Faith Family Farm

Tired...

When you are tired...I mean the tired, exhaustive, fatigued tired, and cannot make yourself go on.  
                              When you see a cat in its nap-time-escape, and that's how you feel, is simply to lay, curl up, and sleep.  
           Sometimes you don't know how you will get through another day, there is so much, so very much you want to do, so much that needs done, and yet, you just can't fight through this fog to.do.anything...yet, you are still grateful, 
                         grateful to watch a sleeping cat, grateful when it curls on top of you, grateful for 2,578 things, times 10,000,                              Yes.Just.Grateful.For.Even.Fatigue...





I sit on our lovely porch and watch Comet, our horse, and her friends.  This brings a smile to my face.  Comet and our chickens hang around together, but she has a special relationship with one of the hens.  It is such a joy to watch, funny yes, but this hen absolutely loves to stay right with Comet when she is on their end of the field.  Maybe she sees her as protection, but it is too funny to see at times.  
        Such good friends the chicken and her horse...sounds like the name of a good book :) . 



Then, oh my, we caught sight of this!!!  We had a momma skunk and her 4 babies living UNDER OUR BACK PORCH!!!  Oh my!!!  Normally, yes, (sorry for you extreme animal lovers) we would have "gotten rid of" the skunk; that's what you do on a farm.  They dig holes in the ground and boy do they smell!  But, this time My darling husband said, they eat the bugs and aren't bothering us, so we let them be.  We didn't think we could trap all of them, so we got an education in skunkery for a few weeks.

Literally, we learned alot about skunks from watching them.  The momma would go out to eat in the evening, as skunks are nocturnal animals, or at least we think so, and the babies would go out a bit, but not too far, then run and waddle back under the porch, never staying out long, that we saw anyway.  Yes, they waddle, so funny.

Momma skunk would go towards our raised garden beds, and I thought she was going to begin eating, but to my surprise she simply took a short cut, which she didn't always do, and went right through and over the bed to the other side.  Smart momma.

The babies would just follow, and waddle along.  They were really too cute, they would waddle, then stop to eat and their fluffy tails would stick straight up, oh how we laughed!

As the babies became teenagers, a term I do not like to use, they would follow momma and she would bring them back to the house, and go out again, only this time they did not listen and began following her again.  She finally got frustrated with their disobedience and turned and "yelled" at them, actually she nipped and nipped at them and would try to run on ahead.  But this momma had an injured leg and wasn't very fast so they ended up catching up and continuing on, not listening to her telling them to go back, bad babies...





I know this is weird, but in my tired state of mind, it brought joy and laughter.  Seriously, how can one NOT laugh with skunks living under their porch?!?


When we are tired, fatigued, restless, weary, especially then, we MUST remember God's goodness, whether it be watching our farm animals, or the wild ones living in our back yard.  God is so very good, and there is much to rejoice over, much to be grateful for, we are so blessed...

This is an original piece of artwork by Jenny.  She did this a year or so ago, and it had been sitting around, so with our half bath being blue I hung it there.  She included this verse which God had brought to her mind as she painted...
Clean
"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight.
Cease to do evil."
Isaiah 1:16

Even in times of trials we need to have a repentant heart.
                                  A transforming heart, dependent upon the God who saves.
                  Oh, how good He is.  When the fatigue has taken over our bodies, we rely.totally.on.Him.
"                                                                                          And He will give you rest."


Sarah's favorite verse has become one of my favorites also.

                       Teach me, and I will walk in Your truth.
                                               I want my heart to be undivided, to belong solely and 1st to You, Lord,
                                 that I may fear Your Name,
                                                      and have a true heart of worship,
                                                                      of respect, awe, a reverence, and a fear that
                                             You are the One, True, Living God.

(Sarah's chalkboard print - she changes our verses and quotes periodically)

Are you tired this day?  I will pray for you...will you pray for me?

Yesterday I had another doctor's appointment, and we found out some things that will probably help me.  I have been wrestling and struggling with fatigue for many years now.  I may discuss more later, and none of it is life threatening, just didn't want to scare anyone, and  I think it will help, it will just take a few weeks for me to feel better...

