I’m a bit rusty at blogging, so I took several days to think through how I want to share here again. I’ve grown accustomed to simply sharing one picture and a short thought daily on Instagram. I have no limits on my blog and I found walking back to that freedom a bit overwhelming. It should be empowering, but if we have done things the same way for years it can be intimidating to walk a different path. Today, as I was cleaning the farmhouse’s dining room I had a daydream that inspired me to write.
I realized as I vacuumed that humble hardworking American families have sat around a table in this very room over the past 127 years discussing the most incredible topics that we can only read about in the history books. This portion of the farmhouse was built in 1893, so we can assume that they passed the potatoes as they talked about the death of Queen Victoria. They probably shed a few tears over the horrific shock of the Titanic sinking into the Atlantic. We have documentation showing that the original family’s oldest son volunteered to serve in World War One. Perhaps Frank announced this over a family meal. This dining room has heard discussions about every presidential election from inauguration of Grover Cleveland in 1893 to the inauguration of Joe Biden (yesterday) in 2021. I have no doubt that the women who discussed their dream of someday having the freedom to vote would never have believed that today a women is America’s Vice President. They discussed the pandemic of 1918 just as we discuss the current one.
I get a little teary-eyed envisioning farming families gathering in this very room bowing their heads to pray together. They prayed for the oppressed and those fighting for freedom during World War Two in the 1940s. Then they prayed similar words during the race riots of the 1960s. Perhaps they celebrated India gaining Independence in 1947 just as they celebrated America’s Independence from England every 4th of July. They cut into many birthday and wedding cakes celebrating their own family’s story. Their were many happy Christmas dinners and heartbreaking wake dinners. In the midst of great sorrow and in times of great joy families used this dining room to come together over a home-cooked meal to give thanks. Even during the Great Depression they could sit at the dining room table and find things to be grateful for. In a sense, a dining room is a symbol of family, of love, of connection, and of understanding. When we walk outside our front doors into the world we no longer have that kind of support. The world puts their faith in who sits in the White House, who is economically thriving, but at home we can turn off the voices of this fallen world and hold hands around a table beseeching the only One who is truly in control.
Throughout human history, men have tried to conquer and rule the world, but only God reigns. Thankfully, despite what is going on we know that our hope comes from Jesus Christ. We don’t have to panic over what we read in the newspaper, hear on the radio, or watch on a screen. People will always fail us at some point, but God is faithful. Let this dining room remind us that history is full of ups and downs. The one thing that has never changed is our need for our Savior. He is the Prince of Peace. Our hope should be in Him alone.
He is our only hope! Beautifully written, thank you for taking us back in history. If walls could talk. 🌻
I’m so glad this post encourages you. Maybe your dining table can be a helpful reminder in your home too!
Lovely post. I love your family and your farm. Keep up the blogging. I love it
I love what you wrote about the dining room! Our world would be a better place if it was still a common thing that families sat and prayed together around the table. 💙
Such beautiful thoughts💖 ~Rachel~
So lovely! ☺️ Thankful for these thoughts!
I hope it was encouraging to read
This is beautiful!!! Always love the pictures as well!
Thank you so much, Betty!
Beautifully said. I remind myself of these words everyday. For our family it seems like the year of testing. May God be with us all the say through. Thank you for your beautiful words and pictures which take us away from it all for awhile.
I so love jumping back on board. This post really touched me. Hope all is well with your THREE beautiful daughters!!!
You my friend have a beautiful gift of storytelling. I felt as Though I were sitting there reliving with you all of these past events whilst taking in all the beauty that surrounds you .
Thank you for sharing your gifts here friend… it brings me joy ❤️
Oh I’m so glad you enjoyed this post my friend. Thank you for encourages me to keep sharing hope through what God has given me. We all have been given a way to share the Good News.
Amen. I have never lived in an old home so these thoughts haven’t occured to me. But it is very interesting. And now that we have moved 3 times in our marriage of almost 30 years these thoughts make me think about the future. Will others wonder about our lives and times in the homes we once lived in.? Very thought provoking.
I’m sure they will my friend. What a neat thought!
Yes how true! Our creator has given us all a gift of beauty no matter what happens in our lives God is what keeps us going. Thank you so much Sarah Jo for your posts!
Amen, my sister in Christ.
Such a beautiful reminder that the family is important and God is at the center. We need old fashioned values 🥰
Oh yes that’s very true. Thank you for adding this important reminder.
WOW!!! That was so beautifully written!!!. Thank you for sharing your lovely home with us and encouraging us to “Keep the Faith!”
