Prompted By Work

October 9, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 3 Comments

Today’s post is Part of a 31 Day writing series where I will choose moments from my life and let them be my writing prompt for the day. I am in office manager mode today getting ready for piano students to show up this afternoon. I decided to write about our work reality and how God is providing. Click the image for the complete series.

Today is a work day for me and I say that very loosely. Very. Loosely. I may have mentioned that Mr. Piano recently started a Piano Studio. I am the Office Manager. Pretty much volunteer, but still things have to be organized.

We finally decided in August, after several months of waffling back and forth, to open our doors beginning in September. We put an add in the local paper and started a Facebook page. You can go there and like it if you wish.

It was a slow start with one student, and then a couple weeks ago, we added five more almost all at once. That was encouraging. Five weeks in and we have six students. Now, we just need to keep adding. The goal is to eventually have enough students that we can find a studio space separate from our home. We trust God to provide the students we need and who need us.

We are loving our students and getting to know them. They have supportive parents which is a blessing. And they are a bright group. We are thankful that God is blessing our home business and we are excited to see how he continues to provide.

If you have been reading my blog for awhile, or if you know us, then you know that my husband graduated with his DMA in piano in 2013. When he went back to school, it was to fulfill a dream and also with the goal of pursuing teaching at a University. He has been applying for positions since 2012. Every door that looked like it might open was abruptly slammed shut. He also applied for several Minister of Music Positions (this is what he did before going back to school). Again, every door that looked like it might open was slammed shut.

It is hard not to take a slammed door personal, even when you are doing your best to trust that God has a plan for you that is better than what you can imagine. It is hard to let go of the dream and trust that God may have other plans or a different timeline. It is hard to wrap your head around the fact that a professional musician can find paid work in a small town. Paid being the key word. It is easy to find plenty of volunteer positions. And volunteering is great and necessary and we want to continue giving back, but if you want to pay your bills you also need a source of income.

All that I have seen teaches me to trust the creator for all I have not seen. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

We realized we we had been putting God in a box, and we finally had to acknowledge that he is the man with the plan. It is not our decision. He knows what is best for us now and in the future. We knew this of course in theory, but still the doubts were looming large. So, we put our faith into action and believed that God would provide work for a professional musician in a small town if we would make ourselves willing and available. It is going to be exciting to see how he provides.

In addition to teaching Mr. Piano also gives concerts in churches (he has openings) and plays for weddings, funerals and other events. He does music accompaniment at a University in a neighboring town; this winter he will be accompanying the theater department as they perform Cabaret. He has also been substitute teaching. His plate is getting full. It’s piecemeal work that fluctuates rather than a job with certainty but he is using his gifts and we are thankful.

I have changed the way I pray about the future. Instead of praying for God to open up a certain type of door for my husband, I have been praying for him to send us the work he has for us to do. I have been asking him to provide our needs the way he sees fit. I have been trusting that if our savings runs out before our income catches up that he will still provide all our needs. He always has. Why would he stop now.

Today is a day that I wear my office hat and hope that the furnace guy is done soon and I have time to mop the floor before the first student arrives.

Working in Grace,

Teresa

Speaking Hope

April 9, 2014May 28, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 3 Comments

I am excited! If you know me at all, or have been a keen observer of things that pop up on my blog, then you have probably figured out that three of my passions in life are family, decorating and writing.

I have always loved decorating my home and even considered majoring in interior design in college. I have had a dream for years, at least since my teens, that I would one day write a book. For many years all I wanted to be was a homemaker. When I never had children, I still wanted to be at home, but I always felt guilty for having that desire to not work public work as if somehow I had to have children to justify staying at home.

No matter what my work was, or where I was those three things remained constant. I’m probably the only person I know who moves in and has pictures hung the same night, even before all the boxes are unpacked. I am constantly decorating in my head and moving furniture is a regular occurrence at our house.

Writing is something that I finally embraced on a fairly regular basis when we moved to Louisville and I began writing for our church devotional booklets, started a writers group and eventually started this blog.

A couple of years ago when we moved back home, I was presented with the chance to be at home and I am still adjusting. I love being home, but it has been harder than I imagined it would be. I have all this time to decorate, nurture family and write. Finding a regular rhythm has been difficult, but I am so thankful for the opportunity to have the time to pursue all my passions at the same time.

So, why am I excited you may ask? I’ll tell you. Two of my favorite bloggers and their father along with their families, have started a new internet adventure called Hope*ologie. For a small monthly fee you have access to the wisdom they have garnered over the years of doing what they do best. The father focuses on family, the older sister on the home and the younger sister on quieting the soul.

