That Still, Small Voice {Heed It}

That inner witness that all Christians have...the one that, sometimes without any words, comes as an impression or direction or conviction...

...it is a miracle.

The voice that reminds us to love our husband, to give a little extra tenderness to a friend, to respect authority...

...it is an other-worldly, incredible privilege that you, Christian, tend to treat as a commonplace thing.

...that inner witness that is grieved at selfishness, or disturbed by immodesty which always eventually becomes some form of immorality which New Covenant Gospel commands that we flee...that inner witness that twinges at gossip and disobedience...

...the voice of wisdom that used to cry out in the street, but now sounds more like the voice of our pastor or our mother...

...the ruminations of a renewing mind, that is all too slowly learning to comprehend what is the width and depth and height of the love of God...

...the conclusions of a sanctified thought life that decide that a God of all grace is a God worth knowing...

...and worth making known - which entails leadership, which entails the sacrifice - not of our money or our time as much as our preferences and personal freedoms and dearly held opinions and most cherished family relationships.

All these inner witnesses of all degrees and intensities, they are voiced and heard in the spirit of a Christian every day.

They are miraculous. They are what Christ died for us to have - our God, within! His voice, His ways, within!

Ignore them to your profound loss and harm. Hear God in your very midst...within...and you shall not be moved. A serene confidence leading to an incredibly rich lifestyle will be yours as a gift.

Today, if you hear His voice {and if you are His, you will} harden not your heart.

Grace and Peace,
Sheila Atchley

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When You've Lived Nine Lives in a Week

No one can know the week I have had...and I mean literally, no one can know.

Clergy confidentiality is alive and well.

I am fine with telling all my business, and each of my children have always understood and accepted our family's policy of transparency. Even the prodigals "get it"...they are okay with The Preacher and I keeping no secrets...we don't share details, but we don't keep secrets.

So if you want to know my business, just ask me.

But my family has another policy...the whole family. I am so proud (in that healthy-proud sort of way) that my family as a rule will not casually discuss other people, unless we are speaking well of them.

Like, seriously. We don't. We. Just. Don't.

Not because we are necessarily that holy. To tell you the truth, we simply take healthy pride in our service to the Bride. Honoring others is a fabulous lifestyle, one that works for us. God favors us because of it...not because we've earned His favor (no one but Christ has ever earned anything), but because it is His character and nature to honor those who love His bride enough to serve her...even behind closed doors, even in every day conversation.

If you haven't been living by the same culture of honor, I encourage you to try it. It is, if nothing else, just a lovely, low drama way to live.

There have been splashes of beauty, even in what has been a hellacious week...





...this boy...and this girl...our church's senior graduates...






....this day...








...business is good...






...meals like this...made from scratch...





...and this...I eat like this usually once every day, if not every meal. Don't be a hater. I am not a health food nazi...it's just so yummy!





...also once a day, most days...I promise it is so so good.





My Preacher cut a hole in his truck this week...





...which gave me great pause...





...but the man has mad skills...




...and can do anything g...


...and ain't nothin' hottern' that. Just sayin'. A lotta years of marriage, a little middle age spread, but he still makes me fan myself when he does any of the following: works with his hands - preaches - plays drums - plays with his grand babies - sings "hey, mamma rock me" to me.





...my peonies...





...and hydrangea...


Here's to a boatload of grace poured on my life this week, and even more hope for a much better week next week.

Glad this one's over, I won't lie.



Grace and Peace,

Sheila Atchley



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50th Anniversary

See those two kids up there? That's my parents, 50 years ago.

Tonight, my Preacher and I reserved an entire semi-private room of a restaurant, and treated the whole clan to dinner, to celebrate.




(chaperoning these kids to their own 50th anniversary celebration...)


Every member of the family came, all the way down to the littlest one:






I noticed during the course of the evening, as we laughed and ate and ate and ate...two complete strangers in the other room were observing. They even turned their chairs and leaned to be able to see everything!

