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Riley Makes Macarons!!
A whirlwind Week
Sweet Miss Virginia
Cleaning out closets
Cleaning out a closet is a daunting, emotional and exhausting task!! As I embark on tackling the years old accumulation of clutter and clothing I know I have to pace myself or I'll be sleeping on the floor due to what should be hidden away thrown out in the open and laid all over my bed!
As I dig through the piles, I'm finding lost treasures from years past, baby clothes from my babies that are no longer babies, shoes from high school, clothes that were my moms and dads and grandparents that I've hung onto, clothes from early marriage. My emotions are so torn, I want to keep it all and revisit it in another walk down memory lane in the future, but I'm also drowning in 'stuff' and some things have to go!! If I want to continue wearing clothes that I've outgrown and are no longer in fashion then I can keep them, if I'd rather grow up and move on to more sophisticated apparel, I need to move on.
Our spiritual closets are identical to our physical ones. Cluttered and full of things we have outgrown. We try to squeeze ourselves into old lifestyles, old prayers and infantile learning, but we must put those things aside if we want to grow in the Lord. It can be very hard taking all this from our spiritual closets; the things we've kept hidden away, now laid bare for all to see but we must make room for the fullness of God's word, we must get rid of the old from our lives and feel the freedom that physical and spiritual decluttering bring.
"This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT
I Updated My Blog!
I Updated My Blog!!
I LOVE the new Layout!! It's just so pretty! |
I enjoy YouTube tremendously and it has become a great hobby, but I would love if all of this could become more. I know it seems like a bit of a pipe dream; that an old girl from the sticks who's never done too much with her life, could become successful in such a modern field. But I truly believe the Lord has given these talents to me for a purpose and if I don't at least try, I won't have been too good a steward of the gifts he has given me; now would I?
I ain't gonna lie, it's going to be HARD! It's already been hard. I wear so many different hats in my life that I am stretched very thin and am just flat out exhausted every day. I burn the candle at both ends most days and it has worn on me, especially of late. I am a wife and mother and those things themselves are full time jobs (major props to SAHMs, I know y'all are working your tails off!) I'm also a youth leader and the treasurer at our church. But on top of that I have a full time job (shout out to all the working Mommas out there; You. Are. Amazing!...) My job comes with heavy responsibilities, like hard stuff that, being fully transparent, makes me cry nearly every day at work. I'm not looking for pity, it's a good job and I love my coworkers, but man, it's hard, it tests every thing within me and with my biggest fear being failure, I leave there nearly every day completely down trodden because I feel that I have failed in so many ways. Ok, Ok.. Enough of that, that took a quick/unintentional turn ... I realize I have the power of the keyboard and could just erase it but it's pretty important to me to be real, and since that just flowed out, I'd better just leave it be...
As I was saying, it's gonna be hard to keep up with a blog and my YouTube channel, and try to post to social media outlets, and, and, and.. you get it... In spite of the difficulty; I want to try. I have to! Am I a glutton for punishment? Maybe! But I think it will be worth it. I'm a night owl and don't mind burning the midnight oil, it's getting up in the morning that gets hard, HA!
But- I will survive and I do believe I will thrive! For anyone reading this, thank you! Thank you in advance for your support and for subscribing to my brand and for 'Liking' 'Sharing' 'Commenting', all the new fangled words that go along with this business! But mostly, thank you for reading and watching and listening.
My tag line is : "From My Heart to Yours" and that doesn't come without reason, as I said above, I want to be real, I want to share what's on my heart so that maybe, just maybe, God can use my ramblings and goings on to touch you in some way, to know that you're not alone, that even when you feel lonely, not only can someone (I) relate, but that hopefully some how you will know that God is with you and that He is for you! He has created each of us for a purpose and part of mine is certainly this.
Ok, that's probably quite enough. If anyone has stuck with me this long, may God bless you sweetly! If you've made it to the end, leave me a sparkling heart emoji in the comments! 💖
Thank you for stopping by my blog today!
Love Always,
Ivy
Cherish each day
Taking down Christmas decorations is always such a mix of emotion. On one hand, it's nice to have a clean slate and feel fresh and decluttered, on the other hand, it seems like they just went up and now they're leaving.
If we switch our thinking we can allow it to be a very simple reminder to slow down, live in the moment and not take a moment for granted, cherish each day and the things that the Lord blesses you with in your life.
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9 NLT
Happy New Year 2021
It's a new year! Having a new year means a fresh start, a clean slate, 365 new days to make a change or take a stand in our lives for Christ. In full reality, every single day is a day just like that, we can make a change at any time! We can become resolute without a new year's resolution, we must simply decide that as a child of God we want to live according to his plan for our lives and change whatever bad habit (or implement additional good habits) at any time and on any day or the year!
I pray this year that each of us find ways to surrender to God's call on our lives, to stand firm on our resolve to follow him and better ourselves each day and that any declaration for change made on January first will also be observed on every other day of 2021, adding to those declarations throughout the year to be an ever steady example of Christ to the people in your lives.
"The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning." Lamentations 3:22-23
"Great is Thy faithfulness!" Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provide. "Great is Thy faithfulness, " Lord, unto me! -Thomas ChisholmChristmas Baking
Here are the recipes for Bohemian Kolaches and Gaston's Tavern Cinnamon rolls I made in my latest YouTube Video.
I hope you enjoy! Please let me know if you make any of these recipes!
Much Love,
Ivy
Simply having a Wonderful Christmas Time!
We had such a wonderful Christmas week. I got to spend more time with my family at Christmas than ever before, I took 2 extra days off work and we had such a wonderful time baking and wrapping and talking and laughing, it was a huge gift to me since I've had to spend so much time working lately.
My heart longs for moments like these daily and God made a way to fulfill my desire. We don't always see all the little gifts God gives to us, we most of the time, get hung up on the big things, but God works in all kinds of ways daily in our lives, both big and small. Take a moment today to sit peacefully and reflect on some of the small blessings that God has given you recently and Thank him for them.
"Delight yourself also in the Lord , And He shall give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4 NKJV