I chose to take a break from social media for a week to quiet myself from all the noise. I simply want to hear clearly from the Father with as few interruptions as possible. With a quiet spirit, I have been able to enter that point of introvert heaven, aka a time of reflection. It is also a time for a twist on a holiday favorite— pecan cream cheese pie.
(But THAT’S a post for another time– 😉 )
One of several things that I am reflecting upon is a favorite passage of scripture from Deuteronomy, as Moses challenged the Israelites, now on the other side of their enslavement to the Egyptians, to not forget the Lord.
Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
Deuteronomy 8: 4-10
Sometimes, life really isn’t about fireworks, sparks, and “big” moves of God; sometimes, my testimony is simply that the Lord kept me, day to day, never allowing me to suffer, but instead, disciplining me for things to come.
2016 has been an amazing year of business milestones:
By now, all of my customers, as well as those who subscribed, have received the first run of the Blessed Heritage newsletter, along with the free enclosed offer.
I published volume 1 of the high school curriculum, “When I Was a Child.”
The Lord has given His green light for several projects due out in 2017 and beyond.
I have now blogged for 10 years.
This year, I posted my 600th post, and though my voice has changed drastically from my introductory post (when I blogged as “With a Taste of Chocolate” because the homeschool blog community wasn’t well melanated at that time), I am proud of the fact that I’ve stuck with it for this number of years.
None of this is said to brag, but as I said earlier, it’s a time of reflection—and a time of celebration. One of my heart’s greatest joys this year was to see customers who started with me back in 2005 purchase the high school curriculum. I thought about how, even in the years that I questioned the value of what I was doing, or worked the business as more of a hobby than the God-given assignment that it is, a number of you have been so faithful. I can track several of my blog followers back to 2006 or 2007; our kids have grown up together. Some of you I have written hand-written letters, I have sent presents to welcome new babies, and a few I have actually met in person. I have prayed for scores of you, having received a notice in my mailbox that some troubling circumstance had occurred. As a stranger, I did not deserve that kind of faith in me, and I don’t take it lightly.
So, as I step more boldly into what the Lord has in store for me in 2017 and beyond, I am not boasting. I just wanted to acknowledge that I did not get here by myself.
For your comments, prayers, and support through the years, I just want to say…
THANK YOU (Yes, I am shouting).
