Tag Archives: blessings

Diaries of the Heart

BROTHER LET ME BE YOUR SERVANT…

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Brother, let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony.

Brother, let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

 Copyright © 1977 Scripture in Song/Maranatha!Music

This song was one of the ones we sang last week at church. It really is amazing how you can sing a song for years and years and I suppose appreciate it but never really understand all the verses until God has you in a place where you need to really HEAR the words.

This song really brought tears to my eyes, especially the first verse. The whole song is a tribute to Christian brotherhood (family) and what we should be to each other and how we should care for each other but the last two lines of the first verse really hit home.

Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

Oh believe me it is so easy to help people and to be the one who loves to give and care for others but when the boot is on the other foot it is a very humbling experience.

I have really had to think about how I allow people to serve me and actually whether I do so with grace and humility.

To have people filling our freezers and caring for us in various ways is such a blessing, but one that I find difficult.

Not being able to do too much has made me feel like a burden, not only to my most wonderful dear husband and children but to our friends as well. I am not used to being looked after physically and I sometimes feel I could have learnt this lesson somewhat easier, but God knows and God is in control and although at times I wonder “why me”, I know deep down that God’s plans are greatest and He only has good plans for us.

One dear friend sent me a text the other day to encourage me, these were her words:

You are being an agent of blessing to your family (as hard a it is when you are such a giver). You’re allowing them to be blessed by serving. I love the way God works, all upside down. Soak in the blessings!

What wonderful words of encouragement and with the song we sang on Sunday my eyes have been opened to how I allow others to bless me.

I don’t want to inhibit other people when their desire is to care for me and love me in whatever way they can.

I pray, Lord please give me the grace to allow others to serve me, so in turn they can be blessed.

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

Diaries of the Heart

WHAT MORE COULD WE ASK FOR…

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We all know that raising children is hard work. It requires consistency and discipline not only of ourselves but also of our children. Children are definitely a blessing and given to us by God to raise up for His kingdom, but I must admit…

Some days I get so tired of reminding the children to pick up their clothes.

Some days I get so tired of finding odd socks outside, even though they have been told not to take them off outside.

Some days I get tired of the kitchen floor being dirty, no matter how many times I sweep it.

Some days, especially in winter I get tired of all the dust that the wood heater keeps producing.

Some days I get so tired of preparing meals and being on top of the groceries.

Some days I get tired of battling through bad attitudes with lessons.

No 2 daughter and son
No 2 daughter and no 2  son

But on the other hand…

My husband had the opportunity to catch up with an old school friend this past week.

He is about the same age as my husband (close to 50) and we think he is married, he has a partner any way.

He drives the latest model of a most expensive car, and I am sure that he doesn’t have to worry about the floor being dirty.

He doesn’t have any children. He has been working all of his life for his bank balance.

Now I am sure that he can buy himself anything he desires, I bet he even has ducted gas heating in his house, and in a worldly way, that would be great, but we don’t want to be of the world.

So although we struggle to pay our bills some months and we don’t drive a fancy car or have a fancy big house with ducted gas heating, we have so much more.

We have 4 beautiful children, 1 lovely son-in-law and 2 beautiful granddaughters.

So I have to fight battles at home with school and clothing. So I struggle to keep the floor clean and am constantly cooking to keep everyone fed.

I would rather be tired of these things than never have experienced them.

We are blessed to be able to be raising children to love the Lord and follow Him with their whole heart.

God has given us more than we could ever have asked for.

Philippians 4:11-13 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Luke 12:15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

 

You will find me linked up at some of these great blogs.

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS LINK PARTY

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS #30

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Hey there, welcome to another Good Morning Mondays. Another week, another lot of activities has passed and we have a new week and new beginnings happening.

I enjoy the beginning of the new week almost as much as I look forward to the weekend.  I look forward to planning what I am going to achieve and the school I am going to get done.  Sometimes I don’t achieve anything I want to, but that’s okay, life isn’t about things but about people.

This past week we had our Revelation Bible Study on Tuesday night. This was a good night and we enjoy getting into God’s word and studying and discussing scriptures.