When I made a little time to step out of our room to greet them, I noticed one lady had tears in her eyes.

She said, "I'm sorry to be so nosey, but your family is so special. We couldn't help but notice all the decorations, and the fact that those must be your parents and some of those young people must be your children. And those babies are beautiful."

The look in her eyes....well, I cannot quite explain it to you. Wistful, I think.

At that moment, my youngest son, who overheard our conversation, stepped out, put his arm around me, and said, "I am sure you wonder where I got my height. I am the tallest one in the room...and I am this beautiful woman's son. I got my height from the UPS man."

!!!!

I expected the moment to be totally blown for these people...for the testimony of it all to be lost.

They. Ate. It. Up.

They thought my boy was the cutest thing they'd ever seen. They nearly rolled in the floor laughing.

Later, I saw them ask my daughter Sarah if they could hold my grand daughter! Who does that??! I was so tickled at these strangers and their longing to participate in the celebration. It truly did not offend me...it was the icing on the cupcake of a perfect night!

Sarah let them try to hold her...and of course, little Aidyn Esther howled in protest.

And my grandson practically had them eating out of his hand. Then my mother went out of our room to their table and showed them one of her gifts from the night...

...and we said goodbye to them as we left.

Yes. I have a goodly heritage.





Happy anniversary, mom and dad!

My family. Every relationship, intact and thriving, in spite of the tremendous strains that imperfect families experience.

Tonight was, for me, living a dream I have not earned and do not deserve.

My family. Trophies of grace, we are....and I can honestly say that even strangers can see something special there between us.

Grace and Peace,

Sheila Atchley

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The Beverage Station {Keeping House}

At the end of every year, I begin praying and meditating on what to name the following year. And every year, the year lives up to its name.

Just for the next little while, I am naming seasons within the year. This is a new practice, and one I don't expect to do a lot, but the leading of the Lord is clear, at least for the summer.

The year 2013 is my year of "Harvest". This summer season, is a season of Keeping House, in the context of my harvest.

It began, as all blessed things do, with the house of God.




My Preacher has never "dwelt in paneled houses while God's house suffers...". He has always made the building where our church gathers a priority, even above our own home, many times.

And I am so okay with that. Because My Father "makes it up to me" in beautiful ways.

Weeks and days and hours have been spent keeping house in the "house of God" recently. God has promised a "harvest" for everything we put our hand to this year, and into the next. We have a clear word.

But we have to be putting our hands TO something that is His Kingdom, not ours.
Then, "all these things" will be added. I am trusting God to bless my physical dwelling...my house...this summer. I am believing God will supply the means and the way to do some much needed home keeping here where the Preacher and I madly enjoy an empty nest...

That has a little something to do with coffee. See, we've upgraded to a Keurig Vue. Latest model, the V700.

Not too shabby. Not too shabby at all. God loves His Preachers and their intrepid wives.

So I designed a Beverage Center...capital letters.




This is my first kitchen stop of the day, and the last at night. The whole family loves this spot.




Lemons and limes for water...peppermint sticks for hot chocolate...marshmallows too...fancy corkscrew, and a sparkling lemonade. Also raw sugar.




My juicer, for fresh orange juice, or making lemonade... and the Keurig Vue...which is the bomb dot com. It makes lattes, it froths the milk part. It makes hot cider, or iced tea or iced coffee or hot chocolate or Starbucks coffee. It dispenses anywhere from espresso size, to travel mug amounts, and you choose the temperature.

Now that we are no longer serving coffee to a daily crowd, the Preacher and I can afford (most of the time) to keep a stash of high-end K-cups (Vue cups) on hand.




The stash of coffees and teas and ciders and sugar substitute is in the drawer, at the Beverage Station. Help yourself. Have a glass of wine, too, if you are over 21.

One. Glass.

