practical help and encouragement for homemakers
by Joy Kincaid 26 Comments
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Joy Kincaid says
Angie,
Thank you so much for sharing such edifying thoughts! That is such a good revelation you had about a heart filled with praise not having much room for complaining. I hope your evening is blessed!
Joy Kincaid says
Mrs. White,
Thank you so much for your kind words. I have so far to go in this! I have to constantly remind myself to keep a grateful heart. It's sad, when we have so much and others have so little.
Thanks also for following and sharing my humble writing!
Blessings to you, Mrs. White!
Pebblekeeper ~ Angie says
Beautiful!~ A friend and I were in the Word on Wednesday together and read a passage speaking of having our whole heart filled with the praises of God. It would seem that there wouldn't be much room left for complaining if your Whole Heart was filled with awe. Convicting to me. And helpful and encouraging as well. Thank you for this beautiful post1
Mrs. White says
I just read your "goodbye" post on your other blog and came here, to find this post!
This is so inspiring and convicting! I have all kinds of ideas in my head now, not just to be grateful, but what I can do to help relieve suffering in others.
Thank you so much for this! I shared it on Facebook and Twitter.
I am following you now.
Blessings
Mrs. White
The Legacy of Home
Joy Kincaid says
Rowan,
You are so right about possessions not bringing true happiness. How often we need to be reminded to be thankful for the abundance we have!
Nell,
Welcome to my blog, and thank you so much for your kind comment! The saying you mentioned is so good to remember. Thank you for sharing it!
Nell says
there is a saying that I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man that had no legs.
I have just found your site and I am loving your blog. I particularly love this post. It has touched my heart. I had a massive heart change a few years ago regarding contentment. I used to long for change.. not so much any more. thank you for sharing this it is much needed, we are indeed a blessed people, we all need reminders to never forget it.
thank you for sharing.
blessings to you Nell
Rowan says
There are always many people worse off than we are ourselves, too many people equate money and possessions with happiness but happiness and contentment aren't things that you can buy. Nearly all the really good and important things in life are free – family, friends and the beauty of the natural world. The love and loyalty of a good dog would be on my list too:)
Joy Kincaid says
Thank you so much, ladies!
Beth, yes we have folding chairs! Your folding chairs sound like they are for a good cause! 🙂
Elisa says
I love this. Thank you so much for writing this. I go back and forth, struggle with contentedness. That is a great quote..I want to frame it or something.
Beth says
Wow…what a precious post. It's funny because I am in my late 40's, and I was wondering if anyone else had fold up metal chairs in their dining area!! haha!! We have two houses…one that is large and lavish and beautiful. One that we are currently living in that is small and in need of work. We are selling the big house…hopefully soon…and are planning to use the money to pursue adoption of a child/childen from Africa. One of these days I will get my better furniture back but for now it is decorating the pretty house. But everyday when I pull in my driveway in my beat up old van, I am happy…thrilled…to have this little old house. The Lord is making a way to add to our family but first we thought it would be his will to get our of debt so I can continue to be a stay at home wife and mother. Thank you for this post. It was lovely!
Beth
Amy says
This is so true! Sometimes a little perspective can remind us of how good we do have it. Thanks for the beautiful post to remind me to remember the blessings.
Have a great day,
Amy @ Missional Mama
Sarah says
This was a wonderful reminder, Joy . . . we do indeed have so very much to be thankful for! As I read through this, I was reminded of what the apostle Paul shared that “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am." (Philippians 4:11; and as we read elsewhere in Scripture, Paul suffered a great many things.) May this be our heart as well! Content and thankful for whatever we have whether it be an abundance or little.
Thank you for sharing!
Joy Kincaid says
Wow-thank you all so much for the encouraging, uplifting comments! You have added so much to the little bit that I wrote, and I was so blessed by reading each one. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, experiences, and your hearts with me and anyone who might read these comments.
I had a very busy day today with FOUR children all coming down with what appears to be the flu or something (fevers, vomiting, body aches, headaches…). The few of us who were able to eat had raw garlic cloves, turkey soup (from bone broth) loaded with ginger, garlic, herbal supplements and tinctures, and a coconut milk smoothie. I'm so much praying my husband and I will escape! 🙂
Again, I thank you all so much for adding to the conversation–I'm humbled that you would stop by here in the midst of your busy days.
