I cherish my personal relationship with the Lord. A pro-life advocate and ethical vegetarian. I laugh hard and pray hard too! Live, Laugh, Love...And pray hard...That's me.
"Most girls don’t want to be pretty anymore even if they understand what it is. It is ironic that 40 years of women’s liberation has succeeded only in turning women into a commodity. Something to be used up and thrown out...
...When a girl retains and lives pretty, while eschewing hotness, the bulk of men who cannot appreciate the virtue behind pretty will move on to more fruitful hunting grounds in the pursuit of immediate gratification. Pretty requires too much energy to overcome. While there are some who relish the challenge of destroying innocence, pretty attracts the noble, the good, like a magnet."
“Godly womanhood ... the very phrase sounds strange in our ears. We never hear it now. We hear about every other type of women: beautiful women, smart women, sophisticated women, career women, talented women, divorced women. But so seldom do we hear of a godly woman - or of a godly man either, for that matter.We believe women come nearer to fulfilling their God-given function in the home than anywhere else. It is a much nobler thing to be a good wife, than to be Miss America. It is a greater achievement to establish a Christian home than it is to produce a second-rate novel filled with filth. It is a far, far better thing in the realms of morals to be old-fashioned, than to be ultra-modern.
The world has enough women who know how to be smart. It needs women who are willing to be simple. The world has enough women who know how to be brilliant. It needs some who will be brave. The world has enough women who are popular. It needs more who are pure. We need women, and men, too, who would rather be morally right than socially correct.” ― Peter Marshall
Marshall became pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. in 1937 and was appointed twice as U.S. Senate Chaplain, serving from January 4, 1947 until his sudden death just over two years later.
He went out to the field one evening to meditate. (Genesis 24:63)
We would be better Christians if we spent more time alone, and we would actually accomplish more if we attempted less and spent more time in isolation and quiet waiting upon God. The world has become too much a part of us, and we are afflicted with the idea that we are not accomplishing anything unless we are always busily running back and forth. We no longer believe in the importance of a calm retreat where we sit silently in the shade. As the people of God, we have become entirely too practical. We believe in having "all our irons in the fire" and that all the time we spend away from the anvil or fire is wasted time. Yet our time is never more profitable spent than when we set aside time for quiet meditation, talking with God, and looking up to heaven. We can never have too many of these open spaces in life - hours set aside when our souls is completely open and accessible to any heavenly thought or influence that God may be pleased to send our way...
...We should have intervals of time when we do nothing, think nothing, and plan nothing but simply lie on the green lap of nature and "rest a while" (Mark 6:31 kjv)...
More of these quiet time photos and everyday uncooked rambles and recollections at one of my other blogs: MyForestCathedral
A Christmas Prayer in Song at Christmas or anytime, enjoy and be blessed:
I think this is one of the most beautiful songs and prayers ever.... Enjoy and be blessed this Holy season of Christmas.
Are you feeling a bit hurried this Christmas? Company's a-coming?
Being a creative merciful messie : ) ...I thought this was very helpful:
"We expect too much at Christmas. It's got to be magical. It's got to go right. Feasting. Fun. The perfect present. All that anticipation. Take it easy. Love's the thing. The rest is tinsel."
~Pam Brown
(From my flip calendar in my kitchen)
As flylady has said...It's enough.
Rest now. Keep smiling and laughing for your families...That's what the family will remember most of all. The Victory is in our prayer closet wherever that place may be for us.
Kissing the Face of God by Morgan Weistling. ...My prayer is that the viewer will be struck, as I am, with the amazing way that God chose to send His Son into this world — in pure humility. ~Morgan Weistling
Blessings and Merry Christmas to All! Love and Peace, true Peace, the Peace that passeth all understanding.....
Feeling overwhelmed this Christmas? I found this post on Money Saving MomCelebrating Christmas on a 0 dollar budget refreshing, I wish I would have had this support when my girls were little. It's never too late though. : ) I'm handmaking some gifts this year, things are very tight for this Realtor's family but that's okay. It helps keep me in that holy season of wonder. I was so very proud of our oldest daughter Lea this week. The prolife clinic Lea is a volunteer counselor for was having a Christmas party with a $10. gift exchange. She was going to go ahead and bring a very nice laptop cover (an un-needed gift) that was intended to be taken back to the store for refund. In our family $10. is a bit pricie for a casual office gift exchange. Most parties are to visit and eat and have fellowship right? Lot's of good eats, talks and laughs? A lot of laughter and sister hugs? Sharing the season together? Marianna, our second born asked Lea, "Why don't you take a stand and tell them you won't be able to participate in the gift exchange, but you would still like to come and enjoy the fellowship just the same, bringing some good food of course to share?" (My version)
Lea called the director and the director was so sweet, she just wanted Lea to come and be a part of the fellowship of course! Lea went and had a wonderful time sharing food and fellowship and yes, enjoying observing the gift exchange. Just a little encouragement for someone who may be facing the same quandry this season. And ya know? I think it may encourage others too if they see folks like Lea willing to just be honest about impersonal gift exchanges.
