A wee break!

I am sorry that I haven't been blogging much lately but life has gotten really busy of all of a sudden. With the onset of Christmas and many issues going on around us just now, blogging has taken a backseat for the time being.

I will be back into the swing of regular posts after the New Year but think it is wise to take a break while things are so hectic.

So I wish everyone a lovely Christmas time and pray that Jesus is at the centre of it all. See you all in the New Year.

faithfulness

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Then you will have healing for your body and strength for your bones.' Proverbs 3:5-8

These are just some of the encouraging verses people have been sharing over the last week. As you know our Church has a dear brother in Christ who is ill in hospital at the moment. There has been such an outpouring of love among our Church fellowship it is unbelievable. God is truly working at the moment among all of us and the family are feeling the power of everyone's prayers.

These weeks are hard for many different reasons but God is faithful and will answer prayer.

¹Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

Prayer needed

Revelation 21:4 (New International Version)

⁴He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

At the moment there are many people suffering in our Church. One of our dear dear friends is very ill and has cancer of the liver. This news has devastated him, his family, Church family and friends.

We know that many of the people that read this blog pray and believe in the Lord. Please can I request prayer for this family. They really need it.

How we look forward to the day when God brings the promise quoted above to be.

Psalm Saturday

Psalm 148 NIV

¹ Praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD from the heavens,

praise him in the heights above.

² Praise him, all his angels,

praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

³ Praise him, sun and moon,

praise him, all you shining stars.

⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens

and you waters above the skies.

⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for he commanded and they were created.

⁶ He set them in place for ever and ever;

he gave a decree that will never pass away.

⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth,

you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

stormy winds that do his bidding,

⁹ you mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars,

¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle,

small creatures and flying birds,

¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations,

you princes and all rulers on earth,

¹² young men and maidens,

old men and children.

¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD,

for his name alone is exalted;

his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

¹⁴ He has raised up for his people a horn,

the praise of all his saints,

of Israel, the people close to his heart.

Praise the LORD.

Are we praising God this Christmas? What are we teaching our children about the meaning of Christmas? It is so so easy to get caught up in the excitement of it all and neglect to teach the real reason we celebrate this time of year. It is hard not to get carried away with the myth of Santa Claus and talk of what you are buying for the kids this year.

Each year I try to make sure the kids know exactly what it is all about but I get carried away as well! What do you do when your kids mention Santa, as they all do??? I can't help but think we are lying to our kiddos when we reinforce this. However, he is a good fun character who adds to the magic of Christmas!

I wonder what God would think about our celebration of the birth of Jesus? Of course we don't know! Christmas has just become a large worship of consumerism. Children compile lists of things they would like from Santa and set themselves up for disappointment when they don't get everything or worse still get every thing on their list!

Our children are such little consumers and it is hard not to get caught up in this aspect of Christmas. I never want to go down the road of wish lists from the kids because they will be sorely disappointed!! Also this isn't the attitude I want to instill in my kids. Christmas isn't just a time for receiving the latest toy. Of course it is nice for kids to receive gifts and we can use this as a lesson to teach them about the greatest gift of all.

I sometimes wish we could just strip Christmas down to the bare bones of what it is truly all about. Maybe then people would all be a little happier, less stressed, less financially burdened and praising the Lord that created them.

Thankful Thursday

Hi and welcome to another Thankful Thursday. I get to join with Sonya and friends at Truth 4 the Journey and list 5 things I am thankful to God for this week!

• I am thankful for all the great advice I have received from people about Emma and her sleep habits. I am unsure which approach I am going to take just yet but I appreciate all the different ideas and advice from everyone so much.

• I had a hold of a gorgeous wee new baby boy on Monday and am thankful to God for this. It did leave me feeling a little broody but the feeling wore off the next day! It was lovely to have a wee snuggle with a newborn again though.

• On Tuesday a friend at Church told me they had become a Christian. Praise God for this wonderful, amazing news!

• A great turnout at the Toddlers group on Monday. We are having our Christmas party soon and I am looking forward to a busy day that day!

• My mum's health is improving over the last few days. The doctor has prescribed her some stronger medication which appears to be working. Thank you Lord.

advice appreciated!

My Emma! I love her to pieces! She will be 3 on December 19th. I am so thankful to God for my beautiful little girl. She is affectionate, shy, kind, helpful, loves singing and loves painting!

She has been a terrible sleeper from around 6 months old. She is very very clingy with me. Recently she was ill and ended up sleeping in with me and now this is a habit which is proving hard to break. She literally has to cuddle right into me to get back to sleep when she wakes at night and it is beginning to take it's toll. I do enjoy snuggles with her but it is beginning to get a bit suffocating.

What do I do? I am at a total and utter loss. She likes space to sleep and move about and I am sure this is why she likes our bed! I tried putting her in her own bed recently in our room but she wouldn't have any of it! Leaving her to cry isn't an option as she will just come downstairs or wake Jacob.

Has anyone else had a terrible sleeper? What did you do to resolve the problems? I would appreciate any help or advice at all as I am desperate!

Psalm Saturday

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;

dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;

trust in him and he will do this:

Psalm 37: 3-5 NIV.

We are to TRUST, DELIGHT and COMMIT ourselves to and in the Lord! Are we doing this? Am I doing this? Never is it harder to trust in the Lord when I am struggling with my day. Do you delight yourself in the Lord? It is easy to take great pleasure in our Lord at Church but do we do this every day at home, in our day to day mundane lives? I find this hard!

Are we committing ourselves to the Lord? Do we entrust God with our lives and devote ourselves to serving Him? When we pray do we ask for God's will to be done or are we asking for all the things we want? Doing God's will isn't always easy and especially if it challenges you!

So some questions for us all to ponder on this Saturday.

Thankful Thursday

It is so great to be able to participate in Thankful Thursday again this week! Last week we were plagued by illness so I couldn't blog at all really!

So here is my list of 5 things I am thankful to God for this week.

• I am thankful that we are all recovered from the horrible flu type illness we had. Colin had it the worst and had to take a week off work to recover! Thankfully the kids didn't have it as bad as we did. Anyway all better now!

• When Colin takes time off work he doesn't get paid for it, (he is a taxi driver), so we had no income for the week he was off ill. I was very worried but he did say that there should be enough in the bank. Nevertheless I still worried! However, Colin has discovered he has received a tax refund! Praise God for providing this tax refund at the perfect time! I am so thankful for this!

• The winds have been howling and blowing a gale here lately. There has also been severe flooding in parts of England. I am thankful for a roof over my head and a comfortable home to stay cosy in this winter.

• Thank you Lord that I have one child who is a good sleeper! Emma is still up at night despite sleeping all night recently. I am at a loss as to why this happens but am thankful that Jacob loves his sleep and doesn't rise too early in the morning.

• The miracle of Jesus' birth! I am thankful for this time of year and the opportunity it presents to share more with the kids about what Christmas is truly all about.

God is everywhere!

Hello everyone! Finally I am able to return to a normal blogging schedule. We are all well again and over the worst of illness thankfully.

During this time God has spoken to us as a family so many times and it has been lovely. Jacob was off school most of last week which meant he and his sister spent a lot of time together. There were the inevitable fights of course but some sweet moments as well!

I brought Jacob's duvet downstairs for him to cosy under and he and Emma snuggled together at one end of the sofa. They just chatted together and Emma began asking Jacob why did God give us eyes, hair, chins, mouths and so on!! He answered most of her questions and it was just adorable to see them chat together this way!

Last night Emma decided it would be fun to wake at 2am and start singing. She was singing Thank You God for Snails and it was lovely! I wasn't happy that she wouldn't go back to sleep but I was touched to hear her sing her heart out!

At Church on Sunday both my kids go off to their own Sunday school classes now. Emma is in the toddlers class and loves this wee class. Jacob was so enthusiastic about his lesson yesterday and was desperate to tell me all about it when I went in to collect him. It is so encouraging to see your kids loving God and enjoying all that they are learning about him. We have such a wonderful group of friends at Church who all love Jesus and our children can see this in them.

God has truly spoken to me during all this illness and I am thankful to Him for these moments.

we are all sick!

Hello dear friends! I am so sorry I have not been posting this week at all. On Tuesday I woke with an aching body and sore throat and cough. Jacob woke with the same. Colin ran around after me all day but then the next day he woke with the same! Basically we have been in the house since Tuesday and unable to do much at all. Jacob has been off school all week and is better but still sounding hoarse.

