Life in the White House: Writing

Showing posts with label Writing. Show all posts

Monday, March 24

Provisions and Promises

I started this post last week, before the crazy started again this past weekend: I’ll leave it as it was.
This past weekend is another post, for another day.

Things have settled down a bit from last week. At the very least we’ve gathered our wits about us a bit more and don’t feel like we’re swimming in quicksand. One of the things I’ve been asking myself is just why is it so hard to remember God’s Provisions and Promises: God's Faithfulness During Times of Struggle at LifeintheWhiteHouse.com promises when the proverbial hits the fan?! While the answer is easy {Satan}, that doesn’t make it any easier to remember it, at least not for me.

Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave your or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 31:7-8

Be strong. Be courageous. That’s easy enough to do when I’ve got my head on straight and time to think. Even off the cuff, I’m pretty able to keep it together. I’m one of those people who cases a place when I get there…where are the exits? what are the possible situations? I do the same thing in the car or in traffic. I am the epitome of crisis management’s “be prepared”. But even them, I’m relying on me, what I am capable of, and forgetting the only one I should rely on.

It’s hard to remember that God’s got this, regardless of what “this” is. It’s even harder when you feel like God’s let you down, and that’s how I felt that Friday. While the fire was devastating, and many things were lost, and it was another punch to the gut about the building permit and car, my real struggle was with God.

I had been fervently in prayer for the past 12 hours, for our building permit, for our family and for others. Now, before you think that I have this convoluted idea that just because I had prayed means that I think God’s in my court, I don’t. Just as often as the answers may be what I want, sometimes they’re just not. What left me feeling the most deflated was knowing that despite my faithfulness, prayers weren’t answered, and things unforeseen happened {the house fire and the deer}.

My faithfulness, like God goes about rewarding those who have dotted the Is and crossed the Ts on the Christian-To-Do-List. Ha! HE is the one that is faithful, not me. I have no idea what it even means to be faithful: There is only one who is faithful. Regardless of how faithful anyone else on this planet is, there is no one who is as Faithful as God.

He is faithful to the end: His promises and goodness will last forever. Long after I’ve been forgotten. And that’s what I’ve been clinging to: His goodness, His faithfulness, His promise.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

And that’s what I need to remember. This isn’t about me, it isn’t about what I think God should have done. It’s about what God has already done, in and for me: Claiming me as His own, and sending His son to die in my place. It’s about what God will do, what He has promised to me over and over again.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfareand not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11-12

How hard it is to remember that no matter what, God has already provided for our every need and that he will continue to do so, whether it’s our salvation or our sustenance. That He promises to be our refuge and our protection, to never, ever forsake us.

Friday, January 24

How to Pursue Your Husband

You can find this post over on my new blog: Be sure to head over and check it out at JessicaMWhite.com

Thursday, January 16

Why I’m Kissing Social Media Good-Bye

Because I’m frustrated with it. And while I’m not going to completely disappear from all things Social Media, I am taking a break for an undetermined length of time. As a blogger we’re supposed to be on every social media site under creation, and I’ve kind of done that. I’m on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and Instagram; but I struggle with them, I struggle with keeping all of them active and up-to-date and I struggle with feeling as though I’m putting time and energy into something that has no tangible benefit.

Why I'm Kissing Social Media Good-Bye @LifeintheWhiteHouse.com

Facebook barely reaches any of the people who actually like my page. On most of my posts, I only reach 5-10% of the people who like me, and that’s only if I’ve done every single thing right and can trick the system into letting people see them.

Twitter moves way too fast and people never ever see anything, because how many people can anyone follow in the few seconds that a post is visible?! I only follow 239 people on there, through tweetdeck and I can only deal with it for a few minutes.

Google+ I don’t even understand it well enough to actually be able to use it.

Pinterest, I love; Instagram I love.

You see, I started a blog as a writer, not as a blogger who happened to write. I wrote to deal with and share our infertility struggles with other people, people who “Got it!”. I found an incredible community of women, some of whom I am still in touch with. Then we had Avelyn, and a few readers dropped off {understandably so, it wasn’t about just infertility anymore}…then I had the triplets and a few more readers dropped off.

But somewhere along the way I got sucked into the “What I’m supposed to do”, and not so much forgot, but willingly put aside the other parts. I took up with a likeminded group of bloggers {all of whom are awesome!} who wanted to grow and develop their blogging, and subsequently their writing, and I wanted to do that too! And I began to focus more on “quality content” and “pinnable images” and “social media presence” and “profitable affiliations”: And that was good too, it pushed me to better my writing.

But I still wasn’t seeing any sort of return on time investment, and I was getting torqued out about not “doing it {blogging} right”.

I am a prolific writer: I can churn out lots of stuff and thoughts, and sometimes some of it is even good. But, I started to force the art of writing, filling the days on my calendar with certain types of blog posts, because everyone says a good blogger must post quality: Consistently and constantly.

Then I started to think that maybe what I was blogging just wasn’t connecting with anyone. Or maybe it’s that everyone reads blogs on tablets and smart phones. Or maybe it’s that I’m not on Flickr. Or Tumblr. Or that I should be spending more time on Twitter and Facebook. Or maybe… Or maybe…

Or maybe I just need to stop. Stop playing all the social media games that bloggers have been led to believe that we need to be involved in to grow our readership, and just trust God. Somewhere along the line a lot of us writers began to focus more on the business of blogging, than the love of writing. More on what WE could do, than what HE could do.

