Gateways to Joy

This was one of the scariest exercises for me.  I suspect had Lisa-Jo not "welcomed" me I may not have done this.  I've thought about participating in this exercise often.  Every now and then I go to Lisa Jo's blog on Friday's to see if she's still doing it. The five minute writing exercise that has scared me away for so long .  Wow, when I got over there today I see how it has grown.  "You scary-cat." I told myself.  "This is something good for you." I told myself, "Na, I'm not ready."  But it was something about that word, "Welcome." So here it is: My five minute writing exercise, unedited.  This is what to mind when I saw the word "welcome."  Now though, I wish that I had wrote how inviting I felt by the word.  So much so, in fact that it inspired me and made me feel comfortable enough to move forward and give this a try. Anyway, here's my exercise.  And for my blog readers, this is a writi...

Ladies you really don't want to miss this video!   I'm just going to be honest with those of you who don't listen or have not listened to some of the videos that I've posted:  YOU REALLY ARE MISSING OUT! HONESTLY .  I am not in anyway putting videos up for the sake of putting up a video. I'm not even trying to get you to like someone that I like.   I put the videos up because I know your stories.  I talk to you... on the phone, skype, emails and you tell me your hardships, your difficulties. Yes.  I know your story and some of them are my stories.   The   videos that I put on this blog addresses our stories in one way or another!   God uses the stories and the experiences of one to help another, that's why I put the videos up.  We are all very similar and like minded so I know if I'm helped, more than likely you will be helped too! I am now hearing from so many of you until I can no longer get to all of you.  I'...

One of my favorite bloggers—writers is Ann Voskamp.  She is one of the most poetic, talented & creative person that I've come across in a while.  I appreciate dearly the giving of herself to God and to us through her writing. Ann inspires me to want to do better ... to be better.     This is one of Ann's poems— A prayer for writers God of the Word, we ask you — Give us a Word. Your daughters are hungry. We are women of the Word, Wielding words You take around the world. Weave the curve of our letters on screens into baskets , baskets heavy with that which deeply, fully fills. Weave the curve of our letters into baskets that offer up the only food that satisfies… You. May you meet us, your Word women, such women, at a time such as this, and reveal to us Your will for our words… We long not to be not to be recognized or lauded or discovered… We long for simply this to glorify your name, and spread your praise and y...

H e loves me right?  I don't feel loved.  I wonder:  Why are things so hard for me?  Why can't I have a few of my heart desires?  Sure, He cares for my basic needs:  food, shelter and clothing, but can't I have just a little more?  Can't I see what the other side is like?  You know over there.  Can't I have a few of the things that ... has? "Lord forgive me for a heart so ungrateful and foolish.  I don't mean to be.  I just want more and wonder why I can't have it?" Am I simply meant to be a wife, mother who homeschools, and blog?   Just be a keeper of the house, clean and take care of the laundry, cook ...?  Be the one to point others in the right direction?  I love it, don't get me wrong.  I just want more.  I think. Is that bad— me wanting more?  Is it too late for me—have I become to old?  After all I'll be 45 in May.  Are all my dreams and goals just that?  A th...

T oday is Tuesday—  word day!  The word that I've been thinking about lately is: yoke .  Yoke as it is referred to in the Bible.  In the Bible the word "yoke" speaks of a wooden bar or a wooden apparatus that is placed over the necks of oxen and other pulling animals which connects them and enables them to pull carts, plows and so on —as seen in the pictures below.  You can also see the ox pulling the brick with the yoke. Often times we will read where Jesus has used the word "yoke" as a metaphor for describing the union between us—people and our labor of service .  I thought about this word as I lay restless in my bed trying to go to sleep Sunday night.  Why?  Fear had crept up...  a slew of worries and fear were upon me.  One scary scenario after another plagued my mind.  For those of you who read Ann Voskamp book, you know when she talks about the fear of the big "C" word, cancer?  Gosh how I can...