I’m so glad you feel encouraged!
Oh Sara Jo , I love reading your blog.I sent you my email earlier but will re enter as I didn’t get an email reminder. Your posts on IG have brightened my days, and always encouraging! Our hope in Jesus supersedes all else! Watching Cami and Avie and praying for Ellie had been a joy. I feel like I am your “elderly” next door neighbor ♥️
With love
Barbra
Oh I’m so sorry Barbra. You can enter your email address into our green subscription box to receive email updates. If you are reading my blog on your phone just scroll to the bottom of the home page to find it. I’m still working the kinks out on my blog so I haven’t figured out how to make the Subscribe box easier to find yet. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support!
SaraJo ,I really appreciate your words around the dinner table.You are so full of love and joy. Have a great evening.
Thank you for stopping by the blog my friend
Sara Jo, this is truely well said. Things outside ebb and flow and change in big ways, but inside the heart remains! I found this so comforting and such a good reminder to stay strong in Him!
Wonderful! That was my goal! I’m so glad we have Hope in Him no matter what.
Well said! So many incredible conversations come from the dining room table. Our hope rests only in Jesus and the prayers around tables are a strong foundation. Thank you for sharing on your blog again.
Amen! I love how you said family prayers are our foundation.
Sara Jo,
Such beautiful words! I love the history from inside your home. I so enjoyed reading your blog and its just what my soul needed reminding of today. You have a gift and I love the way you write. Its as if I’m stuck in a storybook and I don’t want the story to end. ❤
What a touching response my friend! Thank you for being here.
History has a way of grounding us…I love that you went to the past as a reminder for the future Hope we have.
Oh beautifully said my friend!
Sara Jo, to know the love of God’s finger prints woven through our lives, reminds us He has always truly been faithful. Thank you for blogging again blessing me sweet friend.
Yes! He is faithful! Thank you for joining me here Debbie
I love this, and also enjoy daydreaming about people from the past. It’s a spark of humanity to think that while so much has changed, people and their values have remained the same. And Jesus has never, ever changed, which is the best thing of all.
Such a comfort! Thank you Mandy
Such a beautiful reflection and so true of our gatherings. I always enjoy your writings and artistry!! Thank you 🙏🏻
History really comes alive when you can step in from the big picture of the event and zoom into an individual(s) life as you have here, SaraJo. We can learn so much from considering the lives of those who have gone before us! History also helps to put us in our proper “place” with relationship to God and eternity. Blessings on your week!
That is so true! Thank you for stopping by the blog and taking the time to add your thoughts on this topic.
Yes, families who gather to eat and pray together everyday can reflect on God’s faithfulness. I’m so glad you enjoyed the post!
I love that you have unlimited characters here to share what’s in your heart. Beautifully written imagined history of your house & great reminder. You’re right He is the only one truly in control & we can have faith in that. Glad you are blogging. I’m sure more than “just your mom” will be reading.
I hope so! That would be wonderful.
Thank you so much for painting this picture of history. During this pandemic I have often thought of the families that lived on my little farm, and the times they lived through. So many wars, so many trials, yet they survived, the house survived. The prayers of those people to our God carried our country to this day in history, and now it is our turn to carry it to God with ours.
You are a Kindred Spirit my friend. Amen! Beautifully said.
Loved this post, Sara Jo!
I love what you wrote! I Have always thought that families eating the evening meal together is so important, and kind of a bygone thing among many today, sad to say. I even wrote a letter to editor of our local newspaper on the subject, yrs ago! Thank you for your post.
We still eat every meal together. Most of the time we eat at the kitchen table, but sometime we eat at the dining table where most of the families who have lived on this farm have enjoyed their meals together. It really helps keep us connected as a family. You are absolutely right!
As always, I enjoyed your encouraging, God honoring words. So excited to follow you on your blog! Praying for you and your sweet family 💖. Heaven Rules!
Thank you for praying for us. We are waiting as patiently as we can for our visas to arrive.
I’m so glad your writing again/more. Eloquent edifying words are not easily come by these days. It’s good to stop and “consider “. Thank you.
Thank you for your encouragement
I read this while in my living room, looking into my dining room in this house which has been in my husband’s family since it was built in 1955. I know some of the conversations it has heard but can only imagine others. But always, always we have prayed for God’s blessings on those around the table. That simple fact is more powerful than anything else. God is in charge and He wants only the best for us.
