New Beginnings

UPDATE:  Please feel free to read this post. I have however decided I really don't want to leave Honeycomb Cottage parked and gathering dust in cyber space. I will not be using the blog referred to at the end of this post I wrote back in January 2013. I pen this on September 19, 2013, and plan to stay right here where I was for over six years. This feels like home. The other blog I created and worked part of this year never felt like home. I have transferred the posts I did there over here. It is so good to be back, and thank you for stopping by, and I hope you visit often!   




I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but aside from a few changes I made to this blog a few years ago I really don’t make changes here. I am like that in general; I hold out until I have something  the way I want it before I make any changes. I just don’t do fickle well and there are things that I do that require research and focus which make it all the easier to just get things where I want them and then leave them alone. Well, that is about to ...um well, change, here at least.

   I started this blog as a result of searching for creative cards ideas. It was then I discovered Kim and her wonderfully fresh and candid blog. I related to her and now am thrilled to say we are friends. I enjoyed teaching Sunday School and Bible Studies so I thought a blog might be a good way to share things I was learning in my walk with, God. So April 2007 I finally stepped out and began blogging. I read and enjoyed other blogs and met many lovely people, two I now have as dear friends. I began to share card making, family events, my dog, book reviews, cake decorating, baking, recipes, nutritional tid~bits... and the list goes on, oh and occasionally some of my walk with God and/or just Bible. Through the years I have enjoyed this blog and certainly enjoyed those I follow. However, I always felt I was not using Honeycomb the way I should have; sharing Jesus and my walk with God.

   In the last few weeks I pondered that very thing that wore on me. I decided to start using Honeycomb Cottage at the beginning of the year as a way to share those things and only share the odd card, quiche, cake and all the rest as the exception and not the common post. So I began doing just that on January 1.

   I have done Facebook as a way to see pictures of my grand children and stay in touch with a few friends I do not live close to. I am not an avid poster there, but do like to see what friends are doing. Facebook is becoming a privacy nightmare laced with tons of ridiculous “apps”. I have considered shutting it down and have decided to whittle it WAY back with the definite eye on shutting down soon. So I decide to take a dormant Google+ account my husband talked me into some time ago and make it more active. I can keep in touch there with friends without the hype and vulnerability Facebook brings with it. I stumbled into “Photos” and found tons of photos already in that Google+ account. I had no idea how that happened and really did not care; they did not need to be there so I deleted them. Now I go to this blog and notice what you no doubt noticed as soon as you landed on this page. NO PICCIES!!!!  I do a little research only to discover all those piccies we post, at least on Blogger, go to some Picasaweb thingy I never signed up for. When I deleted them in Google+ they all went away out of that Picasa thing and automatically deleted them for this blog. Yep! The piccies I posted for five and a half years, gone. And so I am, basically. I have all of those photos in my iPhoto, but I am not reconstructing them here. So, since I really had been leaning toward just starting a new blog and doing the odd cake, card and such post here ~ that is precisely what I have done.

   I will continue to follow those blogs I enjoy so much through Honeycomb Cottage. And I might post an odd card, recipe or family event here, but my focus will be the new blog, just as my focus would have been about Jesus and my walk with God here had I maintained this as my only blog.

Please visit me at Living life loving, God.

Be blessed, 

Teresa

Be Blessed This Year!

   For those of us that have made Jesus the Lord of our life; we stand to inherit all of the promises of the Word if we will just receive them. For those that do not have Jesus in their life, there is absolutely no reason for you to remain poor in your spirit because if you will receive Jesus, the Kingdom of Heaven is also yours. Having said that I want to wish everyone, everywhere a Blessed 2013 that is full of peace and prosperity in every area of your life!

