I have some Eternal Encouragement for you

"What to cling to on days when you're drowning." Ann Voskamp said that.

Do you ever have those overwhelming days?

Days where you are tired before you even get out of bed?

When I'm having those moments I must be wise in who I talk to about how I am feeling if I share at all.  People, especially those who have not been called to homeschool are quick to tell me the many ways to alleviate my problem.  The first being is to put the kids into a "regular" school.

For me however, God has grown and discipled me more through what I've read, than who I've talked to.

Any since beginning my blog He has used an even newer and different way of ministering to me.  More often than not, if you have been visiting me for any length of time you know that I still read and share my reviews on books.  I certainly share my favorite blogs with you.

But now I have something new to share.  It's something that until recently I'd actually shun.  And that is newsletters and online magazines.

I love finding reassurance sisters.  Knowing that some of you have either gone through what I'm going through or vice-versa gives me hope.  It gives me Eternal Encouragement.

It is for that reason alone that I decided to become a reviewer for Gabby Moms and take a look at their eemagaizine.

Isn't that the greatest name for a Christian magazine geared  to enocurage the Christian woman?  To know that we are understood, to know that we are not in this alone is the best feeling for me because I do get weary.  But it is ministries like Eternal Encouragement that helps me find that gateway to joy.  That encouragement.  It helps me get my eyes off of me and place them back on where they need to be: things eternal.

I encourage you to grab a cup of tea, coffee, or your favorite beverage and visit Eternal Encouragement, you will not be disappointed and you are sure to find something there be it a story, product or both that will meet your need.

Be encouraged today in knowing that you are not alone regardless of what you are going through.  And you may even chose not to share what you're going through with anyone, but I bet if you head on over to EE you will surely meet God there and He will have something special to say to you.


So what do you cling to on days when you feel like you're drowning?  Cling to eternal encouragement no matter which way you find it.  Just find it.

I'm a reviewer for Gabby Mom


xo, Angela

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Loss of post causes me to seek peace

Ah, are you looking for today's blog post?  Me too.  It's gone.  Poof.  No more.

If you blog you know this is one of your greatest fears.  I want to throw something, but I'm not because in writing that particular post I learned some things.  Things that I longed to share with you, but I guess God only saw fit for me to learn this time around.

Thank you for coming nonetheless.

Maybe tomorrow he will see fit for me to share with you my heart in a post :-)


xo, Angela

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Restoring the joy of your salvation

Do you ever feel stagnate in your faith?

That's how I've been feeling lately.  I feel like I've just been going through the motions.  I feel as if I've been living to please me, and I see how this selfishness of mine continues to leave a wedge between God and me.

"I love you Lord and I want to please You.  What's wrong with me?"


God reminded me of His servant David.

David felt this way too.  When we find ourselves distant from the Father we need to cry out in prayer and ask Him to:

"Restore to me the joy Of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit..." Ps. 51:12


Our heavenly Father wants to be close to us—His children.  But somewhere along the road call life, we forget about His longing and focus on ours and what we feel is best for the life that He has given us.

Unconfessed sin makes intimacy with God impossible.  Confess your sin so that God can restore you to the joy of your salvation . . . resulting intimacy with Him.  

Food for thought:  "God wants a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart".  YOU CAN NEVER PLEASE GOD BY YOUR OUTWARD ACTIONS alone.  No matter how good you appear to be if your inward heart and attitude is not right God is not pleased.

Do you have a sin that you continue to struggle with, yet your Godly sorry for it existing in your life?

Do you genuinely have the desire to turn away from it—give it up?

Tell God about it today and ask Him to "Restore the joy of your salvation to you."

Photosource: ArteZoe's {I find ArteZoe's work simply soft and beautiful :-))

Linking to A Holy Experience... Walk with Him Wednesday Community

Edited from the archives

Lifeway woman: Kelly Minter

Hello girls! I have a message for you from Lifeway Women:
"The Beth Moore James Facebook  party that we all helped launch was a huge success."

And they thank those of us who promoted the live webcast party!

Now they have something else for us, what, you ask?

They want us to gear up again for a second Facebook launch party for a new Bible study, "Living Room Series Bible study, Nehemiah, A heart that can break."

The party is Feb. 1, 2012 at 11:11 a.m CST.

There will be live fun again!

Paige Greene will host the webcast with Kelly and they are going to have special guest appearances, including Lisa Harper and by Skype, Beth Moore.

Kelly will share on the live webcast her heart about the study, her heart for missionary work, and a cooking segment.

If any of you would be interested in helping us spread the word, you can do one of the following:

1.  post on your blog and invite people to the party
2.  post on your Facebook about the party, and
3.  tweet about it if you have a Twitter account

Girls, for more information about the Facebook party and to enter the sweepstakes please click on the highlighted text.  And if you're a tweeter use the hashtag #Nehemiah.

Kelly Minter's blog


xo, Angela
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Speak with your heart

Often times dear friends, the profoundest of our statements is observed not by the utterances of our words, but rather by the way our heart instructs us to walk.  

