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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

Things I Learned in 2014

January 6, 2015 by HappyGoStuckey 8 Comments

1. I love the smell of Pine. I’ve long loved the smell of Christmas trees, but always avoided the smell of anything Pine-scented for fear that it would smell exactly like Pine Sol. HOWEVER, this year thanks to this lovely scented Countertop Spray in Iowa Pine  from Mrs. Meyers– I’m a believer. Then my friend Amanda brought these Vintage Spruce Candles from Target to our Christmas Favorite Things Party– and it basically smells like living inside the most beautiful Christmas tree ever — minus the sap. And neither smells like something with which you would clean your bathtub. Just clean and fresh and completely appropriate well after Christmas. Clearly, since I’m still hung up on it. IMG_2593

2. I discovered Anastasia Tinted Brow Gel.
And let me just say, WOW. Thank you to the sweet girl at Sephora who pointed me in that direction. She mentioned it was a great tool to help your entire eye area stand out. I’m a conscientous eyeliner and mascara gal, but my eyebrows have always grown really slowly, so they get waxed about once a year and I call it good (I know, and I’m giving you beauty tips??) But this stuff is pretty stellar. In the same way that false eyelashes make your whole face look “awake” — a little swipe (literally, a little goes a long, long way,) of the brow gel adds a big “little something” to your eyebrows. Trust me. Ok, enough talk about eyebrows.

3. I discovered ALOT of great music. Some was new, some was just new to me but if you are looking for a few good tunes, check these lovelies out.

  •  Ellie Holcomb- As Sure As the Sun (Personal Fave- #8)
  • Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors- Good Light (Personal Fave- #4) ** Drew & Ellie are married and they make gorgeous music together, along with the rest of the band. So fun.
  •  Christa Wells- Feed Your Soul (Personal Fave- #5) **I had the sincere joy of hearing Christa in person at the #writersbarn event last September and her lyrics have become a part of my permanent playlist since then.
  •  Colony House- When I Was Younger (Personal Fave- #7) **Fun Fact– Two of the band members are sons of Steven Curtis Chapman. Their music is upbeat and a fun album to have playing in the kitchen while you chop, stir and sauté away. Ask me how I know.
  •  Ben Rector- Live in Denver (Personal Fave- #12, which was previously only available by pulling up the YouTube video, so yay!) I normally don’t love Live Albums, but I enjoyed this one, because well– Ben Rector.

4. Perhaps the MOST important lesson- I learned to respect the slow, the quiet, the lull. When I think back over the year I’m aware that we had moments where a lot seemed to be happening and moments where our lives seemed rhythmically slow. I learned I am happy with both, and I need both.

There are times when we are waiting on God and it might feel as though we are merely waiting on our selves. It can feel stifling to feel as though I’m waiting on myself to get my act together, frustrating even– to think I see what my next step is but not know when and how to get there.

Back in September, Christa Wells said something that has stayed with me regarding the quiet wait- “Much good happens in the space where nothing is happening.” 

The space where nothing appears to be happening to advance what it seems God has called us to do– can be a long and sometimes lonely wait.

I have felt this off and on this year and at the end of the day it boils down to one thing, my impatience. I say I trust Him and His timing, but the process often seems too long for my taste and I stop short in my enjoyment of it.

I miss the opportunity to just rest in His care and to watch the story unfold. I become just another Israelite with a long history of seeing God act but yet whining why He hasn’t “moved” in me yet. I’m realizing He IS moving– in me– in the quiet, the time of little goings-on, the lull. Nothing is wasted when He is the artist making something beautiful of all my broken parts. I want Him to build this house, and I want to be ready to not only wait for as long as it takes, but to wait with the anxious anticipation of a child.

What did you learn in 2014?

 

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Comments

  1. Teresa says

    January 6, 2015 at 2:04 pm

    I thought of you yesterday and meeting you at the Writer’s barn and how your blog name was one I won’t forget. And then, here you are in my blog feed this afternoon! I love this list and the wisdom in your writing. I can so relate to #4 – I too am impatient and I don’t always see the beauty in the wait, but I’m learning to! I think it’s a lifelong journey, this learning to wait on God.

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      January 6, 2015 at 4:33 pm

      Hey Teresa! Glad you stopped by, I took an extended break (longer than I planned 😉 and it feels so good to be back blogging again!
      I agree, it IS a lifelong journey. I know I’ve had the opportunity to learn the lesson of a “happy wait” before– but it always presents a challenge, doesn’t it?
      Glad we can soldier on together. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Teresa says

    January 6, 2015 at 2:04 pm

    I thought of you yesterday and meeting you at the Writer’s barn and how your blog name was one I won’t forget. And then, here you are in my blog feed this afternoon! I love this list and the wisdom in your writing. I can so relate to #4 – I too am impatient and I don’t always see the beauty in the wait, but I’m learning to! I think it’s a lifelong journey, this learning to wait on God.

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      January 6, 2015 at 4:33 pm

      Hey Teresa! Glad you stopped by, I took an extended break (longer than I planned 😉 and it feels so good to be back blogging again!
      I agree, it IS a lifelong journey. I know I’ve had the opportunity to learn the lesson of a “happy wait” before– but it always presents a challenge, doesn’t it?
      Glad we can soldier on together. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Linda Baker says

    January 6, 2015 at 3:52 pm

    What a wonderful list and a great idea to look back on 2014…hopefully we all learned something right? Will have to try to tame my brows with some of the gel! Thanks for all the great suggestions from candles to music to learning to love the lull! As always, I love your writing!!