    Christmas is such a time of excitement and wonder. That night when the angels praised God saying “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”, they were announcing the greatest gift ever given. We like to give gifts at Christmas to celebrate that amazing gift. But, soon after the gifts are opened, the food is eaten and eventually the trees and decorations come down and are all properly tucked away for next year we get geared up for the new year and the resolutions made, Valentine’s Day is all over the retail world even before New Year’s Day, vacation plans for the year are discussed, our Life Plan’s are revisited for tweaking and we transfer events to our Day Planner’s and off we go into another year. The wonder of that day is exchanged for the rote of another year. I would like to suggest here that we take the message of that day and make it our priority for the year. Write that into your Life Plan and daily into your Day Planner. Spend time with the Lord and walk in a really close and intimate relationship with Him everyday. Christmas should not be a holiday, everyday should be Christmas. Talk about Jesus like you do your children, or your dog, or your next vacation. Share Him as easily as you do those things. Give the gift that keeps on giving, Jesus.

   There is a quote of questionable origin, but I really like it. I am a “Word” girl and believe in the power of the tongue but this quote has its merit. The quote is, “Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary.” I do think words are always a powerful tool to be used, but people tend to watch what you do more than they listen to what you say. That being the case I think the best way to start to give Jesus to the world is to show love to others. In the last recorded thing we have that Jesus prayed before He was betrayed He asked God that not only His disciples walk in love and unity, but that all future believers would do the same. Can I just say Jesus was not talking about denominational quasi tolerance for each other or some of the fake fellowship that can be seen in a church? No, He was talking about the kind of oneness in the body of Christ that would be passed down through all generations, the kind of oneness that would manifest God on earth, bringing glory to God in that others through the visible love of God would believe on Jesus and make Him Lord and Savior. Here is what Jesus prayed.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me."  John 17:20-23 (NLT) 

   The song “Go Tell it on the Mountain” has been on my heart this Christmas season. It has never been on of my favorites and I honestly do not even think of it even at Christmas. Be that as it may, God has put that tune and that song in my heart for weeks now. “Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain, our Jesus Christ is born!”

    Let’s start to be a blessing by walking in the love and perfect unity Jesus asked the Father for us to walk in so that we can give the gift of Jesus to others ~ everyday.

 Where is your mountain? Where can you tell others about Jesus?

Deciding to GO.

I stumbled on to the pictures below in my iPhoto yesterday. They reminded me of something I thought I might share here. For a few years I had been frustrated, significantly frustrated, with a number of things. At the heart of it all; it was me I was frustrated with. I think I knew that all along but oh how easy it is to find other reasons and people to blame. This of course, only magnifies the angst of the frustration. I can be quite resourceful and so I put myself to the task of peeling off the layers that were weighing me down. With every plan I came up with to clear away a situation bothering me I became more confused and yes, frustrated. Once the confusion got annoying enough I had an epiphany (the one from which I had been running), I knew where confusion came from and it was not God. God is the giver of peace, such peace we can’t even understand, but we do have complete access to. I also knew my frustration and confusion were directly related. I was frustrated because I was not giving God 100%, and I was becoming increasingly confused the more ran from what he was asking of me. James is clear about the end of that, For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. James 3:16

As a young girl one of my favorite things to do was go out to my father’s garden. I enjoyed gardening but what I really liked doing was teaching the vegetables. Dad’s asparagus stood straight up and at attention. The staked tomatoes were tall and seemingly attentive the way the seemed to reach upward and outward. The pole beans on their wig~wam style sticks just climbing up so quickly seemed eager to hear what I had to say. Imagine my delight when dad decided to give Brussel Sprouts a go. For one thing by autumn the other plants were in canning jars but the Brussel Sprouts were just coming up, a couple more months to teach! And, each plant had many attentive little heads, what joy!!! Yes, each vegetable plant was a part of a wonderfully captive audience.

Somehow, no matter what I considered, I always knew that sharing and teaching was to be  a part of my life. Truth be known, I knew it was to be what I did with my life. I love my family, nutrition and healthy habits for healthy living are things I enjoy reading and talking about, but it has always been the Bible, God’s Word, that I have enjoyed hearing taught. I even enjoyed just the simple Sunday School stories and the flannel-graphs and well.... really anything at church as a child. When I decided to make Jesus the Lord of my life those stories became real to me, they started to become a part of me. As I grew older and life presented less than fun experiences; the Word of God became what I leaned on and trusted in. By this time I was enjoying the Bible on my own. Have you ever thought about how a baby needs milk from its mother and as that baby grows it begins to feed itself and can manage meat on its own? I look back on that time in my life when I picked up my Bible and began to feed myself rather than counting on a Pastor, Youth Leader, Sunday School teacher or Grandmother to nurse me. What a warm and lovely thing to to ponder. I felt so independent and yet knew that I knew I depended on God and God alone. I could just stop here and bask in that, but I want to say something so I will move forward.

