Joyfull Living

I found this post that was written a few years ago. It was designed to be the beginning post of a series of our journey to healthier living.  Lots of changes have occurred since then, But, here is the beginning and more up to date happenings will follow! Over 10 years ago a friend invited me to a woman's seminar.  It turned out the Above Rubies  founder was making a special visit to our small town for a one day seminar.  Nancy Campbell was very inspiring and encouraging, but talked about things which were foreign to me.  She shared things like truly loving our families and making them a priority serving our family with joy watching what we fed them - talked about junk food in the grocery cart teaching them and implanting God's Word into their heart walking through the garden to 'pick' her lunch making bread from fresh ground wheat loving the home and delighting to be there natural living - using homemade and natural products for all aspects of li...

Visionary Womanhood is my personal journey with the Lord enroute to becoming a woman after God's own heart. The journey goes through the steps and experience which drew me closer to God and to His purpose for me as a woman. To read the earlier posts in this series click HERE. We left off at my being a career mom, working 8-5, followed by soccer practice, supper, homework and exhaustion! I asked the Lord for a glimpse of His plan or vision for my life and He freely gave it! To be at home, putting my family first and devoting myself to their care. Things were settled in my heart with a renewed interest in keeping my home and nurturing my family. But time was a huge issue, I just didn't have time! Things continued on like this for a while when one month I realized my cycle was late. After suffering three miscarriages we had decided on no more children. Taking the pregnancy test confirmed I was indeed pregnant - totally surprised, shocked and terrified! This pregnan...

Visionary Womanhood is my "journal" of what the Lord has done in my life as a woman. You can read the preceding parts at Visionary Womanhood . To quickly recap where we left off, I was now a "career mom". Working 8-5, stressed, grouchy and neglecting my home. We ate out a lot, my husband had gotten a new job out of town and we hardly ever saw each other and things were a little out of whack. On evening on the way home from work I was listening to a sermon from a local church. The preacher asked " What Is Your Spiritual Vision?" He explained that vision is very important for a Christian. It gives purpose and direction to all of our actions and efforts. It causes us to be continually moving toward something. God has placed within each one of us a passion or desire and He equips us with everything we need to fulfill the vision He has given us. As I pondered the question, at that time I could not see two hours ahead in my life. It consisted of work, homewo...

This is a continuation of a personal account of God's grace and guidance in my life as a Christian woman, wife and mother. You can read from the beginning HERE. For a quick recap, I was a mother of two boys, had gone through the loss of three pregnancies by miscarriage and was moving forward in the busyness of life. In 2000 my husband got laid off from his job which was the main source of our income. I had a part time job, but began to look for a full time job with benefits as my husband went to school for a different occupation. I was blessed to quickly find a 40 hour a week job with benefits, DH (dear husband) found a school and was in training there and again, we were moving forward from our setbacks. Before I share my work experience, I want to extend my respect and admiration to mothers who work full time. This was not God's plan for my family, but I in no way want to offend any full time working mothers. I admire and respect you deeply. As I left my part time job ...

This is a continuation of "Visionary Womanhood". You can read the previous posts HERE. Earlier I had shared the mother I was before God touched and changed my heart and life as a woman, wife and mother. Some Challenging Times As a young wife and mother of two small boys, my husband and I were open to more children for our family. When our boys were about 6 and 3, I became pregnant again. With our older boys, the pregnancies and birth circumstances were about as perfect as they could be. Great pregnancies with no morning sickness, no complications, fairly easy births. We had no idea this one could be any different. But at 6 weeks, I miscarried this baby. Another couple of years later we were blessed with a pregnancy. Realizing the fragility of life since we had suffered through a previous miscarriage, we entered this pregnancy a bit nervous only to be devastated by another miscarriage. Another year or so went by and another pregnacy test came back positive. I just knew...

Mothering Before God's Vision As a young married couple, my husband and I always agreed that when we had children, I would be a stay at home mom. When the babies were born three years apart, I was happy not to be working an out of the home job, but was far from a stay at home mom. Our days were spent at my mother's with the soap operas going all day on the television, going to lunch several times a week at a restaurant. In fact, most days we were gone all day and many days, hurried home just before Dad got home and threw some kind of dinner together for the family. My home was usually clean, but not nurtured as my heart was not at home. When the boys got bigger and the youngest was ready for kindergarten, I found work outside the home. I reasoned that since the boys were now in school, they didn't need me that much. I found a part time job which allowed me to work around school hours. My spiritual life was mostly on the outside. I attended church, worked various jobs in the...

Recently on a blog I was reading (I can't remember which one, it was over a week ago - need I say more??!!) the writer stated her purpose for the blog. I have pondered her words in my heart and asked myself the same question - what is the purpose of this blog, what goals or vision do I have for it? One of the main reasons this blog started was to encourage other Christian women in their God-given roles of wife, mother and keeper of the home. Christian womanhood is a subject I am passionate about. The most exciting aspect of this subject is what God in His infinite grace did in my heart, life and home and I want to share with others. By sharing on these subjects my intention is not done in the manner that I am good at this or you should do it this way...but it along the lines of God changed my heart, enabled me to see things His way and that these changes result in good actions. Also I hope this is an encouragement that if God can make these changes and produce these results in me -...