tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74579321319490451492023-11-16T02:01:19.979-06:00My Bare GardenA personal journey in cultivating the Fruits of the Spirit!mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-44309850198749583632012-04-05T12:18:00.001-05:002012-04-05T12:18:21.194-05:00hiatusDue to life, this project has to be postponed. I'll resume as soon as life allows!mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-58178106564342798092012-02-29T20:34:00.004-06:002012-02-29T20:34:31.404-06:00Self-Control
I’ve heard it said that you can never truly own something until you’ve had to fight for it. Maybe this was simply a lesson in not giving up, in believing in Him even when nothing makes sense, even when He seems to have turned a deaf ear to our cries.
Doughty, Becky (2011-07-01). Life Letters: The Fruit of the Spirit (Kindle Locations 1388-1390). BraveHearts Press. Kindle Edition.
Bang on the mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-54810405841551949882012-02-29T20:06:00.001-06:002012-02-29T20:06:23.030-06:00Gentleness from Life Letters
1 Peter 3:14-16
New Living Translation (NLT)
14 But even if you suffer for doing what is right, God will reward you for it. So don’t worry or be afraid of their threats. 15 Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it. 16 But do this in a gentle and respectful way.[a] Keep mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-79867108629788082122012-02-29T19:43:00.003-06:002012-02-29T19:43:49.252-06:00Faithfulness from Life Letters
Have you ever felt that taut sickness inside, as if the bowstring of your heart is being pulled back, back, back? It is the testing of your faith, my sister. Fear. Worry. Doubt. Those things can consume you when the earth beneath you is shaking, when the world around you seems out of control, and you feel that there is no hope. But the God of the Israelites, the Lord of Heaven and earth, your mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-36128726550547318682012-02-29T19:05:00.000-06:002012-02-29T19:05:10.598-06:00Goodness from Life Letters
Can I go KJV for a minute? Good begets good. See that didn't hurt, right?
But, it's true.
Maybe not right away, maybe not soon, maybe not even where we ourselves will ever see it. But, it's still true.
Galatians 6:9
The Message (MSG)
9-10So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-55120611548473416602012-02-29T18:26:00.000-06:002012-02-29T18:26:01.702-06:00Kindness from Life Letters
To me, showing kindness always meant being "nice." In my brain, nice = June Cleaver.
I'm not very good at being a "nice" girl; I'm not what most people would consider a "bad" girl, but probably would not be described as "nice" by those who know me best.
And when I was "nice" it was because I had to be, because it was the "right thing", not from a desire to please God and mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-70298801194926979942012-02-05T09:18:00.001-06:002012-02-05T09:20:09.583-06:00Patience from Life LettersI'm probably one of the most impatient people on the planet. I am a problem solving, truth seeking, action-oriented woman. And to wait does not bode well with me. Especially when what I'm waiting for is clarity or an answer.
I can't begin to count how many times I've said, "All we can do is pray," and immediately begin to pour every ounce of my energy into finding the answer instead of mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-6891846352083329932012-02-05T08:33:00.002-06:002012-02-05T08:33:21.115-06:00Peace from Life Letters
I can’t guarantee that life will get easier--it probably won’t--but I promise you that if you choose Jesus, you will find the peace that He offers no matter what your circumstances.
Doughty, Becky (2011-07-01). Life Letters: The Fruit of the Spirit (Kindle Locations 463-464). BraveHearts Press. Kindle Edition.
I've struggled for weeks to write this one little post. I just mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-75290474350405404602012-01-19T14:33:00.003-06:002012-01-19T14:34:58.594-06:00Joy from Life LettersJames 1:2-4 (NLT)
Dear brothers & sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
Dang, that's hard. And I am no good at it whatsoever.
Our 13 mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-63721477202647798712012-01-12T14:01:00.002-06:002012-01-19T14:12:24.272-06:00Love from Life Letters
I was completely
baffled. Nothing about Michal's story had ever spoken of love to me.
Disappointment, betrayal, misunderstandings, bitterness, and ridicule
permeated her story found in I & II Samuel. But love, not hardly.
At least not in my mind anyway.
How on earth could the
story of a princess's forbidden love lost, regained, abused, and shattered,
much mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-4151911537972094132012-01-07T18:37:00.000-06:002012-01-08T17:28:26.517-06:005 Minute Friday: RoarPeace & Self-Control are 2 fruits I am severely lacking in. Discipline & Acceptance play into both of those for me so when I stumbled across Five Minute Friday on The Gypsy Mama's blog I knew God was giving me an opportunity to practice. Thanks you very much! lol
Every Friday Gypsy Mama will post a word, such as roar, and the challenge is to:
1. Write for 5mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-30251880718225325882012-01-04T22:45:00.000-06:002012-01-07T19:07:07.378-06:00Life Letters: The Fruit of the Spirit
After my Bible, Becky S. Doughty's Life Letters will be the first tool in bag.
The letters are the author's imaginings of what MIGHT have been going through the character's mind.
Here's the blurb from Amazon.
Life Letters: The Fruit of The Spirit is a collection of letters personally penned by nine women from the Bible whose lives demonstrate what it mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7457932131949045149.post-15096774457094401872012-01-04T21:04:00.000-06:002012-01-04T21:11:10.809-06:00Starting from ScratchI went to sleep last night as Mama to two fresh-faced, blue-eyed boys I could carry at the same time and somehow woke up as Mom to one 195 pound man-child who towers over me and one near-teen who whips us all at Boot Camp on Kinect.
Or that's how it feels anyway. I blinked, and they're almost grown. And almost gone.
Life happened, and I let myself focus on the dailies instead of mamawest777http://www.blogger.com/profile/03630057019044191320noreply@blogger.com2