Blessings,
Joy
[email protected] says
Just read Choosing Gratitude and can wholeheartedly endorse that book. We are so spoiled in this country and we have no idea how the rest of the world really lives. Gosh-I get cranky if I don't get the right coffee at Dunkin Donuts when I order it, and I am ridiculous.
Sarah says
Joy, thank you for opening up about your struggle. Your post really touched my heart.
I am reminded of a trip my hubby & I took to Jamaica a couple of years ago. It was my first time out of the US. He'd tried to "warn" me, but could not have adequately prepared me for what I saw and felt! He grew up in a country near to Jamaica and knew that the conditions were similar.
The poverty was overwhelming to me! I thought WE lived in a small and simple home…but I soon realized that we were wealthy in comparison. Apart from that, all I saw on the faces of the children was joy. Joy while playing with sticks. Joy while running around in creekbeds barefoot with torn clothing. Simple joy.
I came home from that trip changed. I began simplifying my life, giving away all the excess, and looking for the joy in my humble life rather than looking FOR joy in that which I do not have.
Thank you, dear sister, for sharing this message with us!
Anne says
Dear Joy,
It's easy to see from your post, that the article you read truly touched your heart. This is something I needed to be reminded of today, as I look at my 20 year old carpet upstairs wishing I could replace it.
I had forgotten….. we lived in a third world country in the Middle East for 7 years, and the Lord allowed me to see first hand ~ poverty. Families living with dirt floors and a shell of a house with no glass in the windows and no door, just a cloth hanging over the opening. I still have an 8×10 picture etched in my mind of the little boy standing in the doorway waving at me as I rode by on a horse. His face was so happy.
I remember coming home on a home-leave and listening to a lady next to me in the supermarket complaining to the attendant that the bread was too close to the freezer department. I just stood in shock and listened. The only bread I could get was what I baked myself or at a local neighborhood home bakery, and there was no fresh milk, only canned or powdered. The laundry detergent aisle of the Safeway had two choices of detergent, cheap and expensive. There wasn't a whole aisle of detergents to choose from. A trip to the store here in the States was a culture shock for me, with all the over-whelming decisions to make.
My husband still travels to India, China and other places where the poverty is overwhelming. He comes back from every trip with a truly renewed, grateful heart.
I am so thankful for the Lord allowing me to see what I have seen in His world. I just need to remember and continually count His many, many blessings.
Think I'll go vacuum the upstairs carpet. 🙂
God bless you,
♥
Amanda says
Thank you so much for this timely reminder. Indeed we are a super-abundantly-blessed nation. May we always be filled with gratitude to God.
Your blog is always a blessing to read 🙂 Keep up the good work!
pilgrimscottage says
What a good reminder to have gratitude towards God. It reminds me of when Jesus said if you have raiment and food, to be content. I'm glad you reminded me.
Bethany Lynn says
What a beautiful, truthful post! Thank you, Joy! I will definitely be looking into the books you mentioned.
Shelley says
A beautiful post..I feel the same way about material things…I have little in the eyes of man but,what they don't see is just how very rich I am in the eyes of my Heavenly Father.
And yet some others whom have nothing would look and think me to be very rich in material things…no matter how little we have we can always look around and see someone else who has so much less….that is why I love the scripture you have shared. It is one I try and live by daily….blessings
Rebecca Ann says
I loved this post, is broke me again, it reminded me again that most of the time I too an ungrateful to the God of the universe for putting me in a family, a christian family praise God! Putting me in a home, a place where we can live without the restraints of the government telling us we can't read out Bibles or pray or worship God! what a gift, thank you so much for the reminder Joy!
In Christ
Rebecca
KellyinPA says
Oh, so true. Thank you for helping me remember to be thankful today, no matter the circumstances:)
Nancy says
So true, thanks for sharing this with us.
Have a great day 🙂
Mrs.Rabe says
Joy,
How true this is!
We are the wealthiest people in the world,even when we live humbly, and yet we want more!
You got a change in perspective and thank you for sharing it and reminding us all! We need to be thankful!
Deanna
Amanda says
yes, you are right:)
Canadagirl says
You cannot imagine how humbled I am at this very moment. Thank you for this post. I am for sure going to put this book on my wish list and I am going to start making a gratitude journal right away, asap. The Lord has already been speaking into this in me and I now HAVE to listen. Thank you for sharing your testimony I am truly impacted by it. Thank you. Now? No more complaining and I will pray that the Lord will help me in this area. But ask Him to teach me gently for I have learned to be careful what I ask for. [o=
Blessings and ((HUGS))
-Mary