Joyfull Living

Today's topic for At the Well is "Maintaining Home Peace In Times of Chaos" . How well does that fit a Monday morning? Some discussion questions are: Life's storms will come sometimes when we least expect them, how do we give our children a "safe feeling" in the midst of a life storm? Sometimes chaos is created by our own efforts of trying to do too much, how can we maintain a peaceful home where chaos is prevented? How can we as wives and mothers actually calm the storm? The only predictable thing about the storms of life is that they will come and you will not be ready for them. In my previous post, I shared about a phone call we received while we were touring a college campus with my oldest son. I was trying to prepare our family for the changes of graduation and college when we got a phone call that brought an unexpected change. My uncle had a heart attack that morning and passed away. Through the space of a two minute call, our lives were forever...

This has certainly been a weekend filled with a wide range of activities and emotions. Friday night our youngest son went to little league baseball draft, where they connect players and teams. It was lots of fun and he did very well catching and throwing the ball and batting. Saturday morning, we took our oldest son to tour a college campus. This is a totally new experience for our family and we got some great information to move us forward during this process. While we were at the college, the cell phone rang and it was bad news. My uncle who lives right near to us had a heart attack and passed away that morning. It always amazes me how lives can be forever changed by a phone call. Death is something we never expect and are never prepared for. It changes families and circumstances forever. We spent the afternoon with the family. It is also somewhat sad how we live in such busy times we don't get to visit with friends and family very often. Today at my aunt's home...

Last night at church, there was a Family Meal, where each family brought a food dish to share. For fun, for March, there was an Irish theme, you were supposed to bring an Irish dish. I made corned beef and cabbage and a pistachio cake. This cake turned out so well, I thought I would share the recipe! Pistachio Cake 1/2 cup oil 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup milk 5 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 2 packages pistachio pudding mix 1 white cake mix 1 cup mini chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350. Grease a bundt pan. With an electric mixer, mix all ingredients except chips until well blended. Stir in chips, pour cake batter into bundt pan and bake at 350 for 45 min. to one hour. A perfect glaze for this cake is made by mixing confectioners sugar and water, and drizzle over the top.

I know that I say this every week, but I LOVE Word Filled Wednesdays! By Wednesday things are going full steam through the week with the daily cares of life. WFW is a wonderful breath of life from the Word of God. It energizes and helps turn my attention back to what is most important. Singing is a wonderful way to worship the Lord. I am not blessed with a beautiful singing voice like many others, but there is something so precious about singing to the Lord. It is a pure expression of praise and worship to Him alone, simply telling Him how wonderful He is. The Psalms are filled with expressions of worship that can be read aloud to Him in prayer and many songs have their basis from these verses. Try this little trick, get alone and think of a song which honors the Lord and just sing a little, it is guaranteed that your heart will overflow and bring a sweet love offering before the throne of the Lord. Worship is very powerful, it changes things, but most importantly, it chang...

I am so excited to be a guest contributor for At the Well today. Come over to At the Well to read about being a "Keeper at Home", most importantly - keeping our hearts at home!

Want this button? The Glory of a Christian Marriage Recently in the course of my job as a church secretary, I had to type out the traditional marriage vows for a wedding. It was a very thought provoking job as I could not help but reflect on my own wedding vows that I took almost 20 years ago. When I was a young, blushing bride, at my wedding ceremony, although I certainly meant my wedding vows, I was a bit too young and excited over the wedding to "digest" them. Now as the years and the experiences of marriage have grown, these vows brought to life the depth of commitment and godly love between a husband and wife. Will you take this man to be your wedded husband, to live together in the holy estate of matrimony? Will you love him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others keep yourself only unto him, so long as you both shall live? "I Will" flows so easily out of a young bride's mouth while visions of...

The topic for today is Persistence. The discussion questions are: Think about your daily life as a wife, mother and child of God. What are some ways that you have persisted when you have been knocked down? How have these circumstances brought glory to the Father? There is a verse that I found years ago that stuck a chord in my heart: Psalms 101:2 I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. This verse reminded me of the importance of good manners, good behavior, kind words and a heart that seeks out only good things in my own home. It is so easy at home to "let go" and not give extra attention to words and attitudes. It seems we are on guard to be on our best behavior everywhere we go and in front of others, but at home looks, answers and attitudes that are not perfect seem to fly from me! From the above verse, we are encouraged to walk within our own home with a perfect heart and behave wisely...