Hi All!
I’m Jana MacCarrie Fraley. Wife to Mike, an amazing man with a quiet & gentle faith who’s also my best friend, ranch partner, fellow kid wrangler and the best hunter/provider I know; mom to two great kids…Hannah, our beautiful but tough, little but mighty girl who is out on her own, chasing dreams & seeking God’s plans for her life; and Kade, our wild cowboy still at home and making life a daily nail-biting adventure. Here at the base of the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming we are living a rustic and redeemed kind of life.
Why “Rustic and Redeemed?”
Because “Rustic” = Made in plain and simple fashion. Relating to, or suitable for the country. Characteristic of or resembling country people. Lacking in social graces or polish.
This is a pretty accurate description of me and my life….I’m country and country people are my people! Call me redneck, simple, homespun, rustic – it’s all a representation of who I am and what I love. I was born and raised on my family’s cattle ranch in Wyoming, and have always had a deep fondness for this way of life; raising livestock, time spent outdoors working side by side with multi-generations of our family and neighbors, learning about and working towards feeding and sustaining our family with what God provides. It’s an amazing way of life…amazingly hard, wonderful, draining, and fulfilling all at the same time. I have an old soul, and have found so much value in the simple, the difficult, the old-fashioned, and the rustic. Although we have exchanged the big cattle ranch for a smaller ranch/homestead, I continue to find profit in our way of life and want to share that with you; whether you also enjoy this kind of a livelihood and are in need of encouragement, or if you are intrigued and interested in knowing what it’s like to live a rustic and simple way of life.
I’m not very polished, you might say that I lack the social graces of someone more cultured and educated. I am simply a Wyoming ranch wife and mom, homemaker & homesteader. There have been many times in my life that I have felt unworthy, unwelcome, unrefined and unable. Times when I have allowed those labels to keep me from fully seeing who God created me to be, and have been left stumbling and stalled out in my desire to fully pursue God’s plans and purposes for my life. Those times when I have seen myself as just an unrefined hick from the sticks, with nothing necessarily lovely or of value to offer; it has even kept me paralyzed and incapable of living in true freedom, unable to grasp victory and inadequate in my pursuit for God’s calling and purpose in my life. At times I have felt ineffective in doing what God has called me to do. All because my focus has been on who I am and not on Who He is.
AND YET….I am also Redeemed!
“Redeemed” = to buy back, freedom from bondage or slavery, deliverance from sin and death. The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil. The action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment, or clearing a debt.
Because I am redeemed I have victory and freedom in Christ! I once was a slave to my sins; held in bondage to them, living in defeat & discouragement. But because Christ redeemed me through His death on the cross for MY SINS, I am no longer a slave or in bondage to them. (Read more about that story here) I no longer allow weaknesses or inadequacies hold me back from my God-given callings and purposes. I might be lacking in social graces, but I am abounding in His amazing grace. I might be an unrefined and simple country gal, but I am refined by a holy and loving God. I might be a little RUSTIC, but I have been fully REDEEMED.
If this resonates with you please join me in conversation here on my blog, and follow me on: