beauty of homesteading

                                      Our family ever since I was 4 started homesteading.

                                     I remember working in the heat of the day weeding.

                    Running barefoot through the garden rows in search of an afternoon snack.

Green beans and peas were always so sweet to the taste buds. I remember summers full of life and activity you didn't have to go anywhere. Swing on the swings, hiding in the tall grass, helping with the chores. It was so carefree, so raw and real. It was home. There was a lot of work,but so worth it.

  One of the beauty and blessings of having a mini farm is the new life you get to see spring up and watch it grow. In the garden and in the barn.The beauty was surrounding us and you cannot not deny that there was a creator and He is love.  This post is featuring our newest little addition to the goat herd.

                                        

heritage

Old photos from time past are always a little treasure, but the ones that pull your heart strings, arouses your curiosity, and your soul connects to are the ones that are apart of your own history. Apart of who you are. Those are the photos you grasp tightly,tuck away into a special place and bury deep into your heart never to let go.

This is apart of why I love photography. More specifically lifestyle photography,its visual storytelling through a photograph and because of photography you can hold on to a piece of the past,a piece of your heart to pass on to the next generation.

I found some old family pictures and had to take some photos,especially after showing them to my grandparents they caressed and stroked them with their wrinkled fingers. They were thousands of miles away,turning back the clocks, I could see it in their eyes as they were drifting farther and farther away.

keeping your heart available

                          That title sounds a little like horrible advice, unless of course you have the context.

This post is the context. ;)

A verse that continuously pops up throughout my life is Isaiah 6:8b

"Here I am! Send me."

 

I continuously come before our Lord asking Him to shape and mold me, make me willing.

We tend to plan out our lives which is a good thing, God is a God of order and we need to have a plan/goal to shoot for, but also we need to be flexible keeping our hearts available for change.

We must not forget that we are humans and tend to have a self serving nature we plan what 'we' think God wants or what ways 'we' think we can serve Him best.

Goodness, I am so relieved that God doesn't leave it up to us to make it the way we want on our own.

We don't know Gods plan for our life, so whatever is given/asked of us. I want need to have a response like Isaiah, an available heart willing to go where and do whatever God asks.

To respond with, Here I am! Send me.

 Passionately eager to be a continuous vessel for Christ, eager to drop what we are doing at any time and be available.

 

This verse is part of the reason I chose G O as my 2015 word.

 

Whether I am called in a moment to

pray

serve

encourage

speak up

(usually for me that last one is "shhhhh")

They sometimes are just little things in a moment that I can do, but am I willing to stop a video when I feel pressed to pray for someone, to take my self focus and turn into a Christ focus, for what He presses upon my heart.

"The little things and small moments define us."

 

 

Its not always big things we are asked to do and the little things aren't always 'a little thing'.

 

 

 

Those moments when you just need to breathe, the moments when you just want to default into a fetus position and sit in the corner, alone, in a dark room so you can shut the world out. Those are the moments that define us.
Are we going to shut down with all the stress that life seems to offer at every waking moment? Or are you going to lift yourself up off the ground brush off the dirt, that seemed to have collected as you had your pity party?!
 Are you going to stand tall praising our Savior looking to Him for the answer? Leaning on Him and trusting in Him because He is faithful?
Don't just roll with the punches of life, fight back. If you roll with each punch,yeah you will get by and sometimes that's all you can do, but most of the time we are called to leave behind our cowardness to stand tall not accepting defeat because that is what challenges you, that's what causes you to grow. Having wisdom here is knowing when to roll and when to fight back.
Jesus wants us to depend on Him, to trust that everything will work out.

"Never be afraid to trust the unknown future to a known God." -Corrie ten Boom

"I have learned to kiss the wave that stirkes me against the rock of ages." -Spurgeon

"I have set the LORD continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." -Psalm 16:8