“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty
hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxieties on Him, for He cares for You.”
1 Peter 5:7

And so I’ve decided to do just that, to stop.

I’m going to get back to before this whole whirlwind frenzy….Writing: Plain and simple. I’m going to stick with those aspects of blogging that I enjoy. Posting on a consistent schedule? I hope not. Facebook? I doubt I’ll be on my page much. Twitter? Sometimes. Pinterest and Instagram? You bet’cha, I’ll be there! Pinnable graphics? Yea, but only because I am a very visual person and I enjoy graphic design.

What does this mean for you? How are you going to keep tabs on The White House? I’ll be right here at LifeintheWhiteHouse.com. But, I understand if you want something a little more streamline, you can sign up for emails here or add my link to a feed reader. I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be right here, at home.

If you want to get a hold of me the best way will be through either comments on my blog or through emailing me at Jess.White05 at gmail dot com {I’d love to hear from you!}

Tuesday, December 31

Blog Posts of 2013–The Best of LifeintheWhiteHouse.com

I thought it would be fun to finish the year with a Top 10 listing of my most popular and favorite posts!

Gwynnie Bee—“The Netflix of Plus Size Fashion”

A while back I saw an ad on Facebook about plus size fashion. I clicked over, which I never do in Facebook, because Lord knows if it’s a virus or whatever else on there, and was pleasantly surprised. Gwynnie Bee is pretty fantastic. Isigned up for a free month trial, just around my sister in law’s wedding, so that if I needed some nicer clothes I had the option to get some things from Gwynnie Bee.
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Reverse Hospitality: Bringing the Blessings to Them

I’ve stolen this phrase from a friend, because I love it! I love welcoming people into my home. I’ve somehow managed to get over the fact that my house needs to be perfect to entertain {this has only been by God’s grace and 4 kids}. I have yet to decided whether this is a good thing or not; I fear I may have become too lax in this department now.
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The Dry-Skin Dilemma

As much as I love winter, my skin doesn’t. Between the cold weather, washing my hands 50 times a day, and hot forced air heating…my skin gets dry. Fortunately not dry and cracked, but dry and very itchy, to the point of being painful.
I used to use Bath and Body Works Shea Butter, it comes in a big blue tube and would cost around $20 {I’m sure it’s more now}. The stuff worked great, but it’s expensive and had a bunch of other things in it that I wasn’t too comfortable with using on the kids.
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W.I.P Wednesday – Heartland BOM Quilt

The past few weeks {here and here} I’ve been posting about the Heartland Heritage Block of the Month kit that I got from FatQuarterShop.com, eons ago {seriously I think I got it at least 5 years ago…I know it was before I was pregnant with Ave}. Well, today I am pleased to say that I have finished the top: YAY!!!!
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What 17 Days without Hot Water Will Teach You….about yourself.

It’s been a week now, that we’ve had hot water again. I’m going to admit it, I’m guilt of thoroughly enjoying having running hot water. No more lugging a 7 gallon pot around the house to bath 4 kids at once. No more sponge baths over the shallow sink because I just didn’t feel like loading everyone up to drive somewhere to shower. No more scalding my hands while trying to wash dishes in a bowl.
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From Busy to Blessing– An Introduction

“I don’t know how you find the time?!”
“I wish I had skills like that!”
“I could never be that organized.”

Ever heard these things? I have. And I don’t deserve such praise. See, I’m not all that organized and I really don’t find the time. I’m rather lazy when it comes to serving others, particularly when they’re in my own family.

Priorities.
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Embracing Beauty When You’re a Plus Size Gal

I’m going to tell you a story, about 2 little girls…

Once upon a time there were two little girls, more a like than they realized. One was dressed in long denim skirts, with long sleeve tops, her hair pulled back in a braid; the other was dressed in Adidas tear-away pants, a Korn t-shirt, pumas and a pony tail. What on earth could these two girls, approaching adulthood have in common. Neither of them were dressing for themselves, and neither of them had a clue of what that look should be.
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Giving Loneliness a Name {part 1}

I mentioned during my review of Desperate, that I’ve been struggling with something. I’m not even sure how to explain what it is, but I guess the best word for it is loneliness. I’ve struggled with even writing this post for some time, because it isn’t any thing that someone has said or done that has made me feel lonely and I certainly don’t want someone to take this personally.
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Mamas its OK…

Maybe you’ve spent years and thousands to have that little one your holding, maybe you just wanted to be a mom and it happened, maybe you weren’t planning on being a mom, but it happened anyways. No matter, I want to tell you something…it’s ok to get tired of it sometimes. To get tired of the demands, the discipline, the whining, the not being able to just do “whatever” for dinner. It’s ok.
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Thoughts on Creativity

Over the last few years, and more this past year, a handful of people have told me that my children should be my priority, that this is not the season for me to spend frivolous time on my writing {and blogging}, sewing, photography or reading {for fun} or any other non-necessary creative endeavor. That I somehow am doing wrong by my children, if I continue to pursue these avenues.
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I hope you enjoy this trip down “Memory Lane”….there were a few pieces this year that I was proud of and some that just blew me away with how they struck others. Be sure to share this with your friends and others.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!