Friday, November 23, 2018

It's Hard to be Truthful

Ugh.
I used to love to blog. I had even gotten to the point where my thoughts were in blog form!! Randy always encouraged me to blog.

Then, Life got messy. He died. I made a mess of many of my family relationships. It was too painful to be honest in my posts. It’s so much easier to talk a positive talk. Make everything look good. After all, that was a characteristic I had perfected over the years as a “preacher’s wife.” But then, I realized what good was I doing if I couldn’t be honest? Plus, it was slowly making me into a person I really didn’t like.

Randy died in March of 2015. Until the end of 2017 I was unhappy, depressed, confused, – however, it is also a time when I learned – really learned how to depend on God.

Yes, there were many days I didn’t even get out of bed. I just hid out – but I spent much of that time calling on God. Most of the time I didn’t even know what to say to Him. So I just depended on Him understanding my groans – my pain. And he did.

I know the difference in a depression that debilitates and one must depend on medication for it. And then there is a depression that can be controlled and overcome by one experiencing it.

That was me. I knew it was a mindset I needed to change. So….

In January of 2018, I told myself I was done. I was done feeling so sad. I was done staying in bed, I was done being depressed. I chose the word JOY as my word for the year. And then I set out to make changes.


God led me to a life of joy. I still miss Randy terribly BUT I feel joy in my heart and I have a renewed sense of living. I am so grateful for this and so thankful.

Sometimes we really do need to reach the very bottom to begin our way back up.

Thank you to all my friends and family, to my Sisters in Christ who have understood and helped me. – or even if you didn’t understand you still loved me through it.

2018 really has been a joyful year.

Have you thought about your word for 2019?



Monday, July 10, 2017

Office Redo–Before and After

This is where I have done my Bible Study and my journaling for the last 2 years. – On my dining table. And so most days it looks like this:

Dining Table as Desk

Well, I needed to do something about this mess. So I decided to redo my office.

I’m pleased with the end results:

(don’t expect a neat area! But it’s neat to me!!!)

Office before 3       office after 1
                 Before                                       After
Yes, there is a desk under all
that “stuff.”


Office before 4      office after 2
                Before                                          After


Office before      office after 3
               Before                                          After


Office before 2      office after
                   Before                                      After


As you can see, I had so much furniture and craft bins – It was too crowded. I had my desk, Randy’s desk, the table he built for our printer, 2 craft bins, 2 storage cabinets, a wash stand and 2 filing cabinets.

I was able to consolidate to 2 sets of shelves, a desk – made from a door, I used the filing cabinets and table Randy made to set it on. The 2 storage cabinets and the wash stand.

I put all my craft supplies on one set of shelves, Bible Study on the other set and bill information on the wall.

I had to buy the door and the shelves. I got a bargain on the door at Lowe’s – $2.66. I used varnish I already had to refinish it. The shelves were $25 each.


door before varnish          office after
     Before varnish                     After 4 coats of varnish


I am looking forward to making messes in here rather than on the dining room table!

OH – an unplanned bonus!

tv from office
I can see the TV from my desk!!

This was my 4th of July week project and I had so much fun doing it! I even went through all of my files and discarded and combined! I feel so accomplished!

Now – excuse me while I go make a mess!






Friday, June 30, 2017

Tweaks!

First of all, Thank you to everyone who responded. My goal isn’t for you to make a prayer journal like mine. My goal is for you to pray!! 

I did add a meditation page to my journal. I’m reading the book “The Hour That Changes the World” by Dick Eastman and I realized meditation isn’t intimidating, it isn’t complicated and it was easy for me to overlook. “I don’t have time right now – later.”

So I decided if I added a page dedicated to meditation – I wouldn’t forget it.


Meditation page             Meditation page tip in 4

Same page, I added a tip-in.

Would love to hear about your prayer habits, your prayer notebooks, or just you! Comment below, on Facebook or twitter!