I bottled some apple juice this week and this was the first time I have done this. We wanted to see what it was like and we were really pleased with the results.  We had it with our Mothers Day lunch mixed with lemonade and it was delicious.  I also managed to can some ground meat which will be great for the colder months.

We had a sewing afternoon this week and because my husband was already there doing some work we went to our friends house for lunch and enjoyed a lovely meal together before getting into sewing. The girls’ quilts are coming along nicely and we might even finish sewing them next time. Then we have to snip them and put them in the dryer to fluff them up.

Here are the girls at their sewing machines, they get on so well and it is a pleasure to see them have such a lovely relationship.

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Saturday morning the children had their music lessons and my   husband had to work, so I took them in, did some shopping and came home.

Here they are sitting at their teachers piano. They had just finished playing their duet and as soon as they finished they both turned to her to see what she thought. Their playing is coming along really well.
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I hope you all had a lovely Mothers Day yesterday.  Here are the cards our youngest two made me, they were so lovely and the stickers were just so cute.  The inside of the cards were filled with words of love.  I am definitely going to keep these in a special place.

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The weather has been quite cold and damp this past week and here is our front yard below. I really enjoy this season and I just love the way the grass greens up and everything looks fresh and damp.

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It isn’t easy for my husband though when he has to work out in the cold so I make sure that the wood stove is going all the time to keep the house warm and inviting when he comes home.

Once again I am sorry, but I didn’t get all the posts read this week. I want to thank you all for linking up and for those of you who comment. I am blessed by the friendships that we are developing and I am always interested in what you are doing and how you live.

So our top three posts this week were…

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A Well-Planned Pantry by Jayne at Adventures at Tiny Toadstool Cottagethmb55460f133eb00Today at the Cottage…Living and Loving This Life a Little at a Time by Laura at Harvest Lane Cottage

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The Waiting, the Wedding, and the Wonder of His Mercy–Trusting Him When Prayer Goes Unanswered by Rebekah at Ready to be Offered

I don’t want to pick a favourite when I haven’t read them all but this post below was really good.thmb55475ca91b6f9Preparing for the Teen Years by Gwen at An Island Family by Grace

If you haven’t gotten to read these posts, pop over if you get the time and you will surely be blessed.

I’ve got a quieter week this week and I am looking forward to being home.  Tuesday night we are selling some sheep so I will probably go with my husband to deliver them to the sale yards.

Then we might go and visit our friends Mr and Mrs H.  Mr H had an unfavourable report this past week and again I ask for your prayers for him and his family. He has more cancer spots on his liver and his lymph nodes. He has an amazing attitude and we are so blessed to be able to share this journey with him and his family.

I hope you all have a great week and you are enjoying each moment with your family.

Blessings xxxx


Diaries of the Heart

HOW DO YOU REACT…

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How do you react when someone tells you they are having another baby.

Do you react with excitement or with “Oh dear not another one”, or “you’ll be busy” or “are you trying for a boy/girl”.

After our first two children were born I was guilty of these statements. I truly believed that two children were enough. I am so thankful that God changed our hearts and blessed us with more children, we would have missed out on so much.

Our son-in-law and daughter are having their third child in September, this will be 3 in under 2 1/2 years. We are so excited and can’t wait for the new arrival.

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Our oldest granddaughter
When I tell people that we are going to be grandparents again I get asked how old the other children are and then when they hear they are two and under the next comment is “oh your daughter will be busy”.

Well of course she’ll be busy and have her hands full but they will be full of blessings.  Just because there will be heaps of work to do doesn’t mean that the blessings stop.

After discussion with my daughter on this issue I wonder why people are so negative. They don’t have to be kept up at nights or have to wash any nappies (diapers). It won’t cost them anything and no one is asking them for anything or have any expectations on them.

Come on lets get some excitement here.  Another child raised in a Godly home can only be an incredible blessing to our Lord and to those around us.

Yes raising children can be hard work but it is the best hard work that we will do.

Psalm 127:3-5  Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.

We didn’t get a quiver full but our home is full of joy, noise, mess, washing, ironing, cooking and cleaning, but also children with a heart for God and a heart to learn and help.

