Author: joyfuldomesticity

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Leaning Hard

Child of My love, lean hard
And let Me feel the pressure of thy care;
I know thy burden, child. I shaped it;
Posed it in Mine Own hand; made no proportion
In its weight to thine unaided strength,
For even as I laid it on, I said,
“I shall be near, and while she leans on Me,
This burden shall be Mine, not hers;
So shall I keep My child within the circling arms
Of My Own love.” Here lay it down, nor fear
To impose it on a shoulder which upholds
The government of worlds. Yet closer come:
Thou art not near enough. I would embrace thy care;
So I might feel My child reposing on My breast.
Thou lovest Me? I knew it. Doubt not then;
But loving Me, lean hard.

~Streams In The Desert~

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Praying Colossians 3

Sometimes when I am particularly weary and worn, I feel like I don’t even know how to pray anymore. So I am reminded to turn to Scripture and pray back these words to our Father. Like today, turning Colossians 3 into a personal prayer:

My Father in Heaven, cause me to hallow Your name. Bend low to your maidservant and fill me with Your Spirit.

I have been raised with Christ Your Son: cause me to seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at Your right hand. Cause my mind to focus on things that are above, and not on things that are here on earth. I have died to myself and my fleshly lusts, and my life is hidden with Christ in You. Christ is my life—make Him more and more my all—and when He appears, then I also will appear with Him in glory.

Therefore, enable me to put to death what is earthly in me: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and the idolatry of covetousness. Convict me and purge me of these things, for because of these, Your wrath is coming. I was a child raised in the covenant, so I did not walk and live in these things, but they are part of my sin nature, and I must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk. Control my tongue so that I do not lie, since I have put off my sinful self and practices, being clothed in Christ, and being renewed in knowledge after the image of You, the Creator. I know that there are no differences in Your people, but Your Son Christ is all, and in all. Your Son is in me.

I am Your chosen one, I am holy and beloved in Your sight! Give me strength and solidarity of heart to put on a compassionate heart, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Enable me to bear with others You have placed around me. Give me forgiveness, for You have forgiven me and I must forgive as You have.

Above all, clothe me with love, and use that love to bind everything else together in perfect harmony. Let Christ’s indescribable peace rule in my heart, for I have been called to it. Make me thankful.

Let the words of Christ dwell richly in me, and give me words to teach and admonish others in Your wisdom, while giving me grace to be taught and admonished in Your wisdom as well. Give me the beauty of music, and fill me with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, so that I will overflow with thankfulness in my heart to You.

Whatever You call me to do, in words and deeds, cause me to do it all in the name of my Lord Jesus, and make me give thanks to You for all things through Him.

As a Christian wife, give me joyful submission to my husband. Make me thankful for my loving husband who is not harsh with me, and give him the grace to continue bearing with me in love and gentleness. Grow my honor towards my parents so that I may please the Lord, and be a good witness to my son. Give my son an obedient heart in everything so that he may be a pleasing covenant son to You. Restrain my husband and me from provoking our son, so that we do not discourage him; but train us to encourage, nurture, disciple, and discipline him according to Your tender mercies. Give us obedience and dedication to those who are over us, in jobs and church and government. Do not allow us to give way to eye-service as people-pleasers, but give us sincerity towards our overseers, because we fear You.

Give us joy and strength to work heartily, and renew our passion in our tasks so that we will give You our best work. Keep Yourself in the forefront of our minds, as we work for You and not for men, for we know that You will leave us a beautiful inheritance and reward. We serve Christ! There is no partiality with You, our God, and Your justice will rain down on the wrongdoer for wrongs we have done.

Be gracious and merciful, my Father in heaven. Hear my prayer and attend to my cries.
In the name of Your Son Jesus Christ, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, Amen.

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Still

Grief.

It still hurts. Stings. Aches. Burns. Suffocates.

It still hangs on the wall in empty photo frames. It still sings from the arrows in the quiver in the office. It still lies in the empty bassinet. It still seeps from the unworn baby clothes.
It still cries from my vacant womb. It still shouts from my empty breasts. It still shrieks in negative pregnancy tests and unwanted monthly cycles.
It still dribbles into my veins on injection needles and iv pokes. It still chokes using pills and potions. It still pours back out of my veins into rubber topped tubes.

It still surprises me with floods of tears. It still weakens me with its strength. It still frightens me with its depth.

It still steals my hope.

It still enhances my longing. It still grows my desire. It still builds my passion.

It still tears me down while it still builds me up.

It still remains a part of me.

Still, it always will.

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Establish the Work of Our Hands

This morning, I was meditating on Psalm 90 while praying for a friend of mine and her family. Then I began to pray for a host of people I know who are suffering through various trials, including my own family. This psalm–a prayer of Moses–is hugely impacting for me. Beginning with the acknowledgment that God is our dwelling place, and has been for all generations–moving towards the proclamation that God is sovereign over all things, including life and health and death–ending with the request for God to act, to send His mercy, to be powerful, to shower His favor upon His children, and to establish the work of godly hands. Oh that my prayers would contain such a pattern! That my heart would be more confirmed to His Son’s! And that I would be confident and comforted, in the knowledge that God is my dwelling place, that He is sovereign, and that He has the power to establish me.

Amen!!

Psalm 90

Lord, You have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever You had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

You return man to dust
and say, “Return, O children of man!”
For a thousand years in Your sight
are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.

You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
like grass that is renewed in the morning:
in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
in the evening it fades and withers.

For we are brought to an end by Your anger;
by Your wrath we are dismayed.
You have set our iniquities before You,
our secret sins in the light of Your presence.