Emma seems to be about the best out of all of us! I thought I was better on Thursday but woke yesterday feeling bad again. It has been one of those weeks when the days all blur into each other and you can't remember which day it is. We are all going a bit stir crazy being stuck in together. Colin hasn't been able to work either and it doesn't look hopeful for the rest of his working week.

So that is why I haven't been blogging this week. I hope to be back a normal routine on Monday(surely Lord????). We haven't felt this bad for a long while and just wonder if it has been the dreaded swine flu.

Well I better be off to check on some of my patients who are still in bed! Even when mum is ill the work just doesn't stop.

Take care and missing you all!

Still here!

Sorry I haven't been posting very regularly lately. Things have been pretty hectic around here over the last few days. On Sunday we had a very busy day at Church with a fellowship meal in the afternoon. Yesterday we had our parent and toddlers group at Church which was quite busy!

Last night I was looking into gifts for the toddlers Christmas party and nursing a sore throat and cough at the same time! I have, of course, woken this morning feeling pretty naff so I don't think I will be blogging much this week if I continue to feel this way.

I just wanted to share my most recent quilting project with you. I made this one for my mum and it was a hard one for me. The quilting is machine stitched and I done a kind of freehand Baptist fan design on the main part of the quilt. I am not 100% happy with it but then whoever is with their projects?

My mum loves it and it is just the right size for her lap. My mum hasn't been well the last few weeks. She has had a chest infection and has a chest condition which causes her difficulty exerting herself. She gets out of breath really easily. This has been caused by smoking and she has really really tried to stop but struggles with it. I worry about her so much. I love her dearly and worry about how much time she will have with the kids because of this condition. She can't do a lot physically so I worry about this too.

So anyway I am happy to be able to do small things like making a quilt for her to brighten her day hopefully!

Psalm Saturday

Psalm 14
For the director of music. Of David. 1 The fool [a] says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.
2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.
3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
4 Will evildoers never learn— those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on the LORD ?
5 There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is present in the company of the righteous.
6 You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the LORD is their refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!
Footnotes:
Psalm 14:1 The Hebrew words rendered fool in Psalms denote one who is morally deficient.
Psalm 14 NIV.

Doesn't this sound like the world today? There are plenty who deny God's existence. There are people with no moral grounding or boundaries.

Much of our society just doesn't have time for God or doesn't want to know God. Yet He wants to know us!

2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Psalm 14, NIV.

I find it interesting how this Psalm can be applied to society today as well as way back then. It would seem not a great deal changes regarding people!

As a Christian we can pray that people will see that they need God and indeed call upon Him. It is our great commission to tell people about Jesus and what He done for us on the cross. Our society is crying out for a remedy to it's moral deficiency and only Jesus is the answer to this.

I know that before I became a Christian I was looking for something to answer the questions I had about life. I sought this in the wrong places. How glad I was when I found the answers in the Bible. It all just fell into place and made perfect sense!

Many others seek answers in other religions, such as Islam, or through mediums, meditation, science and so on. To believe in Jesus just isn't cool in our society. It is looked down upon, we are ridiculed and many suffer because of these beliefs. Society is so caught up with rights and political correctness that we all have to tolerate each others religions and lifestyles. So as Christians if we do not agree with a certain way of living your life then we are persecuted for our opinions. Our society is Godless so doesn't understand when we use the Bible as our barometer for right living and morality. We are then labelled as 'fundamentalists'!

I pray for the day when people return to the Lord, bow on their knees to Him in fear and when Jesus returns.

12"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Revelation 22:12-14 NIV.

Thankful Thursday!

Today I join Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. I get to list 5 things I am thankful to God for over the past week.

• On Sunday we had a wonderful praise service at Church. It was great to just spend an hour singing to God and thanking Him for all that He has done for us. All the kids were really well behaved too!
  

• At our 4pm meeting on a Sunday our Church has been doing a Bible study. The next book we will study is Ruth. We have just finished 1Peter. I am really looking forward to studying Ruth.
  

• Lately, dare I say it, I have been getting much more sleep at night thanks to Emma sleeping much more soundly! I am VERY thankful to God for this as many of you know, this has been a major issue with Emma since she was around 6 months!
  