You may tell me you love me, but if the only way I experience it is by hearing you say it, yet never seeing or feeling it expressed any other way, chances are my belief in what you say will gradually fade.

Our most sincere way to walk with Jesus is sometimes to not say anything with our lips, but with our hearts.

Allowing how we feel inwardly to spill over, we then have no choice but to display outwardly how we are truly feeling inside, thus we bend the knee and bow low as an expression of our love to Him.

"Wherefore, I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much." ~ Luke 7:47

Are you sorry for something you did, an act you committed?  Don't just say you're sorry, show how sorry you really are.

Allow this weekend to be a time where you do some self-reflection, personal examination and work on fixing what God shows you.

Blessings dear ones.  Stay safe and have a happy and restful weekend!

"Use me then, my Savior,
for whatever purposes and in whatever way you may require.
Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel;
fill it with grace." ~ D.L. Moody

xo, Angela
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Hope for the distracted one

I feel like Mary . . .

busy, doing and going: no where.

Choosing that which is less important. The thing that has no eternal value what-so-ever. Being unwise in decisions.

To talk about my decisions or write about them isn't enough anymore. Action is required. To know and not do is the sin, isn't it?

Why do I . . .


How do I . . .

Why and how do I always loose focus? Allow myself to get distracted, become moved from the important, the music of my life. The grown up has much growing up to do.

Each day my heart and spirit longs to be with Him, with home, with what's important, but each day I allow myself to become distracted from Him, from home, from what's important—the music, the music of my life.

Laundry is sky high. School papers need correcting, the house needs the attention from the woman within it, but I'm busy, busy doing what?

Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties will arise.  Didn't that old devil seek to crush Simon Peter and the other disciples like grains of wheat? 

Was it not his hope to find only chaff and blow it away?

You and I are no different, but I keep forgetting.  Forgetting that what I am called to do right here in this home, in these walls is a holy work, my holy experience, and because I forget and not see this work that I do as the utmost of holies I allow myself to get blindsided each and every time, just as my parents did in the garden. 

Jesus assures me just as he assured my brother in the faith Peter. That his faith, although it would falter, would not be destroyed.  It would be renewed, and Peter would become a powerful leader.

I don't know, and I doubt very seriously if I will ever become a powerful leader.  But I hope that one day my God can see me as a powerful woman only because of the obedience that I've given to His Word and what He has called me to do.

Let us remember, "Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to forsee are ahead.  If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to rid of them but you can't.  You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin" ~ Katheleen Norris

"What makes our labor holy, what makes it eternal, is not just the work but the state of our hearts while performing that work.  When we comprehend that truth, then we realize washing dishes is as significant to the kingdom as operating on a patient; driving a truck is as eternally triumph as leading a company.  Then, even in the zig-zags of our careers, when life seems more random than ordered, when it feels like we're running in thick and with heavy boots, we can rest in the knowledge we're serving God as we labor faithfully and diligently." ~Randy Kilgore



xo, Angela

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Moms do you need a get away? {Mom Life Boot Camp}

M
others, are you worn out, spent, frazzled, overwhelmed and down right tired?

You may even find that you are sad and depressed to realize that you are not Superwoman after all.  And if  you really get honest with yourself, you see how accepting a little help from someone else isn't such a bad idea after all.

I certainly can relate to these kind of feelings, and remember not too long ago, how my heart sank when I had to face the fact that not only am I not Superwoman, but the family that I love and adore, the children who I stayed home to home school and teach God's principals to, wind up being flawed too, and the only person that sees them as "super" honestly is me.

The mid 40's are bringing me to the point in my life where I am having to accept that many of the dreams I'd once had for myself as a woman, wife, mother and Godly woman, are just that: dreams.

My new normal is for me to live with the reality that I am an imperfect being, and accept that my body does get tired.  I've come to accept that no amount of supplements, eating organically, drinking Yogi green tea, and even getting an adequate amount of sleep along with exercise can change what God has already spoken in Ecc. 3: "There is a time for everything under the sun."

What I never realized was how limited our time and seasons really are.

Moms maybe today finds you beating up on yourself a bit, maybe you're giving yourself a hard time because you just can't do it all, or do it all anymore.

Ease up, okay.

None of us can, please believe me, and if perhaps you think you are, I'm sure there is a slack somewhere.  And more than likely that slack will be found in the amount of sleep you're getting Mom.  Not good.

If this is you dear Mother, I have something special to share with you.

There is a way for you to be refreshed and meet other ladies just like you.  Mom Life Today {yes they are affiliated with Family Life Today} is having their weekend retreat March 23-25, 2012, and they want to sponsor one of you to join us.

If you want to enter, simply click on this link and leave a comment telling us why you need a getaway weekend.  One mother will be chosen at random on Jan. 19th.

