Delight in the Lord: Making Your Home A Haven Study and Challenge Week 1 Day 1

This is the 11th Annual Making Your Home a Haven Study from Courtney Joseph at Women Living Well.  I have done this before. I have even posted about the study/challenge on my blog before.

I have started to blog again so many times, but I never got around to posting what I wrote. I miss writing/blogging. As I read books about finding what a person is supposed to be doing, I keep coming back to writing. I'm getting off subject here, but I have read old blog posts and newsletters of my own and thought "Wow! What wisdom and insight!"; not always, of course, but sometimes I can hardly believe I actually wrote what I know I wrote!

Actually, this whole thought process does apply.  Courtney's intro talks about being so busy that we do not delight in life (,or in the Lord). You can see from the picture that I bought the journal from Amazon this year, but in years past, I have just used the blog posts and printables to follow along (in the early years, there was not printed journal option). You can watch her talk about the subject in her introduction video on the blog (or YouTube) and read what she wrote on the blog.

I may have even written on here about this before, but as it is something I have struggled with over and over, I am sure it bears possible repetition (if only for myself).  I know that when life seems overwhelming and I am over tired and I don't feel like I can accomplish even the bare necessities... I can look to my time with God and see that it is lacking. I know He wants me to spend time with Him and I NEED to spend time with Him.  Also, I punish myself for not getting things done by not allowing myself to do things like this (writing and blogging and other creative things, even putting time with God on the back burner) that would actually fuel me to accomplish those other tasks that I am struggling with. And I even realized last week that I no longer sing in the shower, or the car, like I used to. And I only sing and dance while I do chores when one of my children plays music near me. I love that they will play D.J. for me sometimes and we even turn it into a game many times of naming the song, artist, release date... or even just have an impromptu Dance Party. I am happy that I inspired a love of music in my children (and the variety of genres they enjoy, and introduce to me, is incredible!), but I am a little sad that have not been the one starting the music lately.  I know how much singing makes joy bubble over from me and changes my mood in a matter of minutes. 

These past years that I have not shared on my blog have had hardships and celebrations... don't all years?!  I would like to share some highlights from those missed years; I will just have to see how that goes.  This year began with all the hope and excitement of a new year that quickly turned to the Covid-19 Pandemic taking over so much of my thoughts and decisions.  The Pandemic mixed with the USA Presidential Election has made for a lot of frustration in my mind. Not that I haven't prayed about it, and not that I have terrible tragedy that I experienced. I actually have so much to be thankful for during this past year. And as much as I have tried to pray in all things and rest in God's peace... I have struggled with feelings of frustration, weariness, uncertainty of what I should do and say in life situations that sprung from the years events, probably anger (the thought keeps coming to me, but I haven't realized it until now), and I know there is more muddled around in my mind that I can't even begin to express right now.

All that to say that I am so glad to be joining in with Courtney and so many others around the world for Making Your Home a Haven. We are writing down things we are grateful for each day, as well as the scripture study and the challenges.  This is perfect for the month of Thanksgiving in my home country of the USA.  I also feel this as a great way to reset before the beginning of another new year.

I plan to post on here as well as on my Instagram account:  @thebasicsoflife_elvisgirl .

The challenge for this week is to buy an extra large candle to light every day. You put the candle in a central place in your home. Each time the glimmer of the candle catches your eye,  you stop to pray and give thanks. My candle is not probably not considered extra large, but it is soy and made in Kansas City and burns for many hours. The Frakincese and Myrrh scent seemed perfect to me to get my mind on the celebration of Christ's birth, too.

The scripture study for today is Philippians 4:4-9.  Those verse are full of instructions for our thoughts and promises for God's peace.  They are verses I turn to often, but usually separate. They are such a powerhouse together as they were initially intended.  Even if you don't join in the study, I highly recommend reading the verses and meditating on them.

Life Lessons

There are so many posts just waiting to be written...I had a great time at our Mini Conference last Saturday and I will be posting my handout on here in the very near future...I wanted to write one on love for Valentine's Day (kind of late, but better late than never)...I have a fun story about friend's children who are ready to move in with us to be homeschooled...our schedule...but what I'm going to write about is some wisdom of my past teachers. Please, excuse my rambling, run on sentence, I like to write the way I think; which is not necessarily the proper way to write. I have a BA in English, so I do know how to write. I choose to write the way I think.

I read an article from The Heart of the Matter today that got me thinking about two of the best lessons I've learned outside of my parents and the Bible. The first that I usually think of is from my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. McVey, who taught me that "You are responsible for your own actions." We have a written list of house rules, and that one is on the top of the list. I think that is an especially bad problem of the generations after my own (not to mention many in my generation)...blaming others for our own actions. I even have to remind myself at times that I am responsible for my own actions!

The other lesson is one that I can't quite remember who taught me, but I'm fairly certain I learned this gem of wisdom sometime in my teenage years. I was told that mistakes, failures, and the like should be looked upon as "Learning experiences". If we don't have any troubles or difficulties, how can we learn from them? That has served me well through the years. The article I read today especially reminded me of this one.

My daughter began "offical" homeschooling (you know, when we start calling it school and keeping records and such) with a great fear of failure. She didn't want to try for fear of giving the wrong answer or sounding out a word wrong. Part of her fear may have been my tone of voice or feeling my frustration in those early days (I felt we were on trial in my husband's eyes.). I have have worked on myself a lot in those areas. Thankfully, I realized the other day that I felt strange raising my voice. So much time had gone by that I have not raised my voice. Thank you, God, for helping me. The Lord does answer prayers.

I do feel that at least part of her fear was just that of failing. After explaining to her multiple times that I am glad for her to make mistakes so that she can learn from them, she approaches most things without fear, sometimes even reminding me about learning experiences. I believe I have even heard her give the advice to others. I think that learning from failure is such an important lesson to learn. I am glad to pass that one on, too.

I'm sure that some version of these lessons could be found in the Bible, that is just not where I first learned them. I do believe God provided for us in all ways when writing the Bible. As I child, I remember the story of King Solomon and how he asked God for wisdom. That story etched itself on my brain and heart. I knew that God answered prayers, with the right answer, all I had to do was ask. My mother's testimony led my to my own relationship with Christ. I will write some other days (for future generations) about the wonderful examples of my immediate and extended family.

I was not homeschooled, but my parents were wonderful part-time homeschoolers (meaning I went to public school, but they taught me plenty at home). Mom was, and is, full of imagination. She passed on her love of reading to me. She is a very patient teacher. I did not learn how to find answers in public school, but my Mother taught me how. She taught me how to write my name in cursive and how to teach myself typing, both before I learned in school. My Father is skillful in woodworking. I took Shop class not only to learn, but to be closer to my Dad. I can look at my projects and remember the help and advice he gave me. There are so many wonderful things both my parents taught me, but the most important lesson was to let my children know that I not only love them because they are my children, but I value them as people. I enjoy talking with them, hearing their opinions, and I choose to be with them more often than not. I knew my parents valued me as a person, not just because I was their child. I chose my parents more often than not, because I not only love my parents, but I really like them. Thank you, God, for my parents.