Forward. I have wonderful children, each unique and amazing. I love to look back and think of some of the wonderful times watching them grow, think about some hard times and how God molded all of us through them. I enjoy thinking about their accomplishments, everything from first steps to some of the things they have done just recently. I enjoy thinking about some of the things God has done through me. But.......  You know that verse that Paul encourages us to move forward?


I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us. Philippians 3:12-14 NLT

I have heard that verse used to preach how we must not look at our failings in the past, after all Paul was the in the natural, and by his own admission, one of the worst of sinners. I do not remember ever hearing a sermon or teaching on not dwelling in the past about our good memories or accomplishments. Only a handful of times did God tell His people to wait to do something and there was always a purpose for future benefit when He did. For instance, when Jesus told some of the disciples, his mother and some other women and his brothers to wait there in Jerusalem until they received the Promise His Father had made about sending the Holy Spirit. He did this because once He was gone they would need the Holy Spirit to endue them with power to continue in ministry. Overall however, God is a GO God. We are told to GO to all the nations. Abraham was always being told to GO. Moses same thing, GO. God told Joshua that yes, Moses was dead, now get up and GO over the Jordan, you and all the people because He was giving them the land He promised. He told Joshua just as He promised Moses, every place Joshua placed the sole of his feet God had given him. God also as with Moses, told Joshua He would never leave or forsake him, just GO. I am not saying it is not good to remember good things and to think on the wonderful things God has done. What I am saying is we are not to camp there. We are to continue walking, GOing forward in the steps God has put before us and Jesus left example of.

I had become most frustrated and wanted to find any reason I could to not take responsibility for it. I did begin to talk with God about how the frustration was getting to be too much and that the pain of staying in that rut was quickly surpassing the pain of facing whatever it was I needed to face to get to the other side of the barren land of Frustration. In a later post I will perhaps go into some detail about how that happened, but for now suffice it to say when I completely yielded myself,  God showed me why I was being so resistant. I stopped my world right then and there. I had known on some level why I was not moving forward in the things God placed before me. Now, He gave me a clear and pretty full picture of the whole of that dilemma. Somehow now I believe I am suppose to put that out there, so here it is.

God called me years ago to teach, and not just anything but to teach people how much He loves them and specifically teach His Word. Here it is. There are things in my past I am not proud of and things I regret. As with things that bring shame and remorse; those things were sin. People look at the actions of people to judge God by. People that want to discredit God do this, but more grievously people who claim to be Christians do too. I did not want to bring anymore blows to the name of God and I thought stepping out in His Name, teaching His Word would bring undeserved marring to Him. The enemy had me right where He wanted me, and deception at its finest, I thought I was doing God a favor.

When God got through to me that day last August, and I realized the bondage I had been in and that God wanted me to do exactly what He called me to do and He would take care of me and anything that came of someone trying to taint my testimony or tarnish Him, I made a quality decision to get up and GO. God will never leave or forsake me and when my journey on this side of glory is done I want it to be said of me:

[That] I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.  John 17:4 NLT

So now I am pressing on to do just that. I enrolled August 11, 2011 in college and am majoring in Biblical Studies. I have eight classes done, my lowest overall class grade being a 94.40% with my overall grade thus far being 98.25%. Even at that, the beautiful thing is I have had that peace that passes human understanding that we have access to, and I have had that peace from the moment I decided to follow God and give Him 100%.

These note cards are one of the little projects I did back then when I was so frustrated. I went through some time of searching my heart and seeking God. These were made while I was earnestly seeking Him and just prior to my decision to obey God. Thank you Father for your patience and for never giving up on me. Thank you that you will never leave or forsake me. I love you, all of You, with all of me.

Westward Ho!

