Be true to who you are…..

And the family name you bear……


Saturday, November 12, 2011

Enter into His Gates with Thanksgiving

My new home is little... for months on end that has been the only word that I have found to describe it, and as unintentional as it was I had become like the stiff necked Jews when the Lord led them from Egypt into the promised land. Ungrateful..

Oh, I never out and out griped about my little house but I always found myself saying things like "The girls and I are use to having miles of counter top...bumping elbows while we cook is something new for us." Or how about this one.. "I had three living rooms at our old house" as the visitor steps around a lego city that was constructed in my only (gasp) living room. Ah yes, pride glorious pride....

Sigh... I don't know sometimes why the Lord puts up with me. Lately, however, I have felt something change inside. I feel that peace... I love that peace.

The menfolk are in Idaho. Andrew drew a ram tag before we left so they are there seeing if they can't fill it, that and bringing me back IDAHO potatoes, since these things hauled in from Maine are proving unfit to eat. :)

While they hunt the girls and I always have a list of domestic duties we want to get accomplished. Usually canning, sewing, decorating and such. The list always includes window washing as well. Going into winter we need to allow as much light into the home as possible. This year the task (one of my least favorite) was finished inside and out in less than two hours...unheard of, normally it would have taken all day and an entire bottle of Tylenol!! The girls and I spent the rest of the day playing on the deer trails in our wooded pastures and picking nuts.. As I tucked myself in bed later that night I was praising God for the wonderful day we had spent and it was only then that I realized... I was praising him for my little house.
My little house sits back in the woods of our property, I can see no other house around or see the cars that may travel down our dirt road. Today I went out and milked my cow in my p.j.'s and no one knew. I buried my face in the side of my cow and breathed deep of sweet grass and leather as I rejoiced at being completely alone. Life is good. My little house has hardwood floors (what I have always wanted), a wood burning stove to keep it toasty warm, a library for our books, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

I am blessed indeed.

Oh, don't mistake me for perfect. I still have a honey do list that includes new cabinets and wainscoting and ~oh don't get me started~ BUT, I am finally at home in my llittle home and I am grateful in my heart that God, as always, is good.

By Faith

Where reason cannot wade there faith may swim.

—Thomas Watson


I have often wondered why life can be such a challenge.. Why the life the Lord leads us through can seem so eccentric, muddled, and scattered. I never ever get something right the first time. I always do things the hard way. It can be so frustrating yet, I know that it is not I but HE who orchestrates the affairs of man so if I am to be honest, I am not frustrated with the situation but with my Saviour.

How ungrateful can I be? That the one who gave his all for and to me should frustrate me so. I am spoiled. The past week I feel as if we are walking in mud.. Missouri mud, the kind that sticks to your shoes and the more you walk the more it sticks until your legs are heavy and hard to lift. I have so quickly forgotten the blessing of last week when our house in Idaho closed while others have sat with homes they cannot afford on the market for months upon months and I am free. Free to fuss because our power upgrade for the shop cost us six hundred dollars. Free to fuss because I have my heart set on an additional tract of land that I would like to purchase but the owner has completely vanished. Free to fuss because I am running six different directions on any given day. Life is scattered but I am free. If I but live by faith instead of by fuss I would find that things go better than I could ever imagine.
Many nights ago Shane was able to get in touch with the son of Mick, who owns the land next to ours. When Shane told the son that we were looking to purchase it he laughed and said he didn't think his dad was interested in selling but gave us Micky's number and said we could try. I'll be honest my guts were tied in knots but I said " It doesn't matter, it isn't up to him...It isn't even up to Mick...it's up to God." For days on end we called that number but he would not answer. One night out of the blue we received a call from Mick. He stated that he had missed a call from us. When Shane explained what we were calling for, Mick immediately said he would sell. The next week we closed. At the closing Mick said that he never had any intention on selling that land but at the moment he and Shane spoke he knew that he was to sell it to us. His words that followed make my heart sing. "I don't know why I all the sudden got the urge to change my mind but I guess it was just time for me to let it go."
I know why, because of a loving Saviour who cares for me more than I will ever understand.