The Simple Woman's Gazette :: Whatsoever things... {November/December}

~Issue 3 ~ 2022~

Inside this issue:

 

-Pages-

from my desk - greetings 

one by one - a thankful heart

sing praise - listen and worship

at the well - living water

home and hearth - the loving and the keeping

a woman's altar - pressing in and digging deeper

noteworthy - too good not to share

the archives~ from the simple woman

From My Desk...

Hello and welcome to the November/December issue of The Simple Woman's Gazette! The first week of December is nearly over and it just seems like we turned the calendar. The stove feels so good this morning as I hang laundry up, which will now dry in no time. I have yet to see that sweet little first snowflake of the season, but it won't be long now. I am hoping for that dusting that seems to set everything aright once again.

November is a time known for giving thanks, but truly each and every day is a time for speaking thanksgiving to our Lord and Savior from whom all blessings flow. December is magical and a sacred time of quiet and rest or it is suppose to be. 

Nearly half of November saw me very sick with a strain of Covid and the flu in combination, so this is why the gazette is the November and December issue. I looked back at October and remembered I had sickness then too though for a shorter amount of time. Ugh.

May you find renewal and encouragement in this issue to stop and to count those things that truly matter in your life and toss what does not and that is just taking up precious "brain" space.

xo

~One By One~

healing and health

regaining my strength

having an appetite 

for my "taste" of good food to have returned
for the first sunrise I was able to get up from the couch and witness -tears welled up in my eyes

~Sing Praise~

This song has been on repeat, up loud and I can only stand still and worship when it is on!

~At The Well~

"A life marked by depth can only be cultivated in protracted periods of time spent in solitude, quietness, and obscurity -- concepts foreign to those who live their lives at the speed of light. Unless we're compelled by the Lord Himself to accept the ingredients of the hidden life, either through a lengthy period of illness or some cataclysmic event, depth of character remains a distant dream for many Believers."

Chuck Swindoll

~Home and Hearth~

Cookies For Birds

I love to feed the birds! Here is an easy way to give your feathered friends a Christmas treat!

Make sugar cookies with vegetable shortening instead of butter. Refrigerate the dough for an hour, then roll out and cut into shapes of your choice. Bake as your recipe suggests and use a pencil eraser to poke a hole into the top as soon as they come out of the oven. Cool and frost with peanut butter...chunky is best. Press bird seed and harvest corn kernels into cookies. Hang out on trees with twine or ribbon.

 ~A Woman's Altar~

His Name

PELE-YAATS

Wonderful Counselor

Read Isaiah 11:1-5
"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

  

I know you have no doubt read this many times, but read those first few words again and really take that in..."for unto us a child is born". Our Lord gave himself to us in order that we could be saved and live eternally with him. Given unto us...what a precious gift! 

Isaiah 9:6

Until HE comes...

~Noteworthy~

I found this book, Heaven and Nature Sing by Hannah Anderson on the recommendation of Jen Wilken, one of my favorite Bible teachers. I took a quick glance at the first few pages and knew it was a keeper. 

A beautiful book that brings the season together with the seasons and I love that! I have shed tears over the first few days I have been reading because it is a powerful book that touches my heart and causes me to look up from the page and ponder what I have just read. Not only an advent book, but one that carries you through the year.

~ The Archives~ 

 I love a good Monday, it is the day I look over my calendar for the week, make sure to note any appointments that I have slated in and to just get an overall feel for what I need to do for the next 5 days. Come Saturday, I take inventory of what was completed vs. what needs placed on next week's spaces. But, more often than not, I use that day to just enjoy what I would like to do that was pushed forward by what I had to do.

 I pretty much have it down to a science by now, after raising 6 children, 40 years of marriage and lots of time to work at it. It is a pattern well trod, well worked, trial and error, additions and subtractions, just living plainly and slowly. 

Speaking of calendars, here is an entry I wrote many years ago that might be helpful or pinch your toes a tiny bit. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As we enter into the month of December and all the busyness folks bring with it, perhaps we should be asking ourselves,  "Are we going to have a mind stayed on Christ?" or "Are we going to find ourselves getting caught up with the passing fluff (my definition - hollow, empty, of no worth, running to and fro with no reason) like everyone else and grasp it, hanging on without Jesus?".

Ladies, we can even get caught up doing "wonderful things" that also get us side-tracked from the Savior. Isn't it just like satan to get us off track with even good things. Take a look at Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38) for a moment. In Luke, we find Jesus entering a certain village and being welcomed into a house by Martha. Martha had a sister called Mary, and when Jesus entered, Mary sat down at his feet and listened to him speak, but Martha became very distracted with "entertaining." She quickly became upset at her sister for just resting at Jesus' feet and said to him, "Lord, do you not care that my sister isn't helping me? Jesus answered and said to her, "Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But, one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Jesus is not saying that hospitality, homemaking _______ (fill in the blank) are wrong, just that these things have there place after HIM!!

 I hear women, Christian women, especially at the holiday saying how busy they are and they say it with resentment in their throat or with a little pride perhaps or they say it totally oblivious to what they are doing and why. I think it is sad they say things like this and in their heart truly do not want to be doing what they are doing or maybe it's because the gal down the street is doing the same and they want to keep up. It is even sadder that life has gotten away from them, over scheduling, over committing, over indulging, over spending and the over goes on. We need to make a very conscience effort to keep a tight rein on our time. Time is fleeting, it gets away, it leaves and never returns. Life goes on and it goes on with or without us either smoothly or well, it can throw us to the ground. 

Maybe you are old enough to remember those black and white westerns...at how the man would fall off the horse and be hanging to the harness, dragged nearly to death before he lets go and drops off. I think this is the way with us, when we are too busy. Of course there are those things that are out of our control, but I a speaking here of the things that are in our control for the most part. I know I feel this way at times if I am not very careful. 

So...grab those calendars and deter yourself from all the busyness, save time for your quiet time, your Bible reading time, your prayer time, your worship time, HIS time! Red ink those moments you need and want to devote to Him and then try hard not to stray from it. Let the rest be marked off, there is a season for all things, but the season of the Lord is now, always and constant...truly never ending! 

His calendar is always clear for us, always open and ready...we will never find our name penciled in, we will never need an appointment, we will never get an answering machine, he is available - 24 - 7 - 365!!!

Until next time...

In closing, I pray that this issue of The Simple Woman's Gazette has been a blessing to you. Would you consider sharing it with others or sharing the link to my blog. I would appreciate it very much!

If you would like to drop me a line, please feel free to do so by emailing thesimplewoman@gmail.com or you could always leave a comment. 

I welcome your thoughts!

Finally brothers and sisters, whatsoever things are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable,—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—think (dwell) on these things.

Philippians 4:8

I pray you and yours have a Blessed and Merry Christmas! 

I will see you back here in January 2023!