I thought I might post a few photos of our recent move. Since the profile photo of me at the lap top was taken in our home in Indiana, and we have moved, I have changed the photo to one taken in our home in, Oklahoma. Sorry, Kim. Tomorrow, I will post a little about what has been going on here at our house since the move.


Everything was packed up and filled up,

everyone was tucked up... and it off we went.

We left Chesterton, so much later than we anticipated. Originally, we wanted be rolling out by 12:00 noon. There were some unexpected snags and by the time we got a bite to eat at local fast food place, it was 7:30p.m. Had we left on time, our goal was to get to Springfield, Missouri, and stay the night. Doing so we would have easily arrived at our destination by 2:00p.m. the following day, and we could have unloaded and set up the necessities such as bed, linens, couch, and a few needed kitchen items by bedtime. The next day being Sunday, we could have finished unloading and returned the U-Haul trucks that evening. The best laid plans and all that. By the time we had been on the road four hours, and only somewhat down the highway in Illinois, I got a the full impact of the previous three weeks. I became so overwhelmed with sleepiness I had to stop. There was a rest area within a few miles of that wave of drowsiness, and we stopped. I have seen truckers and RV's park and rest for the night at rest areas many times when we have traveled. I just never figured I would be one. But there we were, Baxter and I in one truck, and Jon, in the other, and about 25 of our closest trucker and RV friends we had just never met... snoozing until morning. Up, teeth brushed, clothes changed, a little walk... and we are back at the rambling road and on our way.


320 miles later give or take, we are passing through St. Louis.


300 more miles and we are in Oklahoma and on the Will Rogers Turnpike.


50 miles into Oklahoma, we stop for one last ..... Tornado! Okay, BritGal warned me about this but... yikes. Oh, and Sarah, YES!! feel free to hook me up with your tornado survival expert, Pam??. There was no doubt for those of us at this stop that there was a tornado somewhere in the area. People were getting off of the turnpike because of the high winds. We ventured back out once the wind settled down some and it was still hard to keep those heavy U-Haul trucks on the road. Here is an article, complete with photos I later found about this tornado.

What a trooper! Baxter, did not seem to even mind. These photo's do not do this event justice.


However, he really was having trouble staying on the ground. If memory serves me right, Jon ended up carrying him most of the way back to my truck.





65 miles of driving in really high winds, coupled with being tired and way past our hoped time of arrival, we did not stop in, Tulsa. This photo is from a previous trip and I just thought I would insert it. Normally, we would have stopped here and then had lunch at Rib Crib. Yumm!!!!! a serious perk to living in, Oklahoma!


Another 110 miles and Home Sweet Rent House. :-)

These are two of my granddaughter's that live nearby. Shortly after we moved in, they hand painted (okay, maybe hand permanent marked) a lovely terra cotta pot and filled it with with impatiens. The sentiment on it simply says, "I love you, Nana" and it is trimmed with plum purple ribbon and embellished with carnation pink beading. Thanks, girls!
The people here in Oklahoma, are not in a hurry about anything. I love that. Stress and discouragement are just not a part of everyday life here. I love that. And!! they are all so friendly. I mean it. Everyone has been amazingly friendly. What a lovely place Oklahoma, is. For everyone that has said to me, "Welcome to, Oklahoma", let me just say, I do feel very welcomed here and I am glad to be here.

More tomorrow on a few wonderful things that have happened in the last three weeks.

Blessings wherever you are!

How busy is too, busy?

The feeling of being hurried is not usually the result of living a full life and having no time. It is on the contrary born of a vague fear that we are wasting our life. When we do not do the one thing we ought to do, we have no time for anything else- we are the busiest people in the world. Eric Hoffer

I don't often draw from the quotes of scholars and philosophers, but the quotes you read in this post both express my heart and line up with scriptural principles.

