Wisdom Wednesday: According To Who

According to His Grace

As I collapsed in bed after a long day of  three kids, cleaning, managing bills, errands, etc etc etc   LIFE! I was drained physically but I couldn't stop myself from reviewing my day and realized I had not been the best Mommy nor did I even draw on the Lord for my daily strength. I felt that I utterly failed to really focus on the big picture and ended up making my "To Do" list the reason for working hard for the day. The funny thing is after completing my 'To Do" list I didn't have that satisfaction as I thought I would. That is where my personal dialog of negative inside chatter began.

"Will I ever get this right"

"It has been years and I still struggle with..."

"I am a horrible Christian"

"God, why can't I just do..."

"I can't stand my selfishness..."


The dialog went on and on until I had literally beat myself up! I couldn't be satisfied with just being physically exhausted I had to drain myself mentally and emotionally to justify my own failures. It was as if I needed to punish myself for my failures and shortfalls.  That I was not only setting my standard for the whole day with a check list to complete but then I sat myself down after the day and reviewed my failures to somehow make myself feel better.WHAT IN THE WORLD! Then the sweet words from the book of Ephesians chapter one came to my heart. This is not my story but HIS story...that I had done enough self loathing and condemnation over my day and had forgotten it was really His day. That I had literally been so absorbed in my day, my children, my household management, my definition of an effective day that I forgot that the Lord himself had given me this day!

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him…"                                                                            Ephesians 1:7-9

So I lay my head down tonight and remember according to HIS grace which HE lavished on me! Praise the Lord for His grace and mercy that He so generously lavishes on me during the times when I need it most but am too busy or prideful to notice. Therefore, I go to rest my mind and body knowing that His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) and I shall arise refreshed and renewed remembering that my day is not for me but it's for Him. I choose to rejoice with the Psalmist when he says: "This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)

Blessings & Good Night,

KtMaude

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas...

Today as the sun is shining in my bedroom window... I can hear the radio playing one of my favorite Christmas songs... "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...just like the ones I used to know..." I love the long smooth voice of Bing Crosby... it makes me miss my childhood winters in Michigan. Growing up my mother had such an amazing ability to transform my childhood home into a Christmas fairyland. Another fellow blogger, Rebecca at {The Ardent Sparrow}: A {White} Christmas..., has a taste for beautiful things much like my mother. Rebecca has been posting the most beautiful collection of Christmas decor. She has such a great eye for color that it provokes such warm emotion as well as conveying a new look with good ole' vintage feel. Enjoy...

As for me... my little family and I will be spending another Christmas with just the three of us. My daughter Omi is praying the sun doesn't melt the remaining snow and my husband hopes that Miami will beat the Lakers. I am just grateful for time to slow down and enjoy each others company.

Merry Christmas

KtMaude

I'm back....

October was a long month for my family. We have been looking forward to November and fixing our thoughts upon the amazing blessings that the Lord has seen fit to give us. Through all of the ups and downs that October brought… I am even more impressed and grateful for God’s faithfulness and His unchanging ways. The theme that is evident to me in this season of life can be found in the words of David from Psalm 92:1-4...

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, O Most High;
to declare your steadfast love in the morning,
and your faithfulness by night,
to the music of the lute and the harp,
to the melody of the lyre.
For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work;
at the works of your hands I sing for joy."

I have so much to be thankful for and David helped to remind me that I need to be more thankful for my Lord and Savior, husband, sisters, friends and daughter. So this Thanksgiving I plan to give my time, attention, and love to others...and stop thinking so much of myself.

This thanksgiving my fun project will be helping a dear friend redeem her guest bathroom. I have been playing with different colors and textures that she is interested in and finally came to this result. I will be giving her bathroom a beautiful cool gray that will be complimented by this artistic shower curtain. All of her hardware will be switched to a brushed stainless steel. To compliment the cool gray, I will add a beautiful natural pallet of greens, browns and grays to give it a modern finish with a rustic feel.

Tomorrow we will be treasure hunting at some of the local architectural salvage storage spaces as well as consignment shops. I pray we can find some of the beautiful drawers and art to fill her space. As I have stated before in my previous posts... I love my treasure hunting! I tend to catch myself smiling and daydreaming of what fun things I am going to discover (I feel like Christopher Columbus)! A thrilling hunt for something discarded...broken...somewhat ugly and adding "pazazz" to it...the best part of it all is spending time with such an amazing friend.

from house 2 home

I believe that you don't have to spend money to make a house a home... here is a little bit of what I have been doing to make my new house a home for my family.





All items were materials that I had already owned and the boards I bought at a thrift store. They had dents and scratches which naturally made me love them more....










I enjoy taking everyday pieces and using them in different ways... this is a material I have had since college that has been used as a table cloth, curtain and now a piece has been cut off and braided to hang my beautiful frame.




By every space that is redeemed in this place slowly transforms into my family's safe haven... a place of rest.... a place to live. Enjoy!