The Final Post of Barefoot MomLady

Did I ever tell you the story about how I got started blogging? No? Well, it's about time I did. Get a cup of your favorite beverage, and maybe some cookies, and I'll tell you.

It all started back in 2004, just a few months after my beloved Eric and I tied the knot. I heard about this new thing called "blogging", and how Wil Wheaton (the kid from Star Trek: The Next Generation) had gotten a book deal from writing what amounted to an online journal. Now, I wasn't ever expecting to get any kind of book deal but I loved to write short stories about my life so I thought I'd start one for the fun of it. But what on earth would I call it?

Well, I was going through an identity crisis at the time...you know, the whole "I'm re-married now, I've got a new last name, and instead of being the breadwinner like I was since 1989, I'm a homeschooling housewife now so who the heck am I" thing. And since the only thing that hadn't changed about me was being a mother to three beautiful daughters, girls that insisted on giving me a superhero nickname (because I was just that cool), I decided to use that and began writing "The Adventures of MomLady".

I really loved that blog.

Alas, just when I'd started to really find a growing number of blogging friends, just as the whole "Mom Bloggers" thing was beginning to explode across the internet, I had to shut it down. It was like having a piece of my heart ripped out.

Eventually, the pull of blogging lured me back in. By that time, I was in the midst of successive pregnancies, enjoying and advocating the beauty of homebirth, and joking with my husband about being barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen all the time, when my two big girls (the eldest had left home for college by then) renamed me Barefoot MomLady. And that's how this blog was born.

Over this past year, though, I've felt led to something different. At first I thought it was time to change my attitude about this hobby and join thousands of other women by monetizing my blog. I bought my domain name and started looking for a professional blog designer. But by the time I found who I wanted to hire, God began telling me that Barefoot MomLady was not the direction He wanted me to go in. So, I prayed and asked Him what He wanted me to do.

And this is the answer He gave me.



Unpaved Roads will be a place of honesty, transparency and (I pray) encouragement. From struggles in the valleys to joy on the mountaintops, I will share my journey as a farmer's wife and homeschooling mom as I walk by faith, not by sight.

It's been a privilege to share my story up to this point here with you. I've been truly blessed by your comments and your friendship. Thank you all so much for that. I'm excited to see what God has in store for us on Unpaved Roads. I hope to see you there.

In obedience, faith and love,
Wendy

It's Not About Me

I was having my typical Monday morning pity-party. Seems like lately we haven't just been under spiritual attack...it's been an all-out siege against us. Strange dogs roaming onto our property and terrorizing our chickens, children coming down sick, finances looking bleak, sleep becoming an elusive mystery and all of the pressure, the stress, the heat, the worry, getting under our skins and pushing us to bickering, losing sight of the things that really matter and draining the joy out of my heart.

I went outside as I often do when I'm feeling burdened, to walk around the gardens and find a moment of peace in prayer.

Lord, you know the struggles we're having right now...

On my knees, pulling weeds near the okra, I poured out a laundry-list of worries and frustrations.

Help us...guide us...show us...let me know...what should we...

Us. Me. We.

Through all these weeks and months, I've wondered why everything we try to do seems like such a struggle and it's all just so hard every step of the way. Why can't anything just go smoothly for a change?

What am I missing in all this, Lord? What am I not seeing or doing?

And of all the things I've learned in my relatively short time as a Christian, one of the biggest I should always remember is to NEVER ask God a question without being prepared to hear the answer.

"I love you, Wendy. But it's not all about you."

Ouch.

I'll admit it, I didn't get back on my knees, turn to my Bible, or do anything that would've indicated I wanted to continue this conversation with my Maker. No, I pulled a mental Jonah and plopped myself down on the computer. As if I could run away from what He wanted me to know.

On Facebook, I saw a friend that I haven't "spoken" to for several weeks letting everyone know that she was leaving for surgery in a few minutes.

"When was the last time you prayed for her, Wendy?"

I had a new message waiting for me from the only real-life friend I've got out here, wanting to know if we could get together and start the Bible study we've been wanting to do since January but have repeatedly had to postpone due to health issues.

"When was the last time you prayed for her, Wendy?"

I signed out of Facebook and pulled up my favorite news website. Anything to get my mind elsewhere, right? There's rioting in London, and I remember my friend in England who is supposed to be traveling to Dublin soon to see her father for the first time in six years.

"When was the last time you prayed for her, Wendy?"

I am ashamed.

When was the last time I did more than give a brief, cursory prayer on behalf of a friend in need? When was the last time I put my own petty little problems aside long enough to allow the burden of someone else's worries drive me to my knees?

The word of God really is a double-edged sword.  I felt it, piercing my heart over and over as scripture after scripture rang in my ears.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it...
...do not cease to pray for you...
...do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers...
...always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy...
...praying always for you...
...praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints...
Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving...

Forgive me, Lord.  It's not all about me.

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