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Stepping Out in Faith

October 3, 2011 By

If you are joining me today from Laced With Grace, I am honored to have you here in my own back porch. God has been blessing several ventures that He has put on my heart, and it has kept my fingers a little quiet over the past few weeks. Today is the first day of being home, and I’m hitting the ground running.

For the past week, our family has had the incredible privilege of traveling back to California to visit with old friends and family. We rested by the beach, renewed our souls, and came back ready to tackle life head on.

For the next ninety days, I will be embarking on one of the biggest odysseys that I have ever journeyed: looking my health in the eye and tackling it with all that I can throw at it. This is a scary and exciting time for me. I do not know where I will end up at the end of these 90 days, but I know that I must find out. I hope that you will come back and join me as I take a journey of my own. My focus has always been on others, but now, I realize that I must care for myself if I am to care for others.

I covet your prayers, encouragement and feedback.

Filed Under: Life, Parenting Tagged With: ,

A Holy Experience

September 5, 2011 By

Barely a month has passed since I had the privilege of attending She Speaks in Concord, NC. As I packed, I prayed about what I should bring with me. Repeatedly, my mind returned to a book that I had picked up at Wal-Mart a few days earlier, 1000 Gifts by Ann VosKamp. Assuring myself that I needed a “spiritual focus” for the weekend, I put the book back on my nightstand several times, but the urge continued. Sadly, I pushed it away, thinking myself strong for standing up to temptation.

I arrived late to the key-note speech on Saturday night. The speaker slowly paced back and forth on the stage, flicking through her notes on her iPhone. Her soft, gentle voice caught my attention as she spoke. Even from the back of the room, I could feel her passion, her love. I was instantly mesmerized. It seemed I had seen her somewhere before, but I could not place her. I listened, enraptured, and slowly I began to place her image. It was on the back cover of the book that I had left at home, thinking it was not spiritual enough to take on a women’s conference. Ann VosKamp was standing on the stage in front of me, and would soon be signing autographs. It was a humbling experience.

As the session wrapped up, hundreds of women stood in line to have Ann autograph their books. I stood off to the side and listened to her interact with each woman. The humility and grace that she spoke with on the stage extended into a humanness with each woman she met. As the line was dwindling down, I began chatting with the photographer. I told her what I had done this weekend with Ann’s book, and we both laughed. She assured me that she had heard the same story from so many women at each event they attended. What she did next amazed me. She encouraged me to go ahead and get a photograph with Ann and tell her my story as well. I was embarrassed and humbled, but I decided to own my actions rather than hide them.

I took my turn beside Ann, with nothing to have her sign. I told her my silly embarrassing story, and she hugged me. What humility! She told me that she had done the same thing before. Then she took her napkin, signed it for me, and hugged me again.

Oh, to have that grace and humility! This is the woman I want to be. Someone who sees the good in others, even in their weakness.

To honor that goal, I too will begin my journey of 1000 gifts.

#1 Knowing that my Abba loves me with all His heart.
#2 A soft breeze on a warm summer afternoon
#3 Hearing my children playing
#4 Having a home safe from fire/
#5 Soft cushions to rest my tired feet

 

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Filed Under: humor, Life Tagged With: , ,

Dear God, Are You Listening?

August 27, 2011 By

Dear God,

I know that you promised me a daughter from the East this year, but I’m getting nervous. It’s the end of August already. Time is running out quickly, and we just got the call today that we have been denied the older child adoption that we had felt You leading us towards.

Where do we go now? What do we do?

I know that You are faithful, but I’m nervous. I know that You said that You are the God of the impossible, but I feel a little bit like Thomas today. I want to believe You, but I feel like I need to see some proof.

Thank you that even while I was questioning, I shared my fears with others instead of keeping them to myself like I usually do.

Are you teaching me to be more vulnerable and transparent? I’m trying to learn, but I’m not very good at it. My friends are encouraging me, speaking the same words that You have put in my heart. It is so comforting to know that You do speak to us through others.

Then you had a blog post already created to be posted today at www.KeeperoftheHome.com. With all the things that are usually covered, I was not expecting a post on adoption, and especially not one using the same verses that You have given me to cling to.

I know that You have a plan. I’m scared and nervous, but I’ll wait for your next step. What I want to be doing is searching out every other possible adoption agency and trying to figure out how I can bring my daughter home, but I am going to follow your instructions. You have reminded me repeatedly that You are the God of the Impossible, and that I am to sit back and watch You work.

I’m sitting back now, ready for You to work. I’ll do my best to trust You and not get in Your way. Light up my next step, and I’ll take it. Put the right burden on my heart, and show me how to follow it.

I love you, Abba.
Yours always,
Wendy

Filed Under: Life, Parenting Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Inspiring Healthy Eating

August 13, 2011 By
chicken

Lately, our family has been talking more about eating healthy…. meaning gluten-free, organic, local farmers.

What was that you said? You thought we already do. Well you are sort of right. We know that it is a great plan, and we really *want* to do it, but daily life with a picky eater can somewhat complicate that great choice.