Mamma needs her grape juice, I ain't good at sharing. No, actually, the One Glass Rule is a personal boundary I keep, even privately. It's all anyone needs to enjoy with dinner.




Our mason jars (we drink our corn, here in Rocky Top. Just kidding.) and grand baby cups, my Mimi cup, our stemless and stemmed wine glasses, travel mugs, extra mugs, and our green dinner glasses, above the Beverage Center....again, capital B, capital C.




It's just a small thing, this Beverage Center, but it speaks to my season of home keeping as a special focus. It blesses my man, and makes our grown kids feel special, and it is that extra touch of hospitality that says, "We love it that you came here!"

And I actually do look forward to going to bed at night, because I know my Preacher will be making my coffee as soon as my eyes open, in the morning.

I also look forward to sharing with you all the ways I will be keeping house this summer. I am thinking God is going to open up His storehouse of blessing over this house...my house...because we make His house our first priority. We can't earn it, and don't deserve it...we just can't out-give Him.

Grace and Peace,
Sheila Atchley


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Two Questions To Ask Yourself {...they will transform your day...which in turn will transform your life...}

...some days are all about family...in a special way... 

Today has been spent in the most lovely way.  The Preacher and I treated our hard-working daughters and their hard-working husbands to a day off, on us.  We all loaded up, two-vehicle-caravan-style, and first had breakfast at "The Crack".  After that, we took off to the mountains, and when we reached a certain spot in our Smoky Mountains National Park, the kids and grandkids unloaded from their van, and set up camp- chairs in the back of "PopPop's twuck".  (That is what Timothy calls the Preacher's truck...)

We drove this way through Cades Cove three times, and had a fabulous day.  At one point, the Preacher and I just looked at each other (over the tops of two little heads - grandson and granddaughter) and smiled.  Both babies were in the cab of the truck with us, while their parents all four were laughing and cutting up in the bed of the truck.  The babies were madly vying for their PopPop's undivided attention, and it was....heaven.

Then we went to a secret spot, location of which shall remain in the family, otherwise it isn't a secret.  Photo ops galore.  There was no place on earth...no exotic location...no waterfall, no seven wonders of the world, no seashore, no castle in Spain...no place we would have rather been, than right where we were...breathing in the fragrance of literally thousands of flowers, and enjoying the company of these like-minded children of ours.

We ended the day (frazzled babies - the grandson was so punch drunk, he made us laugh till we hurt) at a nice "sit-down" restaurant, where we treated these beautiful adult-children to dinner.  They have labored with us day and night for weeks, now - they have worked long and hard to bless the people of God with a fabulous, usable basement space at the church building.  As parents, we wanted to say "thank you".  Not as "pastor and wife"....we wanted to say thank you as "mom and dad".

Which brings me to two questions that have been changing my life this year.  (I always walk in something a very long time before I teach about it or chirp about it or act like I know a thing about it...)

There are two questions I have come up with, that, if you ask them, and act on the answers your heart gives you, they will change your life.

1.  Where can I create beauty?

...sometimes this can be as simple as "fold that pile of laundry"...other times, as fulfilling as "make a charcoal drawing and collage and painting and title it "Achsah"...and then, question number two:

2.  Who can I love better?

...this question carries no guilt, no obligation.  This is not a guilt-driven question.  This question involves infusing beauty into just one relationship, that day.  Who could use some little extra loving from you today?  Who needs you?  How can you love that person a little bit better than ever?  Most of the time, the answers are very simple.

I have been asking myself these questions every single day, for a long time now.  The answer to that question for today was for the Preacher and I to do just what we did.  He and I created beauty - in that we created a memory that will last a lifetime.  And he and I loved some people just a little better.

And just for today.

And I will do it again tomorrow, I promise you.

I also promise you, if you ask yourself these two questions, your days will gain a clarity and a beauty to them that perhaps you haven't experienced in quite that way, ever before.