• On Monday I wrote a post about not being in God's word enough. Later that morning I arrived at our Toddlers group to help set up very early with Emma. I decided to grab a Church Bible and sat down with it and read Proverbs 9, Psalm 9 and the book of Ruth. God really does hear our prayers!!!
  

• Finally, I am thankful that each Thursday I can come here and think specifically about what I am thankful to God for. It is so easy to get carried away with the busyness of the week and forget to stop and ponder!
  

So what do you have to be thankful for today?

Making your Home sing Monday.

This Monday I am back on track and joining Nan at Moms the word for Making your Home sing Monday.

I have an admission to make. I have not been in prayer or God's word very much at all lately. There, I said it!! Life has been busy over the last few weeks and this has meant that any Bible reading or regular prayer has fallen by the wayside. I know this shouldn't be the case.

The problem I have is getting 'quiet time' with God. The kids wake at ridiculously early times in the morning so I have no way of doing it then. In the evening, once the kids are in bed I often get my quilting projects out and spend time on these.

I don't feel proud of myself when I go through these 'episodes'. Some weeks I can throw myself into the Bible and pray frequently, but then other weeks such as recently I experience a self imposed drought.

This is one of my weaknesses I hate about myself. It is almost cyclical and I don't like this side of myself one little bit!!!

SO; This week, to make my home sing, I need to pray about all of this! Either that I accept it for what it is or make changes to my life that will be consistent and not erratic.

Psalm Saturday

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4 NIV.

When I read this verse I am comforted. I feel safe and protected by God no matter what. In our world there is so much evil and destruction it is easy to become overwhelmed. Watch the 24 hour news channels and you can quite easily become paranoid, bolting the doors, thinking that there are murderers and terrorists round every corner.

Is it that the world is worse now than say 20 years ago? Or is it that we have more access to up to the minute, breaking news reports which report every minute detail? I agree to an extent with the saying; 'ignorance is bliss'.

Christians are not supposed to live their lives in fear. We are to fear God, yes. We should not fear man and the world around us.
I think this means we shouldn't close ourselves away from the world either. God wants Christians in the world to tell others about Jesus and share the Gospel. If we live our lives fearing the world then how can we witness to the world? I have seen fear of the world in many Christians, (myself included), a desire to protect our children from worldly influences. It is natural to want to protect our kids but if we want their faith to grow then they do need to learn to cope with defending it in the world and also they can then be witnesses to others.

⁶So we say with confidence,
"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"^b]">[b]
Hebrews 13:6 NIV.

I do still feel fear though!!! Even though God tells me not to. And I can't even begin to think of the fear Christians living in persecuted areas must feel. The point here is that when we feel fearful then we should remember God's promise in Psalm 23. We should pray and seek God in the fearful situation. Quite clearly the verse says to fear no evil and that God will comfort. This is a wonderful promise to cling to when fear sets in all around.

Thankful Thursday!

Hi there! Apologies for not posting much recently or commenting but I have had a hectic few days. It was my birthday yesterday and the day before that I went out shopping and for lunch with Colin.

Today I join Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey for another Thankful Thursday. We list 5 things we are thankful to God for.

• I am thankful for a change in Jacob's behaviour. He has been quite cheeky and aggressive lately but since Sunday there has been a definite calming down. He still has his moments but it is not as bad as it was at the weekend.
  

• I had a lovely lunch out on Tuesday and trip round some shops with my husband. The kids were at their Grandparents. It was so nice and relaxing to spend some quality time together.
  

• Last night I helped prepare a Sunday school lesson with my friend. I wasn't sure about being involved this year but I am glad I am. We have a lovely wee group of children and a fantastic team of teachers all aiming for the same goal. God is planning big things!

• Our Church has a podcast of teachings from our 4pm Bible study hour. This is a blessing and really practical if you miss any of the study. I missed several recently due to the kids being sick, so I am very thankful for the ability to use this.
  

• My lovely children singing happy birthday to me yesterday! So precious.
  

Are you authentic?

"Jesus wept."

John 11:35 NKJV.

I was reading last night that this is the shortest verse in the NKJV Bible. In context this is the reaction of Jesus to the death of His good friend, Lazarus.