    I  believe in purposefully emphasizing plant based food in my diet and the diet of my family.  One way I do that is by choosing a spectrum of color for our diets daily...this can become monotonous if I'm not careful.  I'll share with you as we progress into these post how I handle that. The important thing that I try to remember is to be sure to get the variety of color in my diet daily by eating fresh fruit and vegetables. Eat them raw.  Eat them steamed.  The Benefits: Kale is helpful in lowering cholesterol when cooked by steaming.  Raw is effective, too, but not as effective for that particular benefit.  The fiber in this green beauty are good at binding together with bile acids in the digestive tract.  It has been said that the Isothiocyana (ITC's) are have benefits in lowering at least five different kinds of cancer such as bladder, breast, colon, ovary, and prostate. I'm not a doctor so I don't know, but I can sa...

T his past month I seem to have been drawn and have parked myself over in Exodus.  One thing out of many have caused me to slow down and take long moments of pause.  One verse has really kept me up late at night, and I've been dwelling on it throughout my days.  That verse reads: "Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, 'The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt."Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea ..." ~ Ex. 13 18, NASB In this situation the wilderness was a blessing to Israel.  And if you're in the wilderness right now—be careful how you respond because you just may be in the middle of your blessing. In thinking about this passage it reminded me about an experience I went through some years ago when my husband and I purchased some land.  We'd moved out of our apartment i...

I wasn't going to participate in this:  writing about "The practice of marriage." as Ann asked.  Why?  It's too hard.  There are so many hurts that run deep.  But after sitting back thinking, I've come to realize, as I always realize:  My husband is my friend.  My best friend. We've struggled a lot along the way, and even after 20 years it seems like we still struggle.  It does seem as if it is a little easier now, oppose to when we first began our journey.  Even though times aren't perfect I can also say that, "I can't imagine my life without him."  The man I began dating at 16. What helps me?  Remembering what Ann always says: "All is grace." God bestows grace on us...our marriage, our family.  My husband bestows grace on me, and I on him, and we keep moving.  Keep breathing.  Keep trying to work it out and figure out how to be a success in this thing called marriage and family.  We...

"W hen there is deep misunderstanding which has led to the erection of barriers between two who once were close, every day brings the strengthening of those barriers if they are not, by God's grace, breached.  One prays and finds no way at all to break through.  Love seems to "backfire" every time.  Explanations become impossible.  New accusations arise, it seems, from nowhere {though it is well to recall who is named the Accuser of the brethren}.  The situation becomes ever more complex and insoluble, and the mind goes round and round, seeking the place where things went wrong, brooding over the words which were like daggers, regretting the failures and mistakes, wondering {most painfully} how it could have been different.  Much spiritual and emotional energy is drained in this way—but the Lord wants to teach us to commit, trust, and rest. "Leave him to me this afternoon, is what his word is.  There is nothing else that I am asking of you this ...

Y esterday we shared our gratitude list...counting to our one thousand gifts.   Today is Tuesday, which means we will talk about our "words" and how we use them. Our words, our utterances, are used to convey messages in our spoken or written language.  For example: the Word of God.  God's written Word.  His language to mankind conveys various messages some being: How the world & its contents came about What His plan was & is for us How we're to live The consequences of living or not living as He wants and so forth In His written Word we learn that "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." ~ Proverbs 15:1 In my personal experiences I've seen arguments dissipate right in front of me when I chose to speak gentle words and use a gentle manner.  However, I've also seen the opposite happen when I chose harsher words. I purposely say, "chose" because our word choice is simply that: our choice.  We ...

Giving thanks for now...this moment, this time...that's what gratitude looks like to me. I use to think it was about giving a BIG thank you when the extraordinary happened, but I've come to learn that my routine...day-to-day work of: working, writing, schooling my children, cleaning of the house; the cooking of meals, mothering, being his wife and His daughter are all part of my extraordinary work.  And that is where I also find Him...my Father— I AM, in the doing of my calling. It's not just in church where I find Him, or in the reading of His book, or doing "good deeds" ..., no I find Him and the gifts right there in my living out what He has taught me in church, and the reading of His book.  In the midst of me "living" I find Him...I feel Him ... beside me...talking to me...guiding me...teaching me. And that's where I find my joy.  "I find joy in the tarry there." Did you know that gratitude is the key to living a contented (h...