There was much work to do in our yard this spring. Hard work!... and a lot of it. With the exception of putting in a few day lilies, planting a few veggie seeds, and spreading a little mulch, we are done. It has been a toilsome few weeks, but oh so very worth it. Now, it is on to finishing some remodeling inside. That should be a 4-6 week adventure. The physical labor may not be as hard as the out of doors work, but it will be time consuming. In addition to the everyday cooking and cleaning, swimming three times a week, maintaining family and friend relationships, and all of the other everyday activities, things around here have been "busy". Too busy! Why "too" busy? Because the one thing that is the most important to me has been pushed to the side, pushed back, "scheduled" in and taken off the "schedule", and for the most part simply let go. And that, is unacceptable!

Spending time alone with the Lord is so very important. I am not talking about reading a verse of Scripture or a little devotion out of a devotional, and then saying something like... "Thank you for today. Help me get through it and I wish we had more time together but You know how much I have to get done. Love You, Lord." And then go on about the day. I am talking about the kind of time you spend with someone that you love. You get some tea, grab your Bible, a notebook and sit down to really share what is on your heart and then listen for His words to you. Read where ever it is in the Word that you are reading that day and let the Father speak to you through His written Word, too. Relaxed and relational. Unhurried conversation. Excited expectation to hear what He has to say to you. Starting your day by giving the Lord the first fruit of it. Receiving that mercy that is new every morning.

For the last few weeks, I have felt pressured to get to this blog. I was allowing my time with the Lord to slip and if that was going, the blogging was not happening. So, since I knew the blog was something I wanted to, and felt led to do, and my time with the Lord is so precious to me and they were both slipping....... I had to ask myself where or what the problem was. The answer seemed so simple and I was a little surprised that I did not see it right away. The cards.

Card making is a hobby for me. Let's stop a minute and just define "hobby".

: a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation Webster; current.

Any favorite object; that which a person pursues with zeal or delight. Noah Webster, 1828.

For relaxation! Some time ago I decided to down size my craft closet. I have loved paper and color (crayons, paint, ink, etc.) since I can remember. I've always had a desire to make cards. When I discovered rubber stamps, craft ink pads with such an array of color and texture, water color pencils, chalk and designer paper, I'd found my niche. It was easy to unload the craft closet and start investing in card making supplies. In the past I've had a plethora of crafts going on. I am so very content with just making cards. They are so relaxing for me and give me a way to express myself to others. Though shared with others, it really is a very personal thing. It gives me a time and reason to pray for those I am making a card for. It is better than therapy could ever be. It takes me into myself and it gives me a place to also express myself. It's quiet and has so much meaning... even the funny and zany cards are so good for me. And, when I get feedback from people that are blessed by the love sent in my cards, ....suffice it to say the blessing is double for me to know I was able to do a little something that touched another person.

However, the card making has become the very antithesis of what it was meant for. (i.e., peace, enjoyment, creativity, expression, and relaxation... serious stress relief sometimes) A little over a week ago, I considered boxing my card making supplies up (that would be a lot of boxes) and ship them to my grand daughter. That was when reality set in. It was not the card making that was a problem.... It was what I had allowed it to become.

I first became acquainted with blogging because I had put in a Google search for ideas on card making. That is when I found Kim's website. She has gallery after gallery on that website. It is incredible. Kept me going for quite a while. Like over a year. :-) From there I found Split Coast Stampers.... and on and on it went from there. So, the mother and bulk of my blogging experience has been card making blogs. So, once I started blogging I jumped in doing "challenges". Some I posted, some not. Some I tried variations of, some I stuck to. Only a few of the cards I've made since this blog began have been posted. I began feeling pressure to make my cards better, to make them more like everyone else... practice.... strive to do better... practice... strive to do more. What a nightmare of a roller coaster! I began to really dislike it, but I was compelled to press in and do more... do better...... That is not a HOBBY!! That is compulsive behavior that could easily be categorized as addictive and counter productive. I don't want my cards to look like everyone else. I will get better as I make them. But, better means expressing my style and in a relaxed way. Card making is to be an extension of me, an asset to my life. NOT!!! control my waking ours and become my life. I have put my card making back into proper perspective and it is now mine again to enjoy. Oh, and just so you know... the last several cards I made were awful and so hard to make. They were an extension of me alright, an uptight mess! The zeal and delight were gone! So, this is no longer a blog that features cards. Will I ever post a card I make? I suppose I might. But, that will never again be a driving force for this blog.