What a beautiful family legacy
Gosh it makes me wish I lived in a historic home where so much history has happened!! What a really cool thing to think of as u care for your home. My home has a little history because it was my grandparent home. I do imagine my dear grandma doing dishes in the kitchen where I stand and do dishes. I imagine she is proud of me raising 9 kids there that all love our savior first and then work real hard to accomplish their dreams.♥️♥️♥️
What a beautiful legacy! Thank you for sharing about your family.
Well said! Thank you for taking the time to write these thoughts out to help us take a moment to reflect ourselves.
I truly enjoy sharing encouragement with my friends. Thank you for being here.
Love this post. And I need to get back to writing on my blog. It has only been recipe sharing going on for months. Thank you for writing this.
Pat
Blogging is a unique opportunity to share from your heart. I’m so glad you enjoy having a blog.
Thanks for writing! I Love reading your thoughts, taking a moment to pause and think about the century gone by. Your posts always encourage me!
There’s so much to learn from our past – the good and the bad. Thank you for stopping by the blog and being so encouraging.
I follow you constantly on IG, and am now following your blog. Wow! This post was beautifully written and has a wonderful message. I love that we can gather in our homes and know that God is in control. The outside world can be chaos as we sit at the feet of our savior in peace.
Beautifully said my friend
This is so beautiful. I love this so much, you have such a gift for writing !
I appreciate your encouragement sweet friend
What a beautiful post! Yes, God reigns and He is in control over everything! I’m praying for you and your family and Ellie as you all wait on His perfect timing!
Lovely post. Our dining room table is an antique oak we bought over 38 years ago. While there have been times we changed it out for something different, the old oak table always made a return from storage as it was “our family” table. We carted it from NY to IN 16 years ago and it is now in our retirement home. While the kids have been long gone into homes of their own, our dining room table remains, dings, marks, stains and all. (My Mom’s long-loved oak set went to a cousin when Mom moved from her big country home to a retirement apartment. If that table could only talk!) BTW, your dining room table painting and that of dear Gilbert will soon be hung on our dining room wall! Thanks for all you do, share and write!
Thank you for sharing the beautiful family legacy surrounding your dining table. I’m so glad you are also enjoying your print of mu Gilbert painting. Thant’s encouraging to hear.
Love sitting around that dining room table with you, and celebrating so many special events. Can’t wait to spend time there again with a new treasure.
This blog is beautifuly written. It gave me thought to our own farmhouse built in 1914. How much history between these four walls. After 15 years, we are finally able to start to refinish the floors. It is a work in progress but well worth it. Thank you for these blogs. I enjoy reading them!
This is absolutely beautiful! I appreciate you sharing the gifts that God has given you!
Thank you for returning to Blogging again! It’s such a quiet, peaceful thing to do to make sure we read the words slowly as we also look at photos. We can process them easier this way. We continue to eat at our table every day also.
Just a side note…I had commented earlier that some of the previous pics were small and needed to be clicked for a regular size view. In this new post, the pictures are all normal size, easy to see, plus extremely gorgeous by the way! So very glad you are back to blogging again. Thank you for sharing your life and ultimately sharing Jesus.
Thank you for sharing this. Such a beautiful way with words and while I don’t live in a historic home I often think about what our walls could tell if they could speak. This past year we’ve spent more time in our house than any other year. While it’s came with its challenges, it’s also been such a great time spent with my little family making memories. I’ve taken a social media break so I enjoyed reading this post.
Beautiful, every single bit of it.
So beautifully written! Your house is beautiful and so are your words! Thank you for sharing your home and your incredible faith! You are such an inspiration to me! ❤️
Oh thank you Lisa. I’m so glad you enjoy what I share.
Your blog is just what I needed to read today. Sarah Jo, you are an inspiration to so many! Thank you for sharing your lovely home, beautiful family, and heart felt words with others!
Great pictures and thoughtful article. I have a question: is there any way you can format your blog so that the new, blank comment area is at the end of the article or beginning of the other comments? That way, we don’t have to scroll down dozens of comments to get to the end of this very long page. Just wondering. Thanks for your blog & God bless.
I asked my husband that very thing this morning! It’s so frustrating to have to scroll to the bottom. I completely understand. He said he’s working on trying to figure out how to change that for me. Thank you for letting us know that you would appreciate the change. I think hearing it from you might motivate him to fix it sooner rather than later. LOL
I really enjoy your blog and look forward to each entry, a very thoughtful topic today. Thank you.
