A Journaling Freebie For You

Hello my lovely friends!

The weather has finally broken in our neck of the woods and we have had some lovely rain which is a welcome relief for the garden. I have to say that I have missed the lack of rain! I love listening to it falling and the way the earth smells as the rain hits the soil. Don't get me wrong, I have loved all this sunny weather. It means we have had no slug issues this year and it looks like we are going to have a bumper strawberry and apple crop this year!

I've noticed that the Elderflower is out already so I plan on taking a walk along the nearby canel tomorrow after church to collect flower heads so that I can make a lovely Elderflower Cordial, a seasonal activity that I love to do each year.

Following my post earlier this week (Finding Your Way Back Home), I have continued to focus on the little things that lead me back to a life of peace, contentment, purpose and grace. I have realised that it is easier said than done as we humans tend to operate on the established 'tracks' forged in our brains.

Charlotte Mason spoke about the physical tracks that are created in our brains when we establish a new habit. It is what makes breaking a bad habit so difficult. We physically have to choose to take a more purposful course of action and do so repeatedly until a new 'track' is forged. This is definantly a topic I will come back to on this blog.

I have always found the process of journaling through any challenging times to be very helpful. It helps me to take swirling washing machine of thoughts in hand and pick them out one by one to create some sort of order. So I created this little journal with 10 prompts to help explore a gentle return to the slower and sacred rhythm to my home and life.

The prompts are designed to encourage reflection, to pause and return to the heart of your home and heart. I am using one prompt a day to allow time to really ponder on the topic and examin my heart.

I am finding the process so theraputic and helpful that I thought you may like to download my A Gentle Return Journal to use if you wish. This is a resource aimed at the Christian woman so I appreciate that it will not be helpful to everyone. But if you would like to use it please do.

I'd love to hear if you are in a season of change or just pondering on what it is that truly brings you peace, contentment and joy. Perhaps you have already travelled this road and have some thoughts that would be good to consider. Please do let me know in the comments.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I shall see you back here next week.

Finding Your Way Back Home: A Letter to the Weary Homemaker

 For the Christian woman who longs to return to a life of peace, purpose, and grace

I walked past a quilt top that I first pieced together in 2017. It still is not finished! I have started hand quilting the top but the fact that it has taken me 8 years to get to this point bothered me.

This prompted me to think about when the last time was that I created anything at all. When last did I finish a knitting project? When last did I spend some time enjoying a bit of cross-stitch or excitedly plan out a new project of some sort?

I have Pinterest boards brimming with ideas and projects that at some point inspired me, things I wanted to try my hand. I remembered back to the days when when I was most certainly an inspired homemaker.

When Home Doesn’t Feel Like Home Anymore

There comes a time in many women’s lives when the joy of homekeeping fades into the background. Perhaps you're walking through grief, burnout, motherhood’s exhausting seasons, or simply the noise of a fast-paced world. You look around your home and no longer feel inspired. The laundry piles up. The meals are rushed. The creativity you once poured into everyday life has run dry.

If that’s you, dear sister, you are not alone. 

I've been pondering this thought for the last week and awoke with a sense of clarity on Sunday morning. My decline is closley tied up with the start of my degree studies. I don't regret my studies as it was a season of accomplishing something that I did not think I was capable of. I'm glad I did it, but it came at a cost that I didn't even realise I was paying.

A Gentle Art Forgotten

I have always loved the gentle art of homemaking and there was a time when tending the home was more than chores and checklists. For me, as for many other women over the annals of time, it was a sacred rhythm—baking bread with joy, wiping counters while praying over family, folding laundry as an act of love. I remember being delighted in creating a haven: candles glowing, scripture on the wall, beauty in the small things, and I miss that.

Life has a way of crowding out the quiet.

Maybe like me, you’ve lost that rhythm. Maybe you feel you’ve failed. But friend, hear this truth: you are not too far gone to return.

The Invitation Back

God is always calling us back—not to perfection, but to peace. Not to performance, but to presence.

He gently invites us to slow down. To light a candle. To clear a corner of the house. To make a pot of tea and open our Bibles. To begin again, not in our own strength, but in His.

“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.” – Isaiah 30:15

Rediscovering Peace in Small Things

You don’t have to overhaul your life. You simply have to begin again—with Him, and that is precisly what I have started doing. Here are a few small things I have started doing each day as I rediscover peace in my homemaking.

Start with One Room

Choose a space that matters to you. Clear it, tend it, pray over it. Let it become a sanctuary.

Anchor Each Day in the Word

Open your Bible before your to-do list. Let scripture be the first voice you hear in the morning.

Create a Ritual of Beauty

Light a candle as you clean. Play worship music while you cook. Make small acts of service feel sacred again.

Keep a Homemaker’s Prayer Journal

Write down your prayers for your home, your family, and your heart. Invite God into every ordinary task.

Plan to be Creative

I spent a wonderful afternoon going through my Pinterest boards and craft books. I have picked out a few creative and seasonal projects that I want to get started with right away and ordered the materials I need to do them. To foster creativity you have to be creative. Scrolling through IG my be inspiring in the moment but it is no replacement for setting aside time to work with your hands on something that brings you joy. So make sure that you plan some time out each week to spend on something you have always wanted to try or make.

The Truth About Worth and Calling

You are not just a housekeeper. You are a keeper of hearts, rhythms, refuge, and love. You are called by God to create spaces that reflect His peace and presence. Your home, however imperfect, can become a holy ground.

And even if you’ve wandered far from that calling as I feel I have, the way back is paved with grace.

“She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.” – Proverbs 31:27

But she also knows when to rest in the Lord, and let Him restore what’s been lost.

A Prayer for the Woman Who Wants to Return

Lord,
I am tired, and I’ve lost my way.
Remind me that I don’t have to earn Your approval.
Teach me how to tend my home with joy again.
Restore my heart.
Renew my spirit.
Lead me gently back to Your peace.
Amen.

You Can Begin Again—Today

You don’t need a perfect plan. You just need to respond to the invitation: to come home. Home to the heart of God. Home to the calling He placed within you. Home to the quiet joy of caring, creating, and keeping.

Start small. Start slow. Start now.

And know this: every step you take is watched with love by the One who calls you beloved.