Hannah is one of my favorite women in the Bible. We have something in common. Both Hannah and I begged the Lord for children. My husband and I went 21 years without children before we adopted our 3 little boys!! I understand Hannah’s heart…the countless tears that no one sees and the cries that no one hears.
Read MoreRejoicing in His testimonies. Wow. Do I REJOICE? Of course, I like them. I read them. I’m thankful for them. I memorize them......but do I REJOICE?!?! Rejoice like I just found unexpected money? Rejoice like I was just given $100? Do I REJOICE?? Do I rejoice when I read my Bible? Not only that, but do I rejoice in the WAY of His testimonies? Do I rejoice in the life – the path, the way – that His testimonies command and teach? Am I rejoicing in the purity of life that the way of His testimonies commands or do I complain that it’s too much or too strict? Do I rejoice in the holy living that the way of His testimonies commands or do I claim that it’s old-fashioned and out of date? Do I rejoice in the way of His testimonies that commands faithfulness to church or do I skip church whenever I can? Do I rejoice in the way of His testimonies that guides the words that come out of my mouth, or do I excuse my gossip and crass language?
Read MoreIn order of prevalence, the five most common mental illnesses are
Anxiety Disorders: 48 million people annually
Major Depressive Disorder: 17.7 million people annually
Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: 9 million people annually
Bipolar Disorder: 7 million people annually
Borderline Personality Disorder: 3.5 million people annually
We have all heard the saying, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” About five years ago I started a health routine where I drink about 64 oz of lemon water every day. I don’t really care for the bitter, sour taste of lemons, but when you add a bit of sweetener, it’s pretty good!
Isn’t that the way life is? It’s full of disappointments that can cause bitterness, sourness; but if we can learn to add our sweetener, disappointments can become sweet blessings.
Read MoreAn easy way to try this is to send flowers to someone’s home anonymously. You could leave a treat on someone’s car or desk. Mail a gift card to their home. Your heart will follow what your hands do and your lips pray. Remember Jesus example of love included a costly sacrifice, humbleness, and a tangible action--we have to be willing to spend our resources and make a sacrifice if we are to love like Him!
Read MoreThe alarm clock going off early in the morning,
just means that we get to live another day. The lady that sits behind you in
church and sings way off key just means that you are able to hear. Clothes
that are getting a little to tight just means that you have plenty of food to fill
your belly. Hearing people complain about the government just means that we
have the freedom of speech. Windows to wash, floors to vacuum and furniture
to dust just means that the Lord has given you a house to live in and He has
provided for you and has given us things that although it's not always fun, need
to be cleaned
I suffer from a rare disease – ADOLAS. What is this you ask? It is “Attention Deficit….Oh Look, A Squirrel!” Do you have this disease also? J Sometimes I tend to lose my focus. I see something that pulls my attention away from something else that I’m reading or watching or cleaning. I’ll even get distracted mid-sentence with another thought. My husband always laughs and shakes his head when we are shopping – as I flit from one display to another until he reminds me why we went to the store in the first place.
Read MoreWhen my spiritual vision gets blurry and I realize I’m losing my joy, I ask
God to correct my vision. I ask Him to help me see life the way He sees it.
He is always faithful to bring verses to mind and clear things up for me.
I love the snow! I know, I know, some might think I'm crazy, but I just love seeing the gentle falling flakes cover the world with a beautiful soft white blanket. There's just something calming and quiet about falling snow that bids me to "be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)
Read MoreShouldn't we do the same with the work of the Lord? Do we not need to stand fast and get in good position to serve the Lord? We need to stand fast in traditions, II Thessalonians 2:15 and stand fast in faith, I Corinthians 16:13. We need to be steadfast and unmovable, I Corinthians 15:58. We need to hold fast, hold that form without wavering, Hebrews 10:23. There is a race to be run!
Read MoreHave you ever thought of how strange it must seem to God that we can go from one
holiday where we focus on being thankful for all the blessings that God has given us
straight into the next holiday, where our focus should be on the greatest gift ever
given; however, this is the time of year that many people seem to become
discontent. Sometimes it is discontentment because we think we won’t get that
special gift we have really been longing for. Or perhaps it’s not so selfish; our reason
for discontentment is because we don’t have the means to give the gifts we wish we
could.
Read MoreCan you imagine with me for a minute how it must have been in the days of Jochebed? I imagine that she faced some extremely hard times. As you will discover in the book of Exodus chapter 1, the wicked King, Pharaoh, had just instructed the Hebrew midwives to slay the male children of the Hebrew women. When Pharaoh discovered that the midwives were not killing the boy children, as he had instructed, he charged all his people to cast every son of the Hebrew women into the river.
Read MoreGrace and Truth. There is a balance. “What does that even mean?”, you may ask. Well, let’s go to the Bible and see if there is an example of someone who had Grace and Truth.
Read MoreWhen it is necessary for us to “go outside and face the storm”, will we tread prayerfully and carefully while remembering that many spiritual accidents occur in the winter time through decisions made in haste? Will we remember that, just as winter blizzards can be blinding, spiritual winter times can leave us temporarily blinded to the direction God would have us take?
Read MoreWhy are we so afraid to share our failures and flaws with one another? Are we afraid of what others may think of us? Surprise! We are not perfect. Are we afraid people will realize this? I strive to be as transparent and open with others as I can be.
Read MoreTrue joy can be found in the midst of a raging storm. When all the circumstances
around you are out of your control, you can still be filled with joy; you can still live a joy
filled and fulfilled life in Christ. That “inner joy” that I’m talking about is a joyful heart,
which is found in and grounded in God.
Read MoreI don’t want God to change my circumstances, I want him to change me… to make me different so He can be
glorified by what He does with my life. I pray He uses my life in a special way. Now, going through everything
I’ve gone through, I can minister to those who will go through the same thing. And I give all the glory to God!
Read MoreAnd then I saw a mom across the waiting room holding her little boy who has “classic” CF, the kind I just found out my baby did NOT have. And my next thought was, “Would I be thanking Him even if my Anna Jo had not had a good diagnosis?”
Would I still be praising Him even if He chose to tell me no?
Would I still trust His mercy even if He let my innocent child suffer?
Read MoreI delivered our sweet baby 2 weeks later. So many things raced through my mind as I held that sweet baby. Excitement- the fact that God allowed me to see and hold my precious baby. It was an answer to prayer. Sorrow- missing out on all the special moments. But then, something that stuck out to me the most in that moment.......was trust. God knew! He knew everything that would take place, before it even happened. How amazing is that?!
Read MoreTrailblazing according to the online Merriam Webster dictionary is defined as making or pointing a new way!
When I look at the lives of the 3 women mentioned in Hebrews 11, I see trailblazers. Women
who faced fearful, uncertain circumstances and yet, they chose faith over fear. They chose to
blaze a trail of faith into the unknown territory of fear and uncertainty.
Read More