I have said before that the two sisters are like two halves of me, the best of both worlds. One speaks to the decorator / homemaker in me and the other to the writer / soul encourager. Add their father to the mix and he speaks to the part of me that wants family to be a top priority. To be able to go to one place and tap into all my passions is exciting.

It is so exciting that I wanted to share it with you. I wanted to introduce you to three people who have made an impact on my life in a positive way. I was privileged to see them in person last November when we went to The Barn Event. It was everything I imagined it to be. That is why I am so excited to join them for Hope*ologie. Every month will be like a Barn Event from the comfort of my own home.

If you don’t think a subscription website is right for you at this time, no worries, they all three have wonderful blogs with lots of good information. Their blogs will remain free and as always, they will inspire you.

No one affiliated with Hope*ologie, or their personal websites asked me to advertise for them. I just wanted to because I love them that much.

Speaking Hope In Grace,

Teresa

Beginning Lent

March 5, 2014May 28, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 12 Comments

The first time I recall really noticing Ash Wednesday was several years ago when my husband had played for a service at a local church and came home with a smudge on his forehead. I still didn’t really understand it, I just knew it had something to do with the Lenten and Easter season and it involved repentance and sacrifice.

I was not raised in a church that observed Ash Wednesday or Lent, so I never really took the time to understand it. As we moved around and attended various churches I became a little more up to par on what it was all about, but still most protestant churches do not observe Ash Wednesday or Lent.

Over the years I have known people who gave up something for Lent and it always seemed hard. I mean who can really give up chocolate? So, to be honest I’ve never really taken the time to consider how observing Lent could impact my life. This year I have decided to embrace Lent and incorporate a few reminders of how I desperately need to cling to Jesus in all areas of my life. I have learned in much of life, especially when doing something that I want to have an impact on my life, that it is better for me to keep it simple.

For me Observing Lent is not about giving up something just to be giving up something. I have felt the tug of several convictions lately in some areas of my life and I have come to realize that they all work together to make up the whole of me. It’s not so much what I choose to give up, or even what disciplines I may add, but it is more about the awareness that I need more of Jesus. So, when I struggle to give up something I have become attached to, it will be a reminder that I need to rely on the Grace of Jesus. The hope is that it will remind me to turn to him.

Turning to him is the ultimate goal for my spiritual growth. So I have chosen a couple of food items that are not good for me, that I have become too attached to in recent months and I have also chosen a couple of attitude or character items that I have felt convicted about. Those will be my focus during this Season of Lent. In each case I have listed them in the form of substituting something good or positive in the place of the not so good. Additionally, in the spirit of reaching out to others I have a goal of reaching out to one person each week with an encouragement. This is my 1×6 goal.

I have made a little chart to encourage me in my endeavor.

What about you, are you in the habit of observing a Lenten sacrifice or discipline? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

I am linking up with Elisabeth Esther for a Gentle Lent.

Also, you may find these two articles helpful in learning more about Ash Wednesday and Lent.

Observing in Grace,

Teresa

Hello 2014

February 6, 2014February 6, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 9 Comments

“Look to the Lord and His strength; Seek His face always.” Psalm 105:4

So, it’s February already. And you may be thinking I’m a little late on greeting the New Year. Not at all.

I have come to the conclusion that for me the new year begins in February. I did glance it’s way on a couple of post early in January. I even chose a word for the year. Begin. Yes, I get the irony.

But, I wasn’t ready. It may have been partly due to the worst case of sinusitis I’ve ever had, followed by a horrible bout with gout (see how I rhymed. it just happened).

However, I think the truth is that it takes me that long to decompress and wind up the old year. That whole stretch from Thanksgiving to New Years is not especially kind to me. No matter how much I try to stay calm, for some reason the holidays stress me every time.

If I could just go away for about six weeks at the end of every year to my favorite place in the mountains, I’m sure I’d be ready to say hello on January 1. That, of course, is not usually an option because it is family time and family is important.

So, I take January to regroup. This year I had some brain swirls, but I didn’t feel like engaging in deep thought on a regular basis, so I just left them swirling. Oh, I did make some lists of goals and projects and even daily schedules. Things I was shuffling around in an attempt to come up with a plan for the year.

I even had an epiphany of sorts that sometimes in order to begin you have to stop. If you think about it long enough it does make sense. Sometimes in order to gain perspective and direction you have to stop and take it all in.

Stopping to reassess goes along with the theme of reviewing the old and regrouping for the new. Right? It goes along with setting goals and moving forward. Right? So, that’s what I did. I stopped for awhile.

Today, I decided I was finally ready to greet the New Year. Ready to begin. Please don’t ask me what that means. It may take all year to figure that out. But, you have to start somewhere.

My somewhere is simply to say, Hello 2014.

Beginning in Grace,

Teresa

PS. I am ready for spring and swinging on my front porch. Winter is so last year.