Here is a dictionary definition of the word 'weep';

to express grief, sorrow, or any overpowering emotion by shedding tears; shed tears; cry: to weep for joy; to weep with rage. (Dictionary.com).


Not just a few tears in the eyes but proper crying, grief, mourning for the loss of a dear, dear friend.



What struck me about this was that Jesus was authentic. He was real. He experienced the array of emotions we have. He felt sorrow, grief, anger, joy, happiness and love.



So if Jesus, our Saviour and Son of God can be real then why do we find it difficult as Christians? I certainly don't want to be seen as a complainer or bitter by fellow Christians but I do want to be real and feel that I can share my problems with my friends. When I feel overcome with emotion I want to be able to unashamedly be real about it with fellow Christians. I don't want to put a mask on and pretend that life is wonderful, I am full of joy and oh so blessed when I am struggling to see this.



I think that sometimes we (myself included) are scared of bringing others down, appearing weak in our faith, and being judged as not having as strong a faith as others. This is very wrong among Christians. Paul spoke about weakness and how God shows His strength through our weakness.



I am thankful that I am in a Church where I know that there are people I can be real with, and they with me. However, there have been times when I felt I just couldn't share anything that was going on in my life. Specifically when I had Post Natal Depression. I was so ashamed of how I felt and scared of being judged that it took me a looooong time to share this with friends at Church. Of course I wasn't judged and had lots of support.



It isn't easy to share how you are really feeling but God wants us to be real among each other. Being a Christian doesn't mean your life will be free of suffering and you have a permanent smile and feeling of joy. Christians are only human and experience trials like anyone. I think sometimes we are not being real by brushing our true feelings under the carpet and not sharing these experiences with others.



Anyway, just a few of my thoughts on being authentic and how wonderful that we have Jesus as our great example of how to live our lives.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

¹⁶ your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Psalm 139: 13-16 NIV.

Yesterday Colin and I were discussing when the latest babies of our friends are due. Our Church is being blessed by many, many young children just now and it is fantastic. This discussion made me reminiscent of my own pregnancies and babies! Hence the photos above!

I said to Colin how pregnancy never ceases to amaze me and how wonderful and strange it is that only God knows what that little life inside a woman's womb looks like; the colour of the baby's hair, the colour of his or her eyes, the tone of their skin and the personality of the child to be. This made me think of the verses from Psalm 139 above. Certainly there are scans which are so detailed you can see the baby quite well but I think that the air of mystery that surrounds pregnancy is precious.

God is "knitting " these little ones together inside their mummy's wombs and it is so exciting to think of what they will be like. God has the days of their lives planned ahead of them already! What a thrilling thought! That God knows what He wants for our children. We have hopes and dreams for our children but it is such a comfort to know that God also has His plans for our little ones and their best interests at heart.

When we think of these verses we should indeed praise our wonderful maker! He knew you in your mother's womb because He made you! I am in awe of Him.

Thankful Thursday!

Today I join Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. I need to list 5 things I am thankful to God for this week.

• Jacob was back at school yesterday and feeling much better. I am praying that the illness is over for now in our family!

• My mum! I had a bad morning a few days ago when Jacob was ill. He was very grumpy and Emma was annoying him so they just kept fighting. I phoned my mum for some common sense advice. Mums always tell it like it is and don't hold back with their advice and I love her for this!

• Friends! I couldn't go to our Church Toddlers Group on Monday as Jacob was off school. A lovely friend who goes offered to take Emma along for me. I am so thankful for this help as the kids were arguing that morning and not getting on at all. This meant Emma didn't miss out on the group!
  

• I am thankful that God is everywhere! I have missed Church over the last fortnight due to all the children's sickness! I missed the singing, Sunday school and good atmosphere. Thankfully God doesn't just "live" in Church and we can experience Him everywhere!

• The Bible! Our ultimate guidebook and self help book in life.
  

Stitch ripping!

A few days ago I made a mistake with part of my binding on the new quilt I am making for my mum. So out came my seam ripper and I set about the tedious task of carefully ripping out stitches. I could have left the mistake and just carried on with the quilt. However, I want this quilt to be just right and as flawless as possible.