This week, we did an experiment. One night of the All-American Golden Arches served in a box of 50. (You busy parents recognize this one, don’t you?) Complete with all the normal accompaniments. Deep fried potato product, fizzy chemicals and sugar water. And to top it all off, a large plastic container of high-sugar frozen dairy product. Otherwise known as Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Double Cheeseburgers, Milkshakes and Soda.

And one night of organic, free-range local grown chicken who just had it’s healthy neck wrung the night before. This lovely little chicken had its breasts sliced into strips, then covered in gluten-free rice crumbs, some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. On the plate with it were local sweet potatoes, local corn, and for dessert, fresh berry smoothies with berries that were just picked this week.

I was a little nervous about the results, especially with son #2 who is notorious for not even wanting to eat at the same table with the family if we have anything new. But we tried it anyway.

The results:
Meal #1: Fast Food
Cost: $41 (for a family of 6)
Prep Time: 45 minutes (drive to drive-through and back home)
Immediate Response: I’m still hungry.
Short-term Response: children are crazy with uncontrollable energy
Long-term Response: Mommy, my tummy hurts again.

 

 

 Meal #2: Local, Organic
Cost: $14 (family of 6)
Time: 45 minutes (everything starting from scratch)
Immediate Response: This is the best food ever, can we have this every night?
Short-term Response: Children cleared table without arguing, then played together nicely.
Long-term Response: Good night’s sleep, no one  waking up overnight.

Is this to say that the fast food monster has completely been relinquished from Casa de Mueller. Probably not. But the next time that I am tempted to drive instead of prepping, I hope that I remember to look at this article for a few more reminders of why I choose to live organic.

Filed Under: Gluten Free, humor, Life, Parenting Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Radio Silence Has Ended

July 26, 2011 By

I look back over my posts and wonder how the time could have passed so quickly. How has it been over a year since I have last recorded a mission? How have I not been here, the place where I planned to record each mission that our family explored. Each odyssey that we began?

But then I think back over the past year, and I recall the journey. Selah‘s “The Broken Road” leaps into my mind. How has time changed so much from last year to this? How has everything changed? Nothing that was then seems to be now. Our odyssey has continued, but my words disappeared.

For a wordy Southern girl who was dubbed as being able to “talk the horns off a billy-goat” at the mere age of two by her babysitter Mrs. Dalrymple, this girl was completely silenced by the hand of God. I had planned to talk about it on my professional blog, but the words would never come. I have been brought to the place where I have learned that there is a sacred space between work and home, private and public. And I have learned that they overlap in ways that I had tried to separate. Perhaps some issues with my children are more public than I want them to be, and some issues with myself should really be more private.

In the space of eighteen months, I have traveled the road of Psalm 46:10. I have learned to be still. But even more, I have learned to know God. Not just that He is, but truly who He is. Yes, some of us take a little longer than others for things to sink in. I fully admit that I have always been a late bloomer, but I also know that a late bloomer is better than a vine with no blooms at all.

During this time, I had not been commanded to be quiet, yet I had not been able to find any words to speak. My well had gone completely dry. I sat. I listened. I felt a bit like Elijah during the drought after his creek went dry. There was simply nothing there. I knew that He had told me to write, but He gave me no topics, no words. I knew He had appeared, but the words had vanished. Fear surrounded me. Doubt plagued me. How could I be a writer when there were no words, no message, no audience.

I learned that I had an audience of One. He was the One I needed to talk to. He was the One I needed to fall in love with. His voice was the One I needed to hear. Not the voice of strangers who clicked a “like” button on my page, but only Him.

As recently as five days ago, I had nothing to say. I sat with a friend talking about God’s calling on my life, and we both questioned what He wanted me to say. I still felt I had nothing to offer. It was all about me and what I understood. I sat down daily and tried to write. I searched for words. I found emptiness. I felt God tell me that I would begin writing today, and I was terrified. How would I suddenly be able to write when the well had been dry for months.

But this past weekend, I was refueled. God led me to a mountaintop and put my feet on holy ground. He surrounded me with His presence, and then He sent me home.

And He sent me with words.

The words that had eluded me for months consumed me. The thoughts I needed to communicate flew through my fingers more quickly than my eyes could keep up. I soon found myself typing with my eyes closed, reflecting back to when my mother had taught me to type more than 25 years ago. Not looking for hints, not reviewing my errors. Just finding my rhythm and going. Not worrying about mistakes, errors or word counts. Just going with the flow, hearing the click of the keys and sending words out faster than my mind imagined possible.

Today the words have not stopped. I have written for hours, and still the words flow. I have saved many of my thoughts for other days, but still the words continue from my heart.

How can I share all that God has blessed me with?

How I can I be the woman who He created me to be?

Can I be an example to others who have experienced what I have, and can I safeguard others from going where I have gone?

I do not have the answers, but He does. As He leads, I will write. As He stops, I will stop. I do not have a platform, a genre, a following. But I have an audience, an audience of One, and I have the life that He has given to me. I will let my Captain pilot this journey, and I will sit in the copilot’s chair. Learning from Him, putting my hands on the controls as He leads me to, but knowing that I cannot take the controls away from Him. As long as I do this, my odyssey will be one of a lifetime and I will be filled beyond measure.

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Filed Under: Life, Parenting Tagged With: , , , , , , ,