The Simple Woman's Gazette :: Whatsoever Things...{March/April 2023 Issue}

 

~Issue 5 ~ 2023~

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 March/April 2023 issue of The Simple Woman's Gazette! 

After last issue, I promise this letter from my desk will not be so heavy and emotionally charged. I think I was writing that letter to myself in a way, so I would stay on target with my online goals this year. I did make progress and checked off the box of not using IG anymore and I stopped posting after my last gazette issue went out. I also removed the app from my phone. I downsized in many areas, which allowed me to pick up the pace in others, including this little space I write in. 

I am happy to say that my FB page has reached 500 this past week. While I do not care about numbers, after getting 6 "follows" in one day it made me smile and in the same heartbeat be very thankful women still enjoy reading about simple things and the love of Jesus...two things I have always shared since the beginning of blogging.

So, it is tiny steps we take when we feel that we have, as my Grammy used to say, "too many irons in the fire". When I get too many irons in the fire, like balls being juggled in air, they one by one begin to fall. 

Do you have "too many irons in the fire"?

On a side note, next issue we will be looking at the many facets of a woman's influence, beginning with Part 1 : The Influence of Aloneness.

~One By One~

finding friends in real time
moving to phase one of our greenhouse plan
an early Spring
special prayers ushered, rich, faith-filled and deep for those you love
for those who received healing at the ladies conference Saturday

~Sing Praise~

This 

~At The Well~

ASAH

(pronounced aw-saw')
Maker

"For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.

"In this hour the world groans against its Maker. God is the Maker of them all and yet they deny Him (Jeremiah 10:12). How the heart of God must grieve over fallen man that strives against his Creator (Isaiah 45: 9)"

Surely, our Lord must grow weary of his creation (created man) and how it has turned it's back, spitting on his name.

With the nearing of Spring, I stop to think about creation and all the beauty of new life it brings. We think it will never get here! With the cold and chill over, the sun comes to warm us and our hearts rejoice in the renewal. So it is with mankind, if they would only turn their face from the bitter cold of the world and bask in the sweet Son shine of God, they would be warmed thru to the bone marrow.

So let us rejoice in our MAKER and the CREATOR of the earth.

Let Heaven and nature sing!!

~Home and Hearth~

So much I have for this spot! You know I enjoy this topic very much from the number of
articles I have written on my blog. I have been a housewife for going on 40 years now and it has always been a subject close to my heart.

Before I share my thoughts below, I found this brief writing many years ago from the book, The Pace Of A Hen and I loved it. She writes with thoughts near to my own.

"I am always hopeful that the pendulum will swing back and that women will
see again not only the necessity of a mother's being at home, but also the
infinite and rich choice in that occupation for women of all ages. Some will
complain of monotony, but how few going out to a paid job have the
opportunity to make their own schedules, to choose the routine of their
week's labor, to follow up creative interests that women have within the
home. Our ever-present disciplines, the pattern of creaturely necessities-
cooking, laundry, decently clean houses- are a blessing. Beyond the physical
care of the family, for better or worse we are shaping souls and characters.
Women learn slowly the magnitude of their influence. Perhaps we would be
more contented if we could realize that one of the few remaining free
professions is that of a housewife. If a woman resents being just a
housewife, let her be called an artist..."

March is upon us and it would naturally occur to me to talk about
Spring housecleaning, but first things first. 

Before we can begin spring cleaning in earnest, we need to be motivated.
We will find it hard to find that motivation if we are dealing with sloth syndrome. Sloth syndrome...that word just evokes an ugly sight to me. 

What is the sloth syndrome? Well, perhaps it is caused by a lazy up-bringing, might I say a lazy mother, perhaps it is because things are not going well at home with inner relationships, with husband or with child/teen, or perhaps it is just the old reasoning of "I just do not know
where to begin?" I know when I have been in sloth mode, it could have been any of those reasons, but mainly the reason was my own doing.

I want to share 5 "Helps" as I call them, that may encourage you to see your house in a new light, that of a home.