Beautifully said Sara Jo, I am so thankful for the hope that is found in Christ! Thank you for sharing these truths, being an encouragement and sharing your lovely home and family.
Heather
I appreciate your encouragement sister
Love the peace we find in Jesus. Your life really demonstrates this peace.
It would be very difficult trying to express such beautiful sentiments if you had a new house, with just a kitchen island. That’s why I love, love old houses. Thank you Sara Jo, I read most of your posts with my hand over my heart.
Yes! You are a kindred spirit. Thank you for appreciating the unique gift of living in a piece of America’s heritage.
This is so encouraging! I have always been told if you want to change the world it starts at the table. I grew up around the table and that’s where most of my fond memories are, eating, playing games and cards til 3am with my grandparents, reading devotional with grandma and just talking about politics or other things going on in the world or even just in life. It gave us a space to grow together as a family and despite if those conversations had different opinions or views we always left the table loving each other no matter what, because we learned how to respect each other and each other’s views. It’s where we would laugh because my grandpa or dad told a joke and my brother would laugh so hard milk would shoot out his nose or where my dad would act like he was done praying and then keep going… and going and it made us all just smile and learn the fun side of talking with God. I want to fight so hard, especially with all the technology in the world today, to keep that alive in my family. God calls us to be in fellowship with each other and it’s so easy to just be buried in technology. You put it so beautifully as a reminder of to pause and ponder these things.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful family memories at your dining table. I absolutely loved hearing your inspiring perspective. It’s so good to fellowship around a table of compassion.
Beautifully written Sara Jo. And the photographs are lovely…just like your dining room. God bless you sweet girl.
You are a born storyteller. I was picturing those families sitting in your dining room, having joy and sorrow, peace and comfort. An you are so right, God is the only ruler of this world. We must remember Him daily and pray earnestly. He hears every single word of every single person!! Thank you for your blog.
So glad you are offering this blog as I’m no longer on social media. Your post have always been a blessing.
Thank you for your beautiful words about our historic homes and places!
Thank you so much for your inspiring words! I hope you are planning to keep blogging. I got rid of all social media and love the bloggers I follow!
Thank you for posting this, it has had a calming affect on me. It’s way too easy to let the world steal our joy, but God is always in control.
Beautifully written! I often get goosebumps and lost in thought as I walk through antique shops admiring the things and thinking of who they may have belonged to, what that person or family might have been like 💜
You are a beautiful and brave and I am blessed to know of people like you thank you god 😇
Love that everything you post is set in the light of the one who gave us all life. Also, happy to read your appreciation of the history of your home, and your thankful heart. Pictures you post are thoughtfully taken too. Nice! 🙂
Sara Jo: You should blog more. I loved this! You have so many talents and gifts. Thank you for this calming and lovely post.
About once a week is the best I can do
I saw there was an option to share your post on Facebook, so I did share it to my group of friends as I think it is such an important, powerful message. I realize I should have possibly asked first, but I hope it was okay to do so. If not, let me know and I can delete it. 🙂
Oh no that’s fine. Thank you for appreciating the post.
So beautifully written! So many of my favorite memories are from being around a dining room table, whether my parents, or grandparents, orother extended family. Treasures in my heart. ♥️
Our family of 8 likes to share “highlights of the day” each time we eat dinner together in the dining area of our home. I love the opportunity it allows for everyone to be heard and give a gratitude focus to the day. It’s been a joy to listen to the children share their highlights. Usually my husband’s response for his highlight is “this right now”. Being gathered around a dining table as a family is a rare treat.
oh what a beautiful idea
Thank you for sharing your time and for sharing your thoughts and comments with us. The table is where the most of us are together at one time, the supper meal as we have always called it. it seems everyone has different places to be during other times of the day. I hope you are able to continue your blogging as it is such an inspiration to me and others. May God bless you and your beautiful family. I am disabled but spend a lot of time reading many beautiful and heartwarming messages like yours. I live with my daughter and her husband and I am able to share your stories with them as well. Thank you.
You have shared such a beautiful space with such deep and profound truths. Oh the stories that the history books could tell us, if only we would stop our frenzied social media interaction, and read them, and oh the lessons we could learn. I love your beautiful living room area, it is so cozy and welcoming, and you shared powerfully the world’s history lessons that were lived out in this room. May we remember that the only ONE who stands immortal, never changing, and eternal is our Lord, and all else is based on the shifting sands of time. May the Lord bless you and your family as you walk this road of life together with HIM 🙂
I find it so sad that dining room tables seem to have become nothing more then decor items these days. When I was young in the 50s and 60s all meals were had at the table. There our mothers and grandmothers would teach us etiquette and our fathers would read the Bible, specially on a Sunday. It was a slower time and one I miss.
