I love how God will continue to guide my life. Even when we are swaying back and forth off the path that He has designed for us to follow.

Around 4 years ago, I placed my family at the foot of the cross. Handed the whole situation over to God, to be in His control. I told God that what ever was needed I would do. Just save this family.

Over the next 2 years, He guided me in the direction that He needed me to take. In that time frame, Philip lost the job that he had held for 18 years. Our income dropped by 75% in one year. I took it as a challenge to see how I was going to change things here for that change to work as a blessing in our lives. I can’t remember a happier time in my life. Even through the times when I worried about where the next meal was going to come from. God provided people and places for us to help us get through those times.

I remember I was never so tired at the end of one day from the new work that I had here. I learned to cook from scratch in order to save money on food, hung the clothes on the line, even digging up the ground in my first attempt to grow our own food.

With all this new things happening in my life, I had little time to talk on the phone, watch TV, read books, or run here and there on a whim. I had a schedule that had to be followed for all these things to get done. Yet i can’t remember a happier time in my life. I found joy and contentment in all those things. I learned to give God glory for the changes that I saw happening in each one of my children, and husband. I read and re read, about the Titus 2 women, the Proverb31 women. I prayed that God would make me into those women. It was around 2 years later that the boys were getting older and were home less and less. I started to do less of those things. I began to seek things outside the home to fulfill my time. I still cooked, but not like I use to. I still did the chores around here but not like I had before. Things started to get cluttered, things were left un done at the end of the day or not done at all. I wasn’t here like I had been so things weren’t getting done. I was very busy with things that I told God I'm doing for his glory. Bible studies, teaching a Sunday school for women, cooking at the church on Wednesday nights. There was a time I was gone every night. All those things in themselves were not bad. It was just that I assumed it was what God wanted. That he was preparing me for when my sons would be out of the house. There wouldn’t be a need for me to be a homemaker on that level anymore. I thought that in order to show others what God had done in our lives I needed to go outside the home to tell them. It started not to make a lot of sense to me. How was it that i could tell them about all the joy and contentment that I had if i wasn’t home anymore to do those things. It got to where i was talking about the passed all the time. I started to long for those time back into my life.

It was just this winter that God showed me that this is where my ministry was to be, from my life in the role of a home keeper. That is how others would see His work being done. Just because our sons were growing and moving on I was still to stay right here and continue to do those things for them. By being here I would be able to continue to minister to others in many ways. I could email, write letters of encouragement, talk to women that were going through hard times. I noticed that being home all the time I was given the blessing of women just dropping in to tell me their good news. It was from those times that I was blessed the most.

So I’m home to stay again. We are down to 2 boys here now. Yet the workload is full. Just knowing that I’m available to others. I have found that contentment, joy, & happiness, once again.

That is why i started this blog. To allow others into my life. I never do anything life shattering. I do know that when the boys come in and find home make desserts, or other foods I can tell that means a lot to them. I know that when my husband is home and I’m here every evening He is happier. This spring I have a garden here again. I have just been so busy working at setting up my little homestead.