Motivation Help #1

 This is your and your loved ones living space, like it or not,
it is your spot in this world to care for, to clean and to maintain.

Motivation Help #2

 It is nest to all who live there, dry ground in a very
muddy world, safe haven in a world of darkness.

Motivation Help #3

 It is a scared spot for your loved ones, a place to
learn of God, his son, Jesus and his great love.

Motivation Help #4

 It is a duty to see that those who gather there feel
it's comfort, it's homey, cozy atmosphere.

Motivation Help #5
It is a space for teaching and nurturing that which has
been taught.

In past writing I have shared the major importance of your relationship with
your husband and while this should be taken care of first and foremost, I
shared the above as if that has already been done beforehand. 

For ladies, this is important to our mindset of taking the next steps. If this has not been looked at, none of my helps will be of any value. Bring the relationship with your mate to full speed, then you will have one more motivation, as he will be one of the reasons to fluff your nest with love and care.

 ~A Woman's Altar~

Spiritual Mothering
by
Susan Hunt

This is one of those books that I cut my teeth on many years ago when the Lord placed upon my heart the work of mentoring as outlined in Titus 2.

~The Mandate~

You must teach wheat is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so tat on one will malign the word of God.

Titus 2:1-5

Susan writes so beautifully of this woman to woman ministry of older women to younger women, that when put into a correctly working practice is one of the most precious things us women can bestow to one another. Susan writes gracefully and with a caring heart, teaching herself, the aspects that come with mentoring.

To bring this home to you, let me share a few quotes from the book.

"When women do for other women what Elizabeth did for Mary, I believe we will see young women burst forth in lives of praise to God."

"Encouragement is the context in which equipping can take place."

"No spoken words will ever teach young women how to love as powerfully as love-filled lives of older women."

"Paul was smart enough to know that women need women to train them how to apply God's Word to areas of our lives that are uniquely feminine."

and this one that spoke volumes to me as I wrote, "The Influence of Aloneness".

"Our tendency to self-sufficiency can only be overcome when our situation is beyond our sufficiency."

~Noteworthy~

This They Found

Logs for a cabin,
Wood for a fire,
Moonlight for dreaming,
Land for desire.

Pine for a cradle,
Oak for a plow,
Black earth and sunshine,
Breeze on the brow.

Dawn and day-ending
In flame on the skies,
Sunlight for laughter,
Stars for their eyes.

Time and the season
Set by their toil,
Strength in blue distance,
Pride in tilled soil.

Peace like a prayer,
Unbroken sod,
Where man walked along
And listened to God.

~Ramona Vernon

~ The Archives~ 

 (taken from a 2009 blog post)

Little House Times

I know a lot of us love and respect Laura Ingalls Wilder, especially  the early years
of her life as just Laura. I would like to write from that love for her books and the why.

For this issue I chose a quote from Farmer Boy.

"The heavy sac of grain hung from a strap over Father's left shoulder. As he
walked, he took handfuls of grain from the sack. With a sweep of his arm and
a bend of his wrist he let the little grains fly from his fingers. The sweep
of his arm kept time with his steps, and when Father finished sowing a field
every inch of ground had its evenly scattered seeds, nowhere too many or too
few.

The seeds were too small to be seen on the ground, and you could not know
how skillful a sower a man was, till the seeds came up. Father told Almanzo
(Manly as Laura affectionately called him in later years) about a lazy,
worthless boy who had been sent to sow a field. This boy did not want to
work, so he poured the seeds out of his sack and went swimming. Nobody saw him. Afterward he harrowed the field, and no one knew what he had done. But the seeds knew, and the earth knew, and when even the boy had forgotten his wickedness, they told it. Weeds took that field."

This quote from the book speaks a lot to me. 

First, it tells me that quality of knowledge comes from hard work.

Secondly, it tells me that we never know what sprouts from the seeds we sow until later, be it physical work, our speech or our actions. Ladies, guard your tongues, your hands and your feet.

And thirdly, it tells me that God knows what lies inside the dark areas of our minds; of course we knew that, but it does not hurt for us to remember for we get lax.

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