Where've I Been {...of Church Renovations and Gardening}

Where have I been this week? Doing my work and my Preacher's work, while he does God's work, which in this case includes a whole lot of manual labor...

We have been deep in the throes of renovations for a year now, downstairs at our church building. A kitchen was demo'ed, relocated across the hall in what used to be nearly unusable space. That space is now the most beautiful church kitchen!

Three new nurseries were added, to keep up with our population explosion...

That was phase one.

Phase two was to add a cafe to the whole south end of the basement. Well...a large, multipurpose room, with a counter, bar stools, tables and chairs and a multimedia wall...

...okay, really just a place to hang. We Harvesters are hanger-outers. And coffee fiends, the whole lot of us.

Here is a before shot:





You had to step up into the space. By the time this shot was taken, there was already a sense of improvement and expansion, because a part of a wall had been blown out, there to the left.





Another before. By this time, another wall had been blown out (hence the two temporary poles) and two smaller rooms were one large room. The raised floor had been demo'ed, and the old oak floor donated to our son-in-lawJonathan Howe for his artisan-frame making...since he (and the other son-in-love) have given, and are giving, many hours of hard labor towards this blessing!

And if you buy one of J-Howe's landscapes in the future, it just might come to you framed in an old oaken Harvest Church floor...how beautifully cool is that?





Here is a shot from about mid-way into this project...





And now, we are almost done! This shot only shows you 1/4th of this huge new space. New wood floors...lots of beautiful light...just a huge room...which will see many conversations, small gatherings, Bible classes, English-as-a-second language classes, lots of celebrations...and art workshops!





Compare the first shot with this one, above, for a small sense of the big change in this space!

...as is always the unintended but inevitable result of my Preacher having to work 65 hour weeks (maybe more? I truly am probably being conservative...) I have to do, here at home, everything he would otherwise do for me.







...like plant the entire garden. The raised beds weren't hard...(I have Kentucky Wonder pole beans, lettuce, and lavender in mine...when I open my bedroom door, which opens onto a deck, right next to the raised beds, you can smell the lavender, and the tea olive bush. Heaven...)






This was hard, I won't lie. I couldn't get the whole space in the frame properly, but I sort of singlehandedly weeded, planted, mulched, and treated (organically) the entire garden this year, as well as worked a fine layer of bone meal into the whole thing. I also created (weed mat, stakes) and mulched the path that goes through the center of it, and another small path leading to the raised beds.





And planted up all my containers (this shot is obviously very un-styled...my garden boots are where I left them yesterday, as well as my little sit-n-scoot wagon I use for the sit-down jobs)





We have patio tomatoes, strawberries, ferns, and even an azalea topiary back here. We had a storm, just before this picture was taken. So add "sweep away and pick up storm debris" to my chore list. Sigh.





And the butterfly garden still needs weeding and mulching...





But first, I will stop here...with my Bible and a cup of coffee...I will stop long enough to thank God for the health and strength to do my work, and what would ordinarily be the Preacher's work...

...so that God's people can have the blessing of a newly renovated church basement!

Grace and Peace,

Sheila Atchley

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A Special Week {In Pictures}

Beginning with last weekend, Mother's Day...





Took my mother to Bravo's for a special lunch, followed by a long visit to a local art gallery...







Me and my gang...daughters and granddaughter...had breakfast together, and then went on a major shopping trip to art supply stores and the mall...




Playing with a new iPhone app called "A Beautiful Mess". Go get it!





More Beautiful Mess app going on up there...so much fun...





A special Mother's Day card....






Coming forward...I got 24 plants into the ground or into our new raised beds this past week!







Breakfast with a friend...







Working on my next-in-line commission...this is the background.





Hung out with this sweetheart, at her big brother's high school graduation...





So proud of this one! (The one with the "high honors" addition to his robe!)

And now, this morning, I have to get going. It's the Lord's Day, and it is my privilege to be with the family of God today! Looking forward to it...




Grace and Peace,

Sheila Atchley

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