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      January 6, 2015 at 4:35 pm

      Hey Linda, I Hope the Baker/Dew Fam is 100% over all the sickness you all have had. 🙁 Maybe you all won’t be sick for all of 2015, that would be great! 😉 Sending hugs your way and thank you always for your encouragement!

      Reply
  4. Linda Baker says

    January 6, 2015 at 3:52 pm

    What a wonderful list and a great idea to look back on 2014…hopefully we all learned something right? Will have to try to tame my brows with some of the gel! Thanks for all the great suggestions from candles to music to learning to love the lull! As always, I love your writing!!

    Reply
    • happygostuckey says

      January 6, 2015 at 4:35 pm

      Hey Linda, I Hope the Baker/Dew Fam is 100% over all the sickness you all have had. 🙁 Maybe you all won’t be sick for all of 2015, that would be great! 😉 Sending hugs your way and thank you always for your encouragement!

      Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all Joy is the courage of people who don’t have all the answers, yet.

While you sit in a season of waiting,
the calendar can often be a cruel companion, reminding you that days go by, weeks, months— with what feels like very little change in the right direction.

Perhaps you can easily assent to: 
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but you strain to see just how it will be when: “...a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12)

Wherever you and I are today— whether we wander, wait, stand firmly planted, or some pressed together combination of all three — we can take heart.

We are not alone.
And this will not be wasted.
What seems to be an unending blank space, an indefinite pause, is a space for new things.

Long before all is made right, and whether or not it all is tied up neatly with a perfectly crafted bow— we can know this:

We do not have to know the outcome to be faithful today.

✨Joy is not disregard for reality as much as it is obstinacy against despair.✨
Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. T Hi 👋🏻 I’m Cynthia and I’m a bit weary. There. I said it. These days I’m gravitating to the true & the beautiful as rest for my weary self... and I wonder if you are too.

So much so, that I’m starting a new little offering, it’s called “The Feast: Wonder for the Weary” and the first issue goes out this weekend. It’s a bit more personal (okay this first one is WAY more personal. 🤭) It will be a little bit of everything, all with the goal of offering REST to both the feasters & foragers alike. If you’re already a subscriber— no need to do anything, if not— click through my bio to “keep in touch” and join the feast.✨
We are a people of both lament and praise. We hol We are a people of both lament and praise.

We hold questions without answers— yet we hold them in hands already full of good things.

We hold our daily bread, our daily gifts, and we hold the daily closeness of the God Who Sees.

The God who is no stranger to our lament, and Who Is the reason for our every hope.
He does not grow weary of our asking. Of our need to be told again, He will. 

You friend, are not invisible.
You are seen and cared for by the God who does all things well. (Even when they feel anything but.)
Married love ambition: making the kids roll their Married love ambition: making the kids roll their eyes at our “gushy-ness” as often as possible. 

President & CEO of the Lance Stuckey Fan Club— in every season, but especially on days like today.
Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty k Rainy day Mocha date, courtesy of our own toasty kitchen.😍🌧📚

On this chilly Saturday, we spent entirely too long browsing for books at our library and then all came home to a fire, mochas, and cocoa, respectively. Of all the things we do not know at this very moment, we know the gifts abound, and are worth counting.

PS, if you haven’t spread whipped cream on a foil-lined baking sheet to freeze, and then cut out cute shapes with cookie cutters to top your coffee or hot cocoa, may I suggest you get thee on that at once.
“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provide “If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.” — Corrie Ten Boom

✨File under, things to save in a fire.✨

The prayer journal pictured here contains six months of the hard & the sweet.
Six months of prayers asked & answered for ourselves and for others.
Six months of seeing through prayer, not how it changed our circumstances necessarily but how it changed us.

I always appreciate a record like this— being able to clearly see the paths we are led down, rocky though they may be? Priceless.

The ways God has come near us & drawn us to Himself again and again are written on these pages and I’ll treasure it forever.

Also pictured: Psalms Illuminated Scripture Journal. Highly recommend. Thank you always, @allifarnell
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it th “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

While scrolling through my photos today, my heart was heavy to realize how far back “before” was.

Before masks and distancing, before loss, before other, more personal bits of hard. Multitudinous change, neither all bad nor all good.

With our free time, we’ve introduced our girls to Tolkien, Bilbo, Frodo, and especially Samwise the Brave. They are officially hooked and we are delighted to watch them discover another world where evil doesn’t win, and the courage of the small matters much. {they close their eyes at the Orcs and we haven’t had a nightmare yet!}🤞🏻😂😬
I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog th I’m leaning increasingly more into the analog these days.

It started with the Sourdough and a dozen different kinds of jam last year.
I suddenly find great calm in activities that stand in direction opposition to hurry, the textbook definition of ✨work in progress.✨ And really, if you could see the other side of this piece, you would believe me. 🙃

Thank you to @thebarmyfox for making embroidery so accessible!
@thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfec @thenester says, “It doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful,” and I believe that the weeknight meal equivalent is, “Just because it’s easy— doesn’t make it a second-tier supper!”

Thank you, Spaghetti with Meat sauce for being both a ministry to mom AND a crowd pleaser. Especially on a dreary January-ish day. It is ✨quite alright✨ to make something we’ve made a million times just because we know it makes the people happy.🍝
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