And they do say we learn from our mistakes! This reminds me of how God works in our lives. It is inevitable that we will make mistakes along the path of life. I will make the wrong choices, go against God's will and continue to do sinful things. However, I will strive to learn from these mistakes so that I do not make them again.

Like the mistake with the binding, I am certain that I won't do that again! It has added to the time taken to complete the quilt and caused me extra work. I find that God works like this too. When I get it wrong He shows me and then I need to work harder to not make the same mistake or act sinfully again. I want my walk with God to be as good as it can be. I want to be obedient to Him. It doesn't just happen all by itself. I need to be conscious of how I am leading my life and striving towards a Godly life.

I am learning from my mistakes in quilting and also my mistakes in life! Thank you God for forgiveness and patience and Love.

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
Isaiah 64:8 NIV.

Are you content?

Today I read this encouraging article by Michelle from She Looketh Well. If you are experiencing discontentment in any areas of your life today then I would urge you to read her article written over At the Well.

Michelle asks her readers to think about areas in their own lives which they are not content with, how God is revealing this and how do you turn these feelings around.

"Contentment, then, is the product of a heart resting in God. It is the soul's enjoyment of that peace which passeth all understanding. It is the outcome of my will being brought into subjection to the Divine will. It is the blessed assurance that God doeth all things well, and is, even now, making all things work together for my ultimate good. This experience has to be "learned" by "proving what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" (Rom. 12:2). Contentment is possible only as we cultivate and maintain that attitude of accepting everything which enters our lives as coming from the Hand of Him who is too wise to err, and too loving to cause one of His children a needless tear." A.W. PINK

Upon reading this I think God is showing us that contentment needs to be learned and prayed for. I was dissatisfied with some things before I was a Christian and still today as a Christian. I did not automatically become deeply content with life. It is part of our sinful nature to want, envy, and covet. These elements of our nature do not just disappear overnight. To be content is a state of mind we strive towards and actively endeavour to achieve.

There are many things which leave me feeling less than content in my life. I always think I could do with a larger house, maybe I should be working outwith my home for extra money, I compare myself to other "better" Christians, I need to be a better, more Christian mum and so on! I am sure we all share many of these feelings of discontent!

I wonder sometimes if Satan stirs up these feelings inside of us? Feelings of envy and bitterness can lead to divisions in Church. Materialistic wants can lead to debt problems and this can then lead on to marital trouble.

So how can we learn to be content with what we have?

God's word directs us and we should read this and pray for his enlightenment. I actively look for the blessings in my life to distract myself from what I don't have. I have two healthy, beautiful children (although one is a little sick today!). I have my health. I have a perfectly adequate home with room for us all. I think we get way too caught up on the size of our homes. When you look to under developed countries and the conditions many people have to live in then I think I should be ashamed of myself when I am not happy with the size of my kitchen or how many bedrooms I have. At least I have a bed to sleep in and a roof over my head. So many people don't.

I sacrificed working and having extra money to stay at home and raise my children and keep my home. My children are never without clothing, footwear or food despite money being very tight some weeks! God always provides! It is not always easy to be content as a stay at home mum. Often I think I could be working and earning some money to contribute to the bills however, the effects this would have on my family would just not be worth it. They are used to having me at home and this is the way God wants my life to be just now. I am learning to be content with what God wants for my family at this moment in life.

So what areas of your life are you not content with? How do you work on this?

Feel free to link up with us At the Well.

Humility

⁴ For the LORD takes delight in his people;
he crowns the humble with salvation.

Psalm 149:4 NIV

⁶ When I felt secure, I said,
"I will never be shaken."

⁷ O LORD, when you favored me,
you made my mountain ^c]">[c] stand firm;
but when you hid your face,
I was dismayed.

Psalm 30:6-7 NIV .

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

Proverbs 11:2

Today for Psalm Saturday I wanted to talk about how God has humbled me over the last few days.

I have been experiencing difficulty with Emma at night time. This hasn't made me a very nice person to be around the last few days. I have been tired and frustrated at not being able to make her do what I want her to. I have felt bitterness, anger, and complained about my lot as a mum.

Do you ever feel like you have it all together? I did for a while there and was beginning to feel quite proud of myself as a mum! How wrong was I? In a matter of minutes these feelings crumbled around me as I quickly learnt that I am really just a sinner saved by the grace of God. My sinful nature will never go and boy has God reminded me of this recently!