How do you stay refreshed?  Being thankful and grateful?  Keeping a eucharisteo journal?  Staying in God's Word?  Listening to praise music?  Hearing the hymns of old? Or simply the pure worship of bowing before Him in awe?

Let me know...be joyful and happy this day, God is too good for us to be down, for long anyway...there is too much to be thankful for...Yes.Write.It.Down...2,578 and counting, in my journal...

Don't forget you may always join and follow this blog at anytime, or have it sent directly to your email, and feel free to pass along to another who may be struggling.  

Always Experiencing Him,
Jody

Books

We love books, no, I mean, we really LOVE books...books, books, and more books.

We have books in the family room...my favorite ones to help guide me along the way...



Books in the foyer...

Music books in the closet with the girls knitting...this isn't all of their music...

On a shelf in my closet, we were running out of space...

Most are on the balcony...

Journals (these are Julia's nice, leather journals she cherishes)...

On shelves in the girls room in a closet, I did say we were running low on shelf space, right?

Yes, even comic books, gotta love Calvin and Hobbes and Garfield...

On Sarah's bed...

A side table...some of my favorites right here...

The coffee table, a study I'm doing now, trying to finish, and my Eucharisteo journal, up to 2,470 now, and still counting, still giving thanks.for.just.this...

Even on the floor...

Another shelf unit...


Beside our piano, near the violin, (Julia broke a string, Jamin didn't want me to put this pic in because it isn't pretty, but that happens)...

Books, literally everywhere in our home and we love it.  I do wish we had one room to devote all to shelves and it would be our library, maybe someday...(Sarah would love them all the way up with a rolling ladder to get to them, but now we are just dreaming ;)  ).

We were at our favorite used bookstore recently, McKay's Used Books, and the kids were going to go look.  I almost didn't go in because I have, oh, I don't know how many books begun, and still have not finished.  They are all so very good, I have such trouble finishing.  But, no, that did not stop me from going in.  Then, once inside I may look at a few movies, but I always end up at the Christian section, and maybe glance at the children's on the way back, maybe the young adults if I know the kids are looking for something, but this time, once I was inside, I began thinking about the many different authors I enjoy; the wisdom, the knowledge, the experiences, they are all so gifted, and I wondered why I was looking so hard for another, yes, another book when I do not devote near the amount of time reading the Book of all books, inspired by the Creator Himself, the God of the universe, who made me, who gives instruction for all that is happening in and around me.

God's Holy Bible should be my go-to book for all my questions, and all my answers.  We look for answers everywhere except the one place we really should go.  We look for programs, for better studies, but we don't look at God's Word first.  Are there many helps out there for us?  Yes. Are there good books to help us understand something a bit better?  Yes.  There is also God's Word we should read first, then read others whom God has given knowledge to.

We must be very careful because there are also many books that are, what we would call, fluff, just full of whatever would please us, tickle our ears, make us feel better about a given situation.  So I have a list of the good and the "fluff?"  No, because it may be different for everyone, although some simply should not be read.  Read God's Word, listen to His Holy Spirit, gain wisdom and knowledge by asking Him for it.  He had His Words written for us, to guide us, and then we must obey it or it goes away void.

I had to stop reading some books, because as good as they were, and exciting, with lots of good Christian content, I always came away with a false sense of reality.  It was like reading Christian soap operas, not a good idea.  Do I tell you not to read them?  No, because it was a conviction the Holy Spirit had for me, and I had to follow.  I just wanted to give you an example of books and my life.  Yours may be different.

I love this scripture which tells us ALL of God's Words were written for a purpose, to guide us to the saving knowledge of His Son, Jesus Christ...hope...

"For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."  Romans 15:4

Everything written in God's Word, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and all in between passages were written to help guide us today.  Written many, many years ago, but oh, so relevant to our lives today in 2013.  Wow!  Only a Living God could have had His guidelines written that would transcend the ages.  Amazing.Just.Amazing.


So, to all you book lovers, enjoy, but do not neglect the most important Book of all time, The Bible.

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."    2 Timothy 3:16-17

"Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  Romans 15:13

Thanks for stopping by today.

Does your family have many books?

Do you have a family time for devotions or to read together?


Always Experiencing Him,
Jody