Last week I shared with you the exciting news that is my latest creation, Streams in the Wasteland—my first “official” devotional eBook!
Streams in the Wasteland is a 31-day devotional aimed at finding hope in the hardships of life. With the intertwining of two deeply personal stories of hardship and heartache, one of a battle with ovarian cancer, another with infertility; this devotion explores searching for hope on the dark days.
Y’all, I have some insane news to share with you…I’m writing an eBook! Well, a devotional eBook, to be specific…Streams in the Wasteland.
Not so long ago, the Lord placed the idea of creating a devotional on my heart. I’ve experimented with some ideas with friends and family over the last couple of years, but this time I’m sharing my creation with the world! I know, it’s still sinking in for me, too.
I feel like I’ve been a full-on hermit living under a rock for the last three weeks as the eBook writing process is nearing completion. Man, writing a book, y’all…it’s an undertaking. One I sorely underestimated!
Biggest lesson in the devotional writing adventure thus far? Don’t procrastinate…and always plan on it taking longer than you think it will. Yup, hard, painful lessons learned on this first go-round.
Well, we’ve finally come to the conclusion of our first blogiversary series here on CWC. We’ve really done a lot of unpacking over the last few weeks, haven’t we?
We dug deeper into the inspiration behind CWC to find a whole lot of casseroles. Yeah, you’ll have to go back to Part 1 to see for yourself.
We detailed the not-so-scripted launch of this country blog into the world in Part 2.
We explored other bloggers that influenced CWC and lessons learned over the past year in Part 3.
And we recapped favorite posts from year one here on Country Wife Chronicles in Part 4.
So, last week I gave you a bit of the backstory behind CWC.
Country Wife Chronicles certainly wasn’t conjured up overnight; it was definitely an evolution of ideas to get here.
And today, in Part 2 of the Country Wife Chronicles’ blogiversary series, I’m going to share a little on the details behind the official launch of CWC. Because our launch story is pretty indicative of where CWC will be headed in the future.
In my original post, “Taking Back the Sabbath,” I shared how establishing boundaries in my life that included guarding the Sabbath as a holy and restful experience was a critical factor in my shift to slow down. I spoke of my struggles to balance work and home life and suggested 5 tips to help you take back the Sabbath in your home.
Today I’m sharing 5 more tips with you that I hope you will find helpful and inspiring when it comes to taking back the Sabbath in your own life.
The day starts in a rush…packing lunches, picking up the kitchen, and trying to get out the door for work or an appointment. Hopefully a workout can get fit in somewhere, a quick scrub-down of the house in a spare moment, while paying bills and checking off the to-do list get pushed to tomorrow. And this is just your day-to-day schedule, add in a husband’s, children’s, and anyone else that depends on you and your agenda is overflowing.
The week has been survived and while looking forward to the weekend reprieve the realization hits that there is no such thing when it comes to your schedule. The weekend is full of activities, events, projects, and an overdue to-do list. You’ll be lucky if you get everything you “need” to get accomplished done in a matter of two days.
Stillness is absolutely a choice. I know, that can be hard to hear. But it’s true. Stillness is a choice that can seem obstinate and far away, even unattainable and it is definitely easier said than done, like for real. But still a choice nonetheless. I can say this, because I’ve been on the crazy train of hectic schedules and full calendars and I’ve made the choice to get off and be still. I did it, and you can too.
Perhaps, stillness is appealing to you…foreign and new, enticing you to try to figure it out. There was a time when I was absolutely overcome by my overloaded commitments and my soul sincerely yearned for stillness. Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe you are there. Trust me, coming from the other side, stillness is achievable and oh, so worth the effort.
In Part 1 of “Drawing Nearer to God in the Stillness,” I shared how I reconnect with the Lord by spending quiet time alone with Him on a daily basis. I shared with you what quiet time is and what it can look like. I am hopeful that the readers of Country Wife Chronicles also shared their own examples of what quiet time can look like in their comments on Part 1 and will do so again here.
Every once in awhile, seemingly at random, I begin to feel distanced from God…maybe only slightly, but it’s there. A prayer that feels like it’s left hanging in the atmosphere, never quite reaching the heavens. A rushed-through devotional because I just don’t have the time today to let the message sink in and truly resonate with my soul. A solemn, bummed out feeling that I can’t quite seem to place. A general lack of connection…
Well, in Part 1 of this post, I filled you in on a bit of my backstory. I shared how I felt I got a little swept up in the motion of things during my college years and ended up in a career I never envisioned for myself. And how, ultimately, remaining in that unfulfilling career led to much misery and unrest on my part.
That brings us to today’s post, Part 2 of How to Walk Away from a Career…in Search of Your True Calling.