I have learnt a few home truths about myself over the last few days thanks to God. The lessons He teaches us aren't always the easiest or pain free but they are for our own good. I am grateful to God that He wants to shape and mould me into the Christian He wants me to be.

My prayer today is that God continues to humble me, teach me, discipline me and in all of this I am thankful that He still loves me despite my failings.

Thankful Thursday!

Today I join Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey. The aim is to list 5 things which you are thankful to God for!

• I am thankful to God that Emma feels much better. She has been ill but yesterday we even managed out for a walk.
  

• Forgiveness - quite simply I feel I don't deserve it. Last night I had a very rough night getting Emma to bed and then she was up a lot during the night. I feel very drained and beaten. I got annoyed with Emma, despite my best efforts to remain calm. I am just so tired of this continual pattern of waking at night and wish someone could just fix it all. Thank you Lord that you forgive our sin. I do not deserve your mercy or gift of Grace. I do not like who I am when I am sinful and feel like a fraud. Today I am thankful for the love you show me and new mercies each day.

I am going to leave my post at that today. I am feeling a little sore from my night with Emma and am struggling today already!!

Homemaking

I discovered this today and it really encourages me as a stay at home mum! I hope it encourages others!

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"Homemaking, if pursued with energy, imagination, and skills, has as much challenge and opportunity, success and failure, growth and expansion, perks and incentives as any corporation, plus something no other position offers—working for people you love most and want to please the most!

In the words of Scripture, I have found a worthy challenge:
Teach them [God’s words] to your children, talking about them
when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you
lie down and when you get up. . . so that your days and the days of
your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give
your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the
earth. (Deuteronomy 11:19, 21)

Homemaking—being a full-time wife and mother—is not a destructive drought of usefulness but an overflowing oasis of opportunity; it is not a dreary cell to contain one’s talents and skills but a brilliant catalyst to channel creativity and energies into meaningful work; it is not a rope for binding one’s productivity in the marketplace, but reins for guiding one’s posterity in the home; it is not oppressive restraint of intellectual prowess for the community, but a release of wise instruction to your own household; it is not the bitter assignment of inferiority to your person, but the bright assurance of the ingenuity of God’s plan for complementarity of the sexes, especially as worked out in God’s plan for marriage; it is neither limitation of gifts available nor stinginess in distributing the benefits of those gifts, but rather the multiplication of a mother’s legacy to the generations to come and the generous bestowal of all God meant a mother to give to those He entrusted to her care."

(Dorothy Patterson, Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 1991)

Making your Home sing Monday.

On Monday I like to join the lovely Nan over at her blog, Moms the Word. We all link up to discuss how we are going to make our homes sing! "It can be an attitude or an action. Motivation, our attitude, baking, encouraging our husband or children (if we have either one), organization, cleaning, saving money....the opportunities are endless." (Nan).

This weekend I have had a sick child. Emma has had a temperature, sore throat and cough. She has been a wee lamb. So yesterday I didn't get to Church, Jacob went with a lovely friend and then his Dad later in the afternoon. I am hoping Emma begins to pick up today!

When my two are ill they sleep lots so I have been taking advantage of this and got ahead with my latest quilt project below. I got this fabric on sale! £5 for 40 Moda Charm squares! This is for my dear mum. She turned 60 on Friday! We had a lovely day where I made her and Dad lunch, a birthday cake and just a nice time. So this quilt top is small just now but I intend to add quite a wide border. I just need to get out to get some more fabric. I am pleased with how each block turned out. I decided to cut them all up and sew together to make new blocks from triangles of fabric. I am keeping it simple though because I am no seamstress!

So how am I going to make my home sing today? My home is quite a prayerful one at the moment! I have an ill child to pray for, Colin was a bit down yesterday and had to take the night off work, so I have to pray for my husband. I am thankful to God for this new hobby I have. It is so relaxing and keeps my hands busy and from just sitting in front of the TV. I don't even switch it on in the evening now! Jacob is back at school on Wednesday, so I will be praying for safety for him. So this week I hope that I continue to use my home to bring glory to God in everything that goes on here!

¹⁶Be joyful always; ¹⁷pray continually; ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV.