Tag Archives: JOY

Diaries of the Heart

FINDING MY JOY

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Sometimes, I don’t know why, but I loose my joy. I don’t know where it goes, maybe it goes where all those socks go when you wash them, and I have been looking for them for years.

Sometimes this joy of mine, leaves quick and takes a long time to find again.

But then is joy something I need to find or is it something that I have all the time and I just don’t know how to apply it.

Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

There it is the fruits of the spirit and there it is – JOY. Joy is a fruit of the spirit. A fruit of the Holy Spirit. So if I have the Holy Spirit living in me then Joy should be there as well.

Joy has already been given to me along with all the other fruits. So the problem isn’t that I loose it, it really can’t leave me because it comes with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit never leaves me.

So I guess the problem is me, plain ole me and my issue with the applying of this joy given to me by the Holy Spirit.

I haven’t lost my joy, I haven’t got to find it, there is no where to search.

It dwells within me and I just need to turn on the joy button and let it shine.

How do I turn on that joy button you may ask??? For me, I need to spend more time in God’s word.

I have been slack lately and I need to start getting up early again and reading my bible before the children rise. I am still reading my bible but I am playing catch up all the time. For me I need routine and that is my plan.

It may be different for you, but just remember we never lose the fruits of the spirit, they dwell within.

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Diaries of the Heart

SOMETIMES AND ALWAYS

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Sometimes….

I get so frustrated;

I get so mad;

I get so impatient;

I get so task orientated;

I forget that repetition helps learning;

I forget that consistency guides;

I forget that these children are only ours whilst on earth, a gift from God;

I forget to turn to the Lord during all of the above…

Lord ALWAYS… 

help me be patient;

help me to forget the task and remember the child;

help me to be generously repetitious with words and actions;

help me to be consistent;

help me to always remember the gift of our children – given by You;

help me to always remember to turn to You and seek Your face daily.

help me always to love above everything else.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

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Homeschooling Diary

HYPNOTIZING CHICKENS – HOMESCHOOL JOY

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No 2 daughter and son are out hypnotizing chickens.  It was something that they saw on a “swamp man” type reality show.

They say it actually works and if they keep practicing as much as they are now, I’m sure it will.  Though I do feel somewhat sorry for the chickens, but they seem to be very long suffering.

They have finished their school for the morning and our outside enjoying the sunshine.  Spring is here in Victoria Australia and summer is coming quickly.

I have been trying to teach them to get into their school in the morning and in the afternoon they can go and have fun, doing the things they enjoy.  Sometimes this theory works and some times it doesn’t.

Some mornings it is a hard slog just to get through a maths lesson.  I get frustrated and they get stubborn.  No 2 son spends too much time fiddling and scratching and singing and not enough time actually doing his work and No 2 daughter spends her time telling him to be quiet or poking him.

Oh the joys of normal, happy, healthy children.

If they were at school I wouldn’t have the pleasure of seeing them succeed with their schooling or seeing them blossom from being outside, creating games and camps and cubbies.

If they were at school they wouldn’t have time to help Dad when he gets home, because of their homework.

If they were at school I wouldn’t have the pleasure of helping them through their attitudes or squabbles.

If they were at school someone else would be seeing them achieve.

Some days are hard, really hard, but the joy and pleasure and good times override the bad and makes this homeschooling experience a totally right thing.

So if you want to see your children really achieve, keep them home, release the chickens, teach them all the good things and let them play in the dirt – it is our God given responsibility.

No 2 daughter and son
No 2 daughter and son

If you are thinking of homeschooling I want to encourage you to give it a go, you won’t be sorry, you may be tired and grumpy but in the long run you will never be sorry.

Deuteronomy 6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way and when you lie down, and when you rise.

PS: Today was one of those hard days so I am writing this to encourage myself as much as everyone else.

This post is linked to….

Hope In Every Season

Grandparents Diary

ON BEING A GRANDMA

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I can’t explain the feeling that I got when I first found out that I was going to be a Grandma.

It was pure joy!!!   But underneath the joy it didn’t feel quite real either.  Who would have thought that I’d be a Grandma at age 45.

We have been truly blessed to be Grandparents at such a young age. We get lots of comments about being too young (which is quite nice I must admit – especially on those days when you feel a bit old and tired).

There was also some feelings of regret.  Why, you ask????

I suppose they are just irrational feelings that come at the end of a stage in your life.

We had No 1 daughter eleven months after we were married and awaited with anticipation for No 2 child to come along.  But we waited and waited and after 5 1/2 years he appeared.  His birth was not what I would call a pleasant experience and it truly put me off.  It wasn’t his fault, just a culmination of stuff that happened.

Life continued on and we moved house and changed jobs and sent the children to school and then decided that we would homeschool.

Those same magazines and articles that encouraged us to homeschool were also talking about children being a blessing and a joy.  The truth hit us as we allowed God to take over the control of our reproduction.

It took 3 years for me to conceive No 2 daughter.  Whilst watching our other friends have baby after baby I sat there asking God why, when we were doing His will, why wasn’t He fulfilling our desires.  I understand His ways to be  perfect and we just needed to wait (although it wasn’t easy).

No 2 daughter arrived almost 10 years after No 2 son.  She was beautiful.  We then suffered a miscarriage 16 months later, there had been some issues right from the start of that pregnancy but we were believing God to heal.  Once again His ways are perfect and His plan is perfect (and once again it wasn’t easy).

No 2 son arrived 2 1/2 years later and once again he was beautiful.

It amazed me that when I was young I didn’t conceive and needed some help with fertility medication and here I was at age 40 starting to be fruitful.

Another 14 months after No 2 son was born I was pregnant again, wow this was great.  We were so excited that it was so easy to handle the “oh not another one” comments from family and friends. But sadly this child was meant only for Heaven and she passed away at 26 weeks gestation.  This was true pain.  Lord we are doing your will, what is going on.

Her birth and our hospital experience was wonderful.  I have never had such an experience, the staff and doctors were really amazing and because we had been to the same hospital two times before there was a comaraderie that I didn’t experience the first 2 times.  God really blessed us through this experience and once again His ways are perfect.

Since then we haven’t conceived again and I suppose we wait to see if it will happen again.  I am scared somewhat to become pregnant but God is in control.

So to see our daughter having babies is such a blessing.  To be able to hold their little bodies and get to know them is a joy.

When our oldest granddaughter saw me last time she raised her arms and trotted over with a big smile on her face.  That was just the best feeling (and makes me teary now just writing about it).  It doesn’t matter to me that she probably does that to all the people at church – she did it to me and I know that even at her young age she knows me to be her Grandma.

Life is surely complete.

This post is linked up here….

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