Heartfelt Thoughts From A Mother To Her Daughters

Conviction Verses Shame

Conviction verses shame, I though I should write to you girls a little something about the subject. I mean what is the difference ? First let me say, I do not think shame comes from God. Both carry a heavy feeling in your stomach and heart. A feeling calling you to change, a feeling of repentance. But conviction to me has a joy to it, a feeling that “yes, now I see how wrong I was and now I can move forward, now I can do better“. Where shame is just that heavy feeling. There is never a release, it is all encompassing. I find when I feel shame, all the sudden nothing about me is good. All my past failures come back and haunt me. Things I have asked forgive for and moved forward, seem to pull me back, making me feel I have never changed. More importantly shame makes me feel I do not deserve forgiveness, I do not deserve change.

But this is a lie. Nobody is perfect, everyone struggles everyday to die to ones selfish self. But everyday also offers hope, change, growth, forgiveness is just around the corner. God tell us in His word

Romans 14:22

The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves.

and

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

and

1 Corinthians 4: 14-16

I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. So I urge you to imitate me.

Yes, there is conviction, guilt, consequence for our actions when we sin. But the only thing holding us back, is ourselves. Forgiveness, redemption, growth, freedom, it always right there. It is God grace and gift to us, all we have to do is ask. So remember when you have repented and asked Gods forgiveness, it is done. Do not look back xoxoxox

Psalm 103:12

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us

Gentle Kindness And Tender Mercies

 

I want to thank dear Tracey, for letting me share her post on my blog. I have all of Tracey's books and I remember when I first read this story and was soo touched by it. I read it to the girls this morning and they were touched by it too. Thank you so much Tracey for being so generous with all of us xoxo

 

 

 

Gentle Kindnesses and Tender Mercies

"I pray Heaven to bestow the best of blessing on this house...."
--John Adams

I once heard a story about an immigrant family who, after arriving in this country, owned virtually nothing but the clothes on their backs. They were living in a tiny shack that had stood empty for years. When a group of charity workers came by with food for this family, they were startled by what they found inside the shack.

The first thing they noticed when the door was opened to them was the old wooden floor--it was scrubbed clean and gleaming from a wood wax. The smell of apples and cinnamon wafted through the air from a simmering pot set upon a circle of coals on the hearth. A gentle fire crackled in the river-rock fireplace.

A large round table, in the center of the one room, was covered with a floor-length cloth of dark-green-and-white-checked gingham. (They later discovered the table was an over sized spool discarded by a cable company.) The windows were clean and framed by simple curtains, made from the same green-and-white-check fabric as the tablecloth. They hung, not from metal rods, but from thin branches of a willow tree.


"....let us face the tasks of living with joy and embellish ordinary days with comfort, beauty, and a renewed faith in the fact that the most precious things in this life are those things that no amount of money can buy."


The most amazing thing of all was an evergreen garland that graced the chipped plaster walls. It was composed of ordinary items from the local woods. Boughs of evergreen and pine cones were tied onto a length of heavy twine with torn strips of the same gingham fabric. it was looped into swags and hung just under the ceiling. It looked for all the world like an expensive wallpaper border. The ladies from the aid society were asked to sit down on what looked like a small backless sofa with bright red cushions. In truth, it was a series of wooden fruit crates, draped in a loosely fitted slipcover made of the same green-and-white gingham. The lady of the house graciously offered a drink of fresh water to her visitors, while thanking them for their generous gifts to her family.

Perhaps this is an extreme example, yet it beautifully illustrates the philosophy of frugal luxuries. With this attitude in mind, let us face the tasks of living with joy and embellish ordinary days with comfort, beauty, and a renewed faith in the fact that the most precious things in this life are those things that no amount of money can buy.


Excerpt Above From: Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul, by Tracey McBride, 1996
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Life Does Not Take A Vacation

With school starting up again, I thought I should write a little something about learning. Even though we school year around, the fall it is always a much more structured time. I have always thought that you girls should own your education. It was my job to facilitate, to teach you how to learn and feed your interests. But it is not my job to spoon feed you, your education.

When you were very little I would just encourage you in every thing you were interested in and you were interested in everything. Every rock, leaf, book, cookie. We would go on nature walks almost every day and you were fascinated by everything. Then when you got bigger I taught you how to learn. How to find the information you wanted, how to read, how to try different approaches, how to play. But then there came a time when I had to start to back away. Let you spread your wings, to take all that you had learn and find your own way to learn. I was still there if you struggled, but I handed you your education.

I have to say I am quite happy with how proactive you are in learning. You do not wait for someone to tell you, if you want or need to know something, you go and find it. You are very good at using the resources around you to get the answers you need, to find the help you need. This is what I have always wanted for you and hope you carry this with you all your life. For learning never ends, you never get too old for it. I want you to be so interested in your life, that you are always searching for more.

By the way if you wonder why we school year around ?It is because learning is life. Life does not take a vacation, every moment it a chance to learn xoxoxo

Tasha Tudor Day, 2009

  " Love is not confined to Valentines day in our family or among our friends. There are many occasions all through out the year to tell people that you love and appreciate them" Tasha Tudor from All For Love

These are our sketches (me, Auberne` and Chloe) from Tasha Tudor books we did on Tasha Tudor day. It was a lovely celebration xoxoxo

A Different Kind Of Woman

"The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, But the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman." ~ Elisabeth Elliot

 

Remember Auberne` and Chloe, it is your walk with God that defines and strengthens you. It is were you can become the wonderful woman you were always ment to be. Thank you Michele for the quote xoxo

Be True To Yourself

Hello girls, well since you are MY daughters, I am assuming you will never do things the logical way, the practical way ;-P

So I want to encourage you to listen to your gut and trust your instinct, that is why they are there. Remember God has a plan and He planned you just the way you. Every hair, every strength, every weakness, is planned. And He does not make mistakes.

But it is hard to be yourself, especially if yourself is not like those around you. There is this inherent pressure to conform, to fit in, to compromise. Whenever I let other pressure me into doing things “the practical” way, it never worked for me. I had to learn that I have my own way of going about things and I needed to embrace that. For example when I was young, I loved to sew. I even took a tailoring class and made a wool jacket with vented pockets, but I still struggle to sew a straight line. Now some would say I should not take a tailoring class till I mastered more the basic skills of sewing. But for me, it is in doing those more complicated projects, I am learning to sew a straight line. It works for me, it probably would not for others. But I am not others. By the way, I have to say the jacket turned out really beautiful and straight !!!!

So do not let others, including your mother, push you into go against what feels right. You need to try things, make mistakes, play, find your rhythm, be true to yourself. So next time I push you, you can remind me of this post, although it does not mean you will get out of doing chores xoxox

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog, this is a letter to my two daughters Auberne` (18) and Chloe (13). I have been thinking lately what wisdom, advice, encouragement would I want to share with them. I am sure some of what I will write I have already said but it is lovely to have something concrete, something written down. So I decided to make a blog of it all. At first I considered making it private but thought maybe some of my readers from Storybook Woods might be encouraged.

I will say this blog will be different from Storybook Woods. It is very personal, it is letter from my heart. Not everyone may agree with I write, but I can not speak for everyone. My posting will be irregular, only when I have something to say. I will talk much more here about my walk with the Lord, something I do not really share at Storybook Woods. You will also notice there are no pretty pictures, at lest not at this point. I do not want the pressure of that. I just want to focus on words, which do not come easy for me. 

So welcome to my new blog but please understand this blog is just heartfelt thoughts from a mother to her daughters xoxoxo