For all our days pass away under Your wrath;
we bring our years to an end like a sigh.
The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away.
Who considers the power of Your anger,
and Your wrath according to the fear of You?

So teach us to number our days
 that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on Your servants!
Satisfy us in the morning with Your steadfast love,
that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
Make us glad for as many days as You have afflicted us,
and for as many years as we have seen evil.
Let Your work be shown to Your servants,
and Your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!

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Dressing Up Leftovers

I love leftovers. For dinner, for lunch, for some of each–it’s like having my own instant food, but healthy & from scratch. Sometimes, though, it is nice to have a twist on the previous meal. Like making stew out of leftover chicken & sauce from a crock pot meal; chopping up leftover meat, adding rice and cheese, and wrapping it in a pita or tortilla; making a creative pizza; or tossing a bunch of leftovers in lettuce and calling it Salad Extraordinaire.

What are some of your favorite ways to put a new twist on typical leftovers???

One I just tried… I really love! So I decided I had to share the inspiration with you.

I made Philly Cheesesteaks a couple nights ago, and then last night I made crepes with a chicken-herb-mozzarella filling.

My lunch today?
A crepe filled with Philly Cheesesteak filling. It’s a new hit. 😀

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Be It So

This following excerpt from “Streams In The Desert” was a great encouragement to me; this devotional book constantly blesses, encourages, and challenges me as I struggle from day to day.

When talking with a dear friend yesterday, she asked how she could pray specifically for me as I endure the medical treatments that are so hard for me. I told her that I need courage. Courage to endure them and be thankful for them; and also courage to pray for that courage! I find myself still praying for God to take this cup from me. But I am realizing (in my stubbornness) that I need to stop praying for that. The cup isn’t going away. He isn’t taking it anywhere. I need to start praying for courage to drink it. The poem here at the bottom of this excerpt reminds me of that: “we can do more than this, O Soul.” And so in my plight, this encouraged me & challenged me. Perhaps in your plight, whatever that is, it will do the same for you.

~~~~~~~~

“As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).

The stoic scorns to shed a tear; the Christian is not forbidden to weep. The soul may be dumb with excessive grief, as the shearer’s scissors pass over the quivering flesh; or, when the heart is on the point of breaking beneath the meeting surges of trial, the sufferer may seek relief by crying out with a loud voice. But there is something even better.

They say that springs of sweet fresh water well up amid the brine of salt seas; that the fairest Alpine flowers bloom in the wildest and most rugged mountain passes; that the noblest psalms were the outcome of the profoundest agony of soul.

Be it so. And thus amid manifold trials, souls which love God will find reasons for bounding, leaping joy. Though deep call to deep, yet the Lord’s song will be heard in silver cadence through the night. And it is possible in the darkest hour that ever swept a human life to bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Have you learned this lesson yet? Not simply to endure God’s will, nor only to choose it; but to rejoice in it with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
–from TABF

I will be still, my bruised heart faintly murmured,
As o’er me rolled a crushing load of woe;
The cry, the call, e’en the low moan was stifled;
I pressed my lips; I barred the tear drop’s flow.

I will be still, although I cannot see it,
The love that bares a soul and fans pain’s fire;
That takes away the last sweet drop of solace,
Breaks the lone harp string, hides Thy precious lyre.

But God is love, so I will bide me, bide me–
We’ll doubt not, Soul, we will be very still;
We’ll wait till after while, when He shall lift us
Yes, after while, when it shall be His will.

And I did listen to my heart’s brave promise;
And I did quiver, struggling to be still;
And I did lift my tearless eyes to Heaven,
Repeating ever, “Yea, Christ, have Thy will.”

But soon my heart upspake from ‘neath our burden,
Reproved my tight-drawn lips, my visage sad:
“We can do more than this, O Soul,” it whispered.
“We can be more than still, we can be glad!”

And now my heart and I are sweetly singing–
Singing without the sound of tuneful strings;
Drinking abundant waters in the desert,
Crushed, and yet soaring as on eagle’s wings.
–S. P. W.

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Grilled Pizza

My husband and I have enjoyed many styles of pizza from many places, including Italy and Chicago with their famous deliciousness. 🙂 But I realized recently that I had never made grilled pizza for him! Gasp. So I fixed that.

Grilling the pizzas was so fun! Love it. (and it brought back memories of doing this with Family Fellowship – anyone remember that?) 🙂

We topped them with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil from my garden, garlic oil, kalamata olives, turkey pepperoni, and feta. That is how you spell delicious.

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Monet Sunflowers

How have I not yet mentioned that my garden is edged now with gorgeous, sunny heads?!

These beautiful sunflowers are Monets, courtesy of my friends Jaclynn & Samantha. And now I want to learn how to successfully keep seeds — anyone want to give me some tips? 🙂

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Vintage Tablecloth-Skirt

Back in June, my mother took me to an antique fair and craft show, and we each came home with some vintage tablecloths. Two of mine I have used for pretty tablecloths, one for a pretty picnic blanket, and one has been sitting waiting for me to turn it into a skirt! While at the event a couple months ago, I saw some really fun skirts with handkerchief hemlines that were tagged at $52 apiece (and the tablecloths were only $10-15 apiece), and really wanted one! So I dedicated one cloth to the idea, and yesterday I finally did it.

My sweet and capable mother did all the figuring-out-of-things, and I just followed along. 🙂 It really was quite simple! And, like I said, my mother is very capable at figuring things out. She even had a small zipper and bias tape in her stash of craft goodies, so it involved nothing more than supplies we already had and time we could spare anyway.

What we started with:

Sewing:

Ironing:

Modeling:

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Art Time

Gabriel loves when I bring out The Art Bucket to do “art time” together. Fingerpainting and coloring are our current favorites.