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Our oldest daughter with her youngest
Diaries of the Heart

FRUGAL BUT NOT TIGHT

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If you have read some of my other posts you will see that we are in the middle of harvesting and preserving our vegetables before winter sets in.

We have heaps of corn at the moment and we are busy picking it, blanching it and then canning it. It has been over 5 years since we have had a decent crop of corn. Last year we only got 15 bottles in the pantry, this year I am hoping for 50.

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Now we are frugal people out of necessity, we have a beautiful farm but we don’t have a huge cash flow and some months it can be more than interesting to make ends meet.  It is such a blessing to be able to go to the pantry and grab a couple of jars and add them to our own meat to make a quick, easy and nourishing meal.

Now we are frugal but we don’t want to be tight, there is a difference I believe.

I was thinking that if we gave away too much corn then I wouldn’t have enough to put away for the year. What am I thinking you wonder!!!??? We are blessed with so much, how can I not want to give some of these blessings to others.

You are right if you think this is an issue, because it is.  I had to stop and examine my heart. You see we have been blessed abundantly, and although it isn’t often that these blessings involve cash they involve so many other things.

We have a lovely home and farm, just the perfect size for us and our desire to be self sufficient. We have a lovely family, just right for us and each other and we already have 2 beautiful granddaughters and another grandchild on the way. We have a wonderful relationship with our family (as I have said before), why would I be worried about corn.

Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 

You see maybe my desire to fill my pantry has overtaken my desire to help others and in a sense I have become tight up against frugal.

I believe that even though we are frugal we do not need to be tight with what the Lord gives us. He has given us so much and we need to be careful to not hoard too much but to use it to bless others less fortunate or just to bless others because He loves us.

Now I am not saying that we shouldn’t put enough away for the family because it is important to do the best we can, what I am talking about is more of a heart issue.

Let our hearts be on what God has for us and to rely on Him for all things.

2 Corinthians 9:8-11 And God [is] able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all [things], may abound to every good work.

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GOOD MORNING MONDAYS LINK PARTY

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS #22

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Welcome, welcome, welcome to another Good Morning Mondays. Where are the weeks going, it is almost mid March and April is fast approaching.

How was your week and how are you going and did you achieve all that you wanted??

We had a short week this week because Monday was a public holiday and our children only came home on Monday morning after spending the weekend with our No 1 daughter and husband. They had a great time with them.

Our corn is going great and we have been eating it now for a couple of weeks and we so enjoy fresh boiled corn with butter, yum.  We have picked most of the bigger ones now and I am in the process of canning the smaller cobs. I have two containers in the fridge blanched and ready to go into the jars.

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My poor husband has had a terrible toothache this week so on Tuesday I finally got him into a dentist. So we headed down there and they tried to pull it but the infection in it was stopping the pain medication from working. So they put him on antibiotics and sent him home to come back this week to have another go.  Let’s just say it wasn’t a good experience.

The children were wonderful waiting for him so we took them to the park for a play and  a look at the ocean. It was too cold to go swimming and the tide was in as well.

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We had another sewing day with my friend and her daughter and because they were shearing this week and our No 2 son was there shearing for them he took the younger two with him for the day.

They left home at 6:45 am and they had a wonderful time with their friends.  I was there by lunch time and had a beautiful lunch and then spent the afternoon with my friend and her mother-in-law. They have such a wonderful relationship and it blesses me to see how well they get on.

We cleaned the house on Friday (as usual) and it was nice to sit and relax in front of a movie and knit on Friday night knowing that the house was clean for another week, although there is always things that need doing during the week.

My husband had been offered some wood for us to burn in our wood stove so he decided that they would do the cutting and loading on Saturday. Our son-in-law and our daughter and girls came down for the day as well and helped chain saw the wood and took home a load as well.

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Here is our load, what a blessing!!

So we had a great time together and our daughters and myself picked a few more bags of apples for our No 1 daughter to take home and bottle for us all. She has offered to do mine as well, she is such a blessing.

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All the apples my daughter has taken home to bottle.
 We had a late lunch of sourdough pizzas and salad so when they left a 6 pm we only had a light tea of sandwiches.

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Our daughter with their youngest daughter.

There is more wood to be gotten over the next weeks to see us through the winter but at least we have some to get us started and keep us going for a while.

We have a beautiful wood stove in our kitchen and that keeps us warm all winter. It is the only heating we have and it is great because you can cook with it as well.  My husband got on the roof this afternoon and put the cleaning brush down the flue so it is all ready to go now, all nice and cleaned up.

One of my goals for this winter is to do more cooking on it and in it and try and master it a bit better. My daughters’ mother-in-law only has a wood stove for cooking and she is a marvel at using it.

That’s our week done so onto our link up.

Our top three posts this week were…

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Spring Checklist by the Farmers Wife at Grace Garden And Homestead

thmb54fc3ebf4ffc5The Better Comes after the Worse by Crystal at Tidbits of Experience
thmb54fcb749614f0The Jesus Code: Making Wise Decisions by Donna at Soul Survival

and my favourite this week was…

thmb54fd91cfb435cEmbracing the Ma’am in Me by Jenny at Living a Faith Filled Life

Once again congratulations ladies and pop over and have a look if you didn’t get a chance to read these ones.

You are all so marvelous, taking the time to come here and link up. I have said it before but I will say it again, thank you all of you, you really bless me abundantly. I am learning so much and it is wonderful to build relationships by learning about each others lives.

I have been so blessed this week by seeing the relationship our No 2 daughter has with her friend (that we go sewing with) and to see how this older girl is teaching (even though she doesn’t mean to) our daughter to be a lovely keeper at home.

It is encouraging me to keep on training her as well as I can so that she may one day encourage others.

My husband has another dentist appointment this week so hopefully his toothache will be sorted. We are going away to a Men’s Fellowship Camp next weekend from Friday night and we are all looking forward to a relaxing time and a wonderful bible study.

So I will need to be really organised this week so I can get everything done before Friday.

What have you got happening in your life this week??

Blessings dear friends and have a wonderful God led week as you raise your children, care and love your grandchildren or just blessing others in any way you can. xxxx


GOOD MORNING MONDAYS LINK PARTY

GOOD MORNING MONDAYS #7

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Welcome back to another Good Morning Mondays Link up.  I have had a good week and I hope you have too.

The weeks seems to be going by very quickly and the list in my head of things to do is not getting that much shorter, although I did sort out my linen press – knock that off the to-do list!!!

Last Monday my husband and I and our younger two children travelled to visit with our No 1 daughter and her children.

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We had a lovely day with them and you can see more and read more about that day here.

The rest of the week passed in a bit of a blur, but we did manage to start on Christmas cards and did all the other general things that seem to take up our days.

No 2 daughter and son had their piano exams this morning and it sounds like they went really well.  This is no 2 daughters 3rd exam but was the first one for no 1 son.  They were a bit nervous though but that all seems to be part of it.  They are both very happy that it is over now :-).

We finally got the aquaponics system up and running and ready for the fish coming next week.  We have planted some vegetables too, which is very exciting for us.  We have been working on this for about 12 months now.

This week I want to do some Christmas baking, fruit cakes, yo yo’s etc, then I will post some away to relatives.

I am determined to get some soap made this week and I am actually going to write a list and cross things off as I achieve them (sounds good….)

Thank you for all your link ups, I am really enjoying reading them.  I am not quite finished with them all yet so I won’t do my personal favourite this week.

The top three posts were:

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Happiness Choice by Tiny Toadstool Cottage

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Reasons I am choosing a home birth part 1 and 2 from Rahab to Riches.
thmb54720a43273abThank you ladies for sharing your hearts with us, and thanks to everyone for taking the time to link up, I really appreciate it.

I want to encourage everyone this week to remember the reason for the season that is fast approaching us.  I am not saying don’t give presents, or don’t have a tree or whatever else you have and do, I am just saying to remember that we celebrate Christmas because of Jesus, not santa or presents or food, but because of our Saviour.

So let’s get the link up started, please link up any posts that relate to God and christian living – especially encouraging or challenging posts, also recipes, crafts, gardening or homesteading as you call it in America and just plain old country living here in Australia.

I’d love to hear about how you celebrate Christmas, who you spend it with, do you open your homes to people who have no one???

May your week be full of God’s love and may He lead and guide you each day.