Driving force??? So why blog? Well I have to say, this whole nightmare roller coaster thing is my own fault. I rarely begin any project or adventure in my life anymore, without giving it adequate forethought. And, if the situation calls for it... and sometimes if it does not... I don't start things without a mission statement... written down. I had some ideas of what this blog would be about, but I never firmed those ideas up, and I never wrote a mission statement down for this blog. You'd think if I was going to start putting things I have to say out there, I'd have a purpose. Well, I did... and I do. I am in the process of writing that mission statement down. I may never post it, but I will give you a little idea of what it will contain. I actually did state why I started this blog in a previous post. If you don't want to go back to that link, here is the conclusion sentence in a nutshell:

So, the blog was birthed out of a desire to share any good thing the Lord gives me, with others. i.e. my cards, what the Lord is teaching me, good recipes, nutritional tips, happy events.. etc.

While the card making is not going to be a driving force, perhaps just an occasional accent to the blog, there are other things I did want this to be about. Yes, good recipes and nutritional tips. Yes, happy events. Yes, even gardening and household things. But mostly, the goodness of God and what He is doing in my life. I want a place to express all of those things. And this blog is a really wonderful place to do all of that.















And, I am not shutting down this blog. I am going to share those things I set out to share. I hope you enjoy it.

When are we too busy? Like Eric Hoffer said, when we neglect that which we are placed here to do. My addition to that is, when what we do is a bondage and not a joy. I find that when I am doing what it is I am to do, I am joyful. When I'm not... I feel captive. Let freedom RING!

Just about the time I had this all put back into perspective, one of my girls sent me the pictures of her daughters above. One picture was of the grand daughter on the piano, and the one of that cute little number in the pink hat at the top of this post. The piano picture made me realize how important it is to do that which we love. And the pink hat cutie (please take a moment here and scroll up to take another peek at that beautiful child) reminded me how important it is to live without stress and be ourselves... be free. That little girl does that better than anyone I know. Oh Lord, never let that change in her.

I have three projects that the Lord has laid on my heart. I am thoroughly enjoying all three of them. One is a short and easy little thing... should be done in a day or two. The other two are entwined together and could really be considered one project with two sections, I suppose. Anyway, not combining card making and blogging has opened so much time for me to be about these wonderful adventures the Lord has offered me. Oh, and there is another project that is really long term and requires day by day diligence. I am LOVING working on that one.

With things back in their proper place and with myself focused, I am enjoying life again. Please stop by.... things are gonna get good around here in my little piece of the blogosphere.

First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus

Greetings!

When my husband first told me about "blogging", I thought it sounded a little self absorbed and like a colossal waste of time. Once again, snap judgement proves me wrong.

A few years ago, I was introduced to rubber stamping. I knew right then I had found the one hobby that I could focus on. I gave away all of my other hobby paraphernalia. That snap judgement actually worked out for me. I began surfing around on the net trying to find ideas for cards. It did not take any time at all to find Kim, at www.nuttnhoney.net. Eureka! I really stopped looking any further. She had a page with stamp sets alphabetized, and then loads of amazing pictures of cards made from the listed sets. I caught myself going there regularly. Next thing you know, I'm reading her blog. Who knew? She had posts that always seemed to interest me like gardening and recipes. Last fall, Kim posted about an article in the book entitled, Created to be His Help Meet. That post spoke to my heart, as have several of her entries. That was when I started clicking on her links to other blogs. WOW!!! More cards! More frugal women! Where had I been hibernating??? Some of the posts out there have altered how I do things. What is it Proverbs says.... heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume... my paraphrase?

Well, so here I am, wiping humble pie off of my lips. I want to be a part of this circle of inspiring women. A part of the blogosphere. Again, who knew? But before I begin, I want to say thank you to all the women I've been encouraged and inspired by, just because you faithfully blog. And, a really special thank you to, Kim MacNutt. Kim, you have not only been a practical influence in my life for quite some time, but a real encouragement to me when you never even knew it... or me for that matter. And, it's because you are so faithful and transparent.......... thanx!

Be blessed!!