Oh Sara Jo – Thank you for such a sweet reminder of who is in control and thank you for blogging again – I’ve pulled away from most social media because it was leaving me with too much anxiety instead of focusing on God!
What a great way to start my day with an uplifting message! I sorely needed to hear something lovely today and this was it. Thank you for sharing your love of history and the word of God.
As usual, your old soul speaks to mine. We don’t have an actual dining room, but a large table that belonged to my great grandparents. It’s not the most beautiful, but so special. Thank you for your encouragement.
Beautiful words! Thank you, Sara Jo!
I am enjoying your blog. We live in an old brick Queen Anne home in N. E. Kansas, and I have often wondered whose hands have opened the many doors and cupboards in our home! Blessings to you and your sweet family. Patty
Oh how neat!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts through your blog, Sara. It was very inspirational as well as historically thought-provoking. I also appreciate your sharing your faith! He is the solution to every problem and the rock on which we stand! Looking forward to further blogs!
I found you through Instagram and had not read your blog. I found this format refreshing and encouraging! Instead of just scrolling along, a longer format brings a pause in my day and let’s me hear more from your heart. Thank you for all the ways you light up the world.
A beautiful worded reminder to seek the ONLY one who is really in control. Thank you.
I came back to reread this post. It truly is such a good reminder!! I’m so thankful for the great memories we have created in our dining room. I’m thankful as well for Our God Who is in control and that we can trust Him to care for His children. Thank you, Sara Jo for your testimony!
I’m so glad it was encouraging. it’s a good reminder for me too!
This is so beautiful…so true…and my heart ♥️ A while back, I commented how your farmhouse reminded me of my fav place on Earth, my Grandmas house. After 5 generations of family walking that land, our safe place burned last Friday. It’s heartbreaking. I’m still thinking it thru. And I definitely want to go there. Even though it looks like rocks were the foundation of this house, I know it was much more that built that ‘home.’ Thankful family was not home 🙌♥️
Oh my goodness I’m so sorry to hear that 💔
I enjoyed that, thank you. I hope you enjoy your journey to a third world country, it can be eye-opening! Just as our eyes are opened by the first world!
What a lovely walk back in history! Thank you for sharing Sara Jo, I felt as though I were right there at the kitchen table with you during those historic years!
I have mentioned this before but I do not do social media and had come across you and your family when I did IG for a short time. So I tickled to bits to be able to see your family on here again. Did Ellie come home yet? I prayed for her for many many many of nights 🙏🏻💜
You can read my most recent blog post to get the update on our adoption. It’s complicated 💔
Encouraging and lovely words! ❤️🙌
Beautifully said, friend. Love this perspective!
Sitting at your dining room table has one of my favorite memories, and sweetest blessings from you and your hubby. Remember our craft day!! You two are a gift to us in many ways. May our Lord guide and direct all your ways as you raise your daughters to know him.
Oh yes I remember that! So fun! Thank you for always being such a wonderful friend ♥️
Such a lovely post. It is almost like we are all sitting around your table being encouraged to partake of the Bread if Life, Living Water, together. Thank you for the memories, and the reminder.
So beautifully written. He is our only hope and salvation!
What a beautiful sentiment to the power of sitting down to a family meal. Our dining room holds so many wonderful and yes, even sorrowful moments. I never truly ever thought of it that way.
After reading and watching the most recent four posts these verses came to my mind. Romans 10:15, Proverbs 27:17 and Jeremiah 17:7-8. So thankful for your witness in this desperately sinful world. You help strengthen my hope in Christ. Love to you and your family.
I love everything I have ever seen or read from you. You are an inspiration to Christian women! If we had hope in this world only, we would be most miserable. Our hope is in Jesus! Thank you for reminding us all of that truth. Your dining room is beautiful!
I love this article. Thank you. I’ve always felt the same way about old “anything” I’ve always gone to estate sales, not only to buy stuff but to see the old houses. I read a lot and part of my collection is very old books 100+ years When I’m reading them, holding them, I feel like you do about the dining room. Somebody held this book 100 years ago. And I’m not sure where to post this comment but here goes: I found you on Instagram when I joined earlier this year and was immediately hooked. So when I left IG recently (heard too many bad things about it like FB) the worst part for me was leaving YOU. So today when I found you on-line…..O my! I am sooooo happy.