I t's still dark out though it's morning.  The house is hushed.  Still. I rise to talk to Him—Creator and the creature.  I'm remembering my spiritual practices—the one that draws me closer to Him.  The things that we write about on Wednesday's over at Ann Voskamps. I'm reading Colossians—not necessarily trying to memorize it as Ann and other's are doing.  I'm simply reading through it.  I plan on reading through it several times this year to see ... what He has for me there.  I love reading and then re-reading scripture.  I always over look things and He always has more to say to me during each read and re-read.  I love that, communing with Him.  And I love when He works through others...setting me on fire by the ordinary person, His men and His women. That's what He's doing to me through Ann and a few other bloggers.  Who would have known when I began this journey of blogging that it would first be done to share my walk wit...

T his year seems to be the year that I've taken to consciously form habits.  My goals are simple: energetically search for wisdom.  treasure His commandments within my heart. make my ear attentive to wisdom.  incline my heart to understanding and ... search...search and pray for the hidden treasures that wisdom holds. Ann Voskamp has written a book, "One Thousand Gifts:  A dare to live fully right where you are."   I haven't been able to shake that title—that dare.  I'm going to accept that dare, challenge, if you will.  This dare is what I'm going to practice to become habit.  Living fully right where I am.  To do this I believe the above goals are necessary for it takes wisdom to see the true beauty in such a dare.  It takes wisdom to recognize the hidden treasures of the  one thousand gifts that stare us in the face each and every day—365 days a year. How will this practice of habit began f...

J esus what can I say to you that you don't already know? First, I want to tell you what I'm taking part in with Ann & Holley (and some other lady bloggers).  We're calling ourselves "Word Girls." Each Tuesday each of us Word Girls are linking up to Ann's blog: a holy experience and sharing our series of letters about loving you with our words. So dear Lord, how do I love you? INSTANTLY sadness befalls my heart.  My heart knows that I don't love you like I should. BUT ... You love me— even still. The next question that comes to mind is ... Do people see your love displayed through me? Not often enough. Last week Holley's letter to Ann was titled: "Why You and Your Words are More than Enough." I've been thinking about that—pondering on the truth of that statement.  Is it true Lord?  Are me and my words enough? It is true.  "Just offer what you have.  I will make up the difference."   That's wha...

T he LORD never cease to amaze me. Have any of you ever desired something, never really praying about it.  Well, I take that back—you pray about it, maybe even often, but you pray and then leave it alone.  Believing that He will answer, but not until the far-future (you believe). I wish I could express my feelings in regards to this issue in a way that I know you could understood.  What I'm trying to convey is that God does give us the desires of our hearts.  Some times we have to wait a long time for some of those desires to come forth and sometimes we don't. Regardless, please be encourage that when we have desires and needs... The Father gives us some of those desires when He knows that He will be glorified. The Father also graciously takes care of the needs of His children. Day-by-day He is continuing to care for me before I can even breath out through words what some of my desires and needs are. I'm so glad that my Father in heaven loves ...

F acing  times of troubles? In my morning devotions I read a conversation between God and Jeremiah where God explained to Him why he was having troublesome days. I'm so sure God's  respond is the same to YOU and ME many times. When we're going through problems troublesome moments can be very useful.  A good way to look at our troubles is to think of them as "Our training."  They're our "training days." I'm convinced that it is in the days of difficulties that we are able to see what kind of character we've developed.  To check your character begin to discern your own actions—learn what they mean.   You can check for things such as: What is your thinking like when you are facing certain troubles? How do you feel within? Are you angry?  Why?  Why not? Are you blaming someone else?  Or have you taken on too much of the blame? How is your relationship with God, now? How is your relationship with...

This new year is very important to me.  For one, God has chosen to let me see "a new'" I'm excited to see what ... new things .... awaits me. As I shared with you on Wednesday, my word for the year is: Petros...Rock...Cornerstone . As I go through my daily routine of reading many of your blogs...I'm blessed.  I wonder if my blogging has moved any of you the way I'm moved by you? In reflecting on my wanting to be a ROCK or CORNERSTONE for my faith.   I wonder? How will I go about doing it?  I pray. Then I go to visit Ann ... you know Ann without the fanciful "e"?  Ann who helps us see the cross in the clothespin. Ann who reminds us "all is grace " when living in the "upside down world." She causes me to REMEMBER that my seemingly mundane work is  MY HIGH CALLING...my service to him...a holy work...my holy experience.   A calling and sacrifice that I give to Him each and everyday.  She helps me see ho...