Check out: What is Mom Camp and why you need to go

xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook

The habit of Joy

A
nn Voskamp challenges us once again, and she shares her January, Joy Dare calendar with us.  Hers is  on her fridge.  That's where mine will be as well.  What about you?  Where will you hang yours?

If you want to download this calendar and participate in giving daily gratitude in January and need some ideas, print Ann's calendar out here.  Download the January Joy Dare Calendar by Ann Voskamp.

I often think of this quote that I read in One Thousand Gifts: A Dare To Live Fully Right Where You Are.


"A nail is driven out by another nail; habit is overcome by habit." ~ Eramus

How do we become habitual in giving joy?  By giving joy, my friends.  By expressing our gratitude.


Oh, friend— let's start the new year off right.  Let's make a commitment to give him thanks in all things and then let's have a treasure hunt of sorts, looking for joy around us, expressing joy.  Go ahead and grab a tablet & pencil so that you can begin.

If you want to see some of the cool things Ann is giving away, go visit her today and check them out.

xo, Angela

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Ten year old blind autistic boy sings to God

What a sweet aroma.

Please listen as this 10 year old blind, autistic boy sing's "Open the eyes to my heart."

If you receive this blog by email you may not be able to see this blessing, if you can not you can click on the highlighted link.

"For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish." ~ 2 Corin. 2:15

{Don't forget to quiet the music :-)}

xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook

New ways of walking in the new year

I'm looking for a new way to walk this year friends.

Guess what though?  Letting go of old behavior is hard to do—sometimes.  The reason being is that some of my old ways of my walking I liked. They felt good. Those ways had become familiar friends and were comfortable. They were what I knew.  They were my normal.

Every time I think about changing my stride I feel a foe surfacing: fear. Anguish too.  Even their cousin anxiety finds a spot to grab hold of me.  And my head whirls with thoughts of last year, and the years before that,"You change? Never. It's too hard and you never do it for long so why begin?"

So I ask my Father with lamenting heart, "How?  How do I do it?  How do I become your woman, the woman you can be 'oh so proud of?' 


How do I start and not stop?  How do I find a new way of walking this year Father? Please help this feeble child of yours,"I softly whisper.


While washing dishes by candle light she comes to me, Ann Voskamp. It's been a while since I've been over to her place.  And then I focus on her words and that's when I see it, what I need right there on the screen, on her blog page.

God is like that you know.  God always gives His children what they request when what they request is according to His will.

She understands the anguish of my heart.  She's been here.  I can always count on finding something on A Holy Experience that speaks to my personal experiences.  That's why I'm so grateful that God has called me to the ministry of blogging.  I hope that here in this dark space you find something that ministers to your heart and helps you as much as Ann's blogging helps me gracious one.  Sorry for veering off a bit.  Anyway . . . I find these words to hold true:

The spirit is willing, but the flesh . . . the flesh has a mind of it's own.

Here's the help that Ann Voskamp gives to those seeking to walk a new way in the new year:

1. SET BACK TO THE WIND

Set back to the wind, and let His Spirit gently carry when the feet are too weak to carry on.

Not to try harder but to pray new prayers that transport to new places: “Spirit, fill more of me. Lift me, Spirit.”

Set out into New Year knowing,“It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing”(Jn 6:36).

Set back to His Wind and let the Spirit Himself  fill the sails of life.

2. SET JAW

Set back to the wind and set jaw to persevere. “For we add to our faith, perseverance.”

The day will be long, the way deep. Discouraged, we’ll be tempted to turn back to familiar, rutted paths. But set hand he plow and refuse to turn back.

For, really, what can go awry? The Spirit’s got your back.

3. SET TIMES

Set, fixed, times to make certain tracks each day allows for the wind to move us, for inspiration to surprise us. Sporadic creativity or intermittent commitment generally fails to forge a steady trail. Progress is born out of rhythm, routine, regularity….set times.

It is how the saints met God: Daniel prayed three times a day facing Jerusalem (Daniel 6:10), the psalmist purposed to praise seven times a day, the early disciples prayed at fixed hours (Acts 2:15). If set times are the necessary catalysts for spiritual growth, so are set times critically compelling elements for life growth. With back set to the wind, and jaw set, set habitual times to pioneer new habits.  Uncertain times lead to certain failure.

4. SET SIGHTS

Every day keep the intermediate goals in clear line of sight.

Set goals into achievable segments, and fix sights on the these midway markers: one pound shed this week, 15 minutes of organization, one date night a week with a child. Set sights close…

“By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I am not turning back”(Phil 3:13 MSG).

5. SET OUT

Simply, finally, take the first step. Again and again.

The wind, hope on its wings, sweeps each new day clean before us, and sweeps over our tracks from yesterday, filling with grace.

“Jesus said…You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day” (Luke 9:62 MSG).

Seize the day!

I'm thankful for . . . 

~ new beginnings, new ways of walking

~ right here & now

~ the turmoil, the up and the down, the stagnate and for life


This post is linked to a Holy Experience.

xo, Angela blog subscription  | twitter | facebook