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

Driving Out Our Fear

6:24 am is when I was awakened from my sleep due to a bad dream. It was a "Mommy" dream that painted all the horrible things that could happen to my children, marriage, and future. It was a dream that was driven by fear and sadness. I rolled over immediately and asked my husband to pray for all of these things that happened in the dream and he listened closely to every word that I said. Thankfully, he prayed as I had requested and after closing the prayer he gently began speaking these words of scripture to me.

"6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness."       1 Timothy 6:6-11 (NIV)

I was comforted by his words and thankful for him to speak over me the Word of God. There was one thing that was said that really resounded within my heart as a mother and wife. Thankfulness is the force which drives out fear. It is my contentment in our good God that will sustain me through all my deepest fears and failures.

How will you walk in thankfulness today? I will remind myself that in 2 Timothy 1:7 the Amplified Bible  "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control." In this truth I will remind myself to walk in His strength and not my own.

Blessings,

KtMaude

Tending to my Heart's Garden

A new year...a new town...a new baby...a new beginning

I have sat down many of times over the past year to blog about my crafting, adventures, and my day dreams. Each and every time I became distracted or just couldn't find the words. I have often come back to read some of my old posts but I end up kicking myself for not blogging faithfully.



Photo By Ron Saari http://www.ronsaari.com/

Then I realized...its okay that I don't share my every thought and creative idea... as long as I am pouring into my family and teaching my sweet children the beauty of art, creativity and love. This is what is important...that I daily love my husband and express my appreciation towards him in as many ways as possible. What's most important? That I hug my children and take time for myself and the things that I love, which is the hardest thing for most young mothers, like myself. I'm challenged to look back and grab on to the things that grow my soul and my joy; namely, the things that make me...me.

The spring season is awakening the sleeping buds that are ready to bloom. As I have this creative stir growing within my heart, I ask myself what is it that I need to do in order to get started again? What must I do to tend to this fragile garden that is in need of such care? What must I do to allow these buds to grow and flowers to bloom in my life? Not just for my sake and sanity but for my family. This garden inside my heart must grow and bloom so I may be a better mother, wife, sister, mentor and believer.

Ideas... I look to God's magnificent creation and I see what the plants need... sunshine...water...fresh air. So, this is where I begin...fresh air. To take a walk everyday and think of the beauty surrounding me and allow it to fan my creative desires and blow away my failures. I am learning that as a mother and a wife there is always things that can be done better, words to regret and dirt to be swept. Yet in still, God extends His grace so that I may bask in the beauty of his gifts and all that He has given me.

Since moving to this historic town, Princeton, New Jersey, where some of the greatest young minds in the world are taught and shaped at Princeton University...I pray that I have the boldness to be shaped and taught...that I may learn who I am in the midst of this busy season of life. For spring is the busiest season of all...new life and growth...yet despite it's business, it does not cease from faithfully producing the breathtaking masterpieces that we all enjoy- year after year and season after season.

May this spring be the beginning of our masterpiece...so put down the broom...take a break from the computer...do the laundry another time... go for a walk and get some fresh air.

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.