This has been on my heart to re-post the following blog entry this Christmas season, this holy season. I've edited it ever so slightly. I hope you enjoy it and will be touched by the message.
First Posted December 2009:
Beware of the Heelots....
Before you buy that boat, car, or fancy-phone....think about the "Heelots"...
Beware... You may be in danger...
The Heelots may get ya and if you're not careful you may turn into one yourself...Before ya know it! Yes indeed. I've heard reports that the Heelots are especially aggressive this time of year.... Beware. ; )
When they got ya, you've got no more chance than a road rabbit...You're walkin' along, not a nickel in your jeans, you're free as the wind. Nobody bothers you. Hundreds of people pass you by in every line of business. Shoes, hats, automobiles, radios, furniture, everything, and they're all nice loveable people. They let you alone...Then you get ahold of some dough and what happens? All those nice, sweet, lovable people become heelots. A lotta heels! They begin creepin' up on ya, tryin' to sell ya something. They get long claws and they get a stranglehold on ya and ya squirm and ya duck and ya holler and ya try to push 'em away, but you haven't got a chance. They've got ya. The first thing you know, you own things - a car, for instance. Now your whole life is messed up with a lot more stuff. You get license fees and number plates and gas and oil and taxes and insurance and identification cards and letters and bills and flat tires and dents and traffic tickets and motorcycle cops and courtrooms and lawyers and fines - and a million and one other things! And what happens? You're not the free and happy guy you used to be. You've gotta have money to pay for all those things. So you go after what the other fella's got. And there you are - you're a heelot yourself.
(You may want to mute the music at the player at the bottom of the page before viewing clips)
To watch Meet John Doe see Part I in the following clip. All parts are there on youtube in a nice quality...
You can also see the movie in entirity here as well, you may decide what picture quality is best for you.
...Someone already died for that once. The first John Doe. And he's kept that ideal alive for nearly 2,000 years. It was He who kept it alive in them. And He'll go on keeping it alive for ever and always - for every John Doe movement these men kill, a new one will be born. That's why those bells are ringing...
~The movie, Meet John Doe (1941)
Lighthouses, John. Lighthouses in a foggy world. ~ The movie, Meet John Doe (1941)
What will we be? A heelot? A John Doe? A lighthouse in a foggy world? I hope we will be a John Doe...that Lighthouse in a foggy world. I especially hope we will be a Christ Bearer...
Remember...We are the Christ Bearers this season...Let's take the time to be that Christ Bearer to others....The malls, stores and hospitals are full of those thirsty for Jesus...They are looking for the blessed Hope...Let's take the time, be prepared to share Jesus, smile, keep it real (never canned)...Love, use words and a hug if necessary...Take the time to share Jesus...It's one of the most valuable lessons our children will ever learn...And in some cases it may just be the most valuable lesson our children may teach us.
I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas Season, remember it's Christ-mas not Me-mas. : )
Enjoy. Be blessed. Be that Christ Bearer...The World is waiting... Keep the bells ringing......
It's a true and living relationship with Jesus, not a religion. : )
As life goes on and moves on, we moms can feel invisible surely so. Every season has it's challenges.
I hope you are ministered to by this poignant and sometimes funny video as I was and still am. I can hear the accolades of many women as I type this as well as the silent tears. God sees it all honey, He knows you, He knows me, He sees you, He sees me and He thinks we are lovely when we are serving Him quietly in our homes. He sees the behind the scenes stuff I assure you, I have to tell myself that many times. Trust me, there are days in this present day society when we feel like chopped liver. Many times it's the culture we are in and the culture is incorrect. The enemy of our souls wants us feeling unappreciated. People around us are affected by the culture's attitudes and there we go floating out into the cosmos on our own it seems.
This video was on my heart so I thought I'd post it this wintery eve. I hope you are blessed by this as well.
Love to All, I hope you are having a most blessed Holy Season. I should be back on this blog soon to repost "Beware of the Heelots". ~Amelia
