Finding joy in the everyday

Part 1: Welcome 😊 I have decided to write a series of blog posts this year aimed at Christian working women. To offer encouragement, support, tips and advice in how to manage one’s work outside of the home and still be a keeper of your home and a wife and mother. And we need all the encouragement we can get as its a tough world out there. I do hope you enjoy this series and find the information beneficial. If you are a stay-at-home wife and mother, I hope this give you insight into your sisters in Christ and show support and encouragement not them. And many of things in this series are relevant to all women i.e. time management.  To opening admit to being a working Christian woman on some blogs is bad news — your comments are simply not published, you are forced to justify why you work and made to feel inadequate, a poor wife and mother who is neglecting her family and feeding them junk, living in a hovel and quite clearly unable to manage on one income. I have been ...

Artist: Stephanie Lambourne English According to Stephanie: ( LINK ) " My paintings are quirky, light-hearted and colourful, peopled by unreal characters in sometimes strange pursuits. I am inspired by the idea of adding figures to a landscape which then instantly starts to suggest a narrative, whether it's the story I intended or another the viewer decides, it makes no difference as long as it brings a smile."

When you first marry many couples have long conversations about the future — shared dreams and aspirations, what you both would like to achieve, plans for house, children, perhaps romantic holidays, where you see yourselves in 5 or 10 years etc.. Your life is mapped out in front of you both and it sounds exciting. Then you settle down to "live" and very quickly practical things get in the way of your dreams. You don't build that extension, you haven't been on holidays for ages and it just seems impossible to save money. Dreams have disappeared and reality has arrived with a thud.  It happens to all of us at some stage and whilst we all have to live in reality, it can be unhealthy to one's marriage to plod along with no real direction or plan. That is what can cause couples to become unsettled and restless.  Why not suggest to your husband that you sit down together (over a yummy meal or picnic) and discuss and brainstorm the future. Ways to spice up yo...

Abigail Abigail is another amazing woman in the Bible, a wise, brave and able woman, much like Queen Esther. She was married to a very rich but the most unpleasant and ungodly man — Nabal. We do not know how Nabal treated Abigail, but if he was so horrible to others, it is likely he treated her poorly as well. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And she was a woman of good understanding and beautiful appearance; but the man was harsh and evil in his doings. He was of the house of Caleb. (1 Samuel 25: 2-3) David sent ten young men to Nabal to collect any gifts he chose to give “Go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. And thus you shall say to him who lives in prosperity: ‘Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!”. Even with such a pleasant greeting, N abal turned them away rudely, pretending not to know who David was.  ...

Artist: Margaret Olley 24 June 1923 – 26 July 2011 Australian still-life painter

Gladness : feeling joy or pleasure; delighted; pleased; characterized by or showing cheerfulness, joy, or pleasure, as looks or utterances. What is the secret of gladness?  There are many things which help to make people glad. This is a beautiful world in which we live. When the work of creation was finished, God surveyed it and saw that it was very good. We do not think enough of what God has done for our pleasure in the way he has adorned this world, preparing it to be our home. He has spread loveliness everywhere. He has covered the fields with a luxuriance of vegetation. He has sown the earth with flowers. The wonderful variety in nature — mountain and valley, lake, river, and stream — gives an added charm to the marvelous beauty. Then over all this splendor God has thrown a vast vaulted roof of blue, in which, when night comes, instead of black darkness, thousands of star-lamps are hung to pour their soft, quiet radiance over us while we sleep. " Secret of gla...

So far I have written about Sarah , Ruth , Proverbs 31 and Esther  (click to read more) — all remarkable women but all very different women. We can learn so much from these women, they all had their struggles (as we do), life was difficult for Sarah, Ruth and Esther in particular—but by believing in God, they all came through their journerys stronger women in their faith. And they all learnt that they were never  alone in their troubles and that God is ALWAYS with us and  reaches out with His love. Today is Leah's story:  Then Laban said to Jacob, “Because you are my relative, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what should your wages be?” Now Laban had two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful of form and appearance. Now Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, “I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.” (Genesis 29:15-18) I alwa...