Looking Back at 2017

Can you believe that it's already the end of 2017? Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. It seems to me that every year goes by a little quicker. The kids grow up faster and I seem to move and accomplish things a lot slower then I used to. How's that work anyways? But that doesn't mean that things haven't been accomplished this year. So let's reflect on what 2017 has brought.

Last December I was learning to embrace my new role as the youth director of my church. It hasn't been the easiest transition to go from being a leader to the person "in charge". In truth there wasn't a lot that changed in my actual responsibilities but I got hung up on the title. It took a lot of confidence and I was scared. A lot of prayer went into me learning to accept the role and now I've been reelected for another year.

Working with the youth group is one of my greatest joys and one of my greatest trials. High schoolers (whom I primarily have in my group) are at an amazing stage of moving from childhood to adulthood. They're making decisions that will have an affect on the direction of their lives for many years to come. And I love the opportunity to be a person reminding them that God needs to be part of those decisions, speaking His love and wisdom into their lives and having the chance to teach them that He will never leave them. It's a pretty amazing gift to earn their trust and be able to speak into their lives.

Another thing accomplished in 2017 is the post I shared a few weeks ago. Two of my stories put into a book! What an amazing thing to get to be a part of!

Which brings me to one of the best things that happened this last year- new friends! A new critique group in fact that I've been so blessed to be part of. The women in this group have become some of my closest confidants, friends, prayer partners and an amazing source of encouragement to me. I'm so thankful to have them in my life.

And speaking of people in my life, the kiddos in my life are growing all the time. Being Auntie Kitty/Miss Katt is one of my very favorite roles in life.

I could go on and on but I won't put you all through that. The point is that New Years presents us with an awesome chance. The chance to reflect on what has happened over the past year and what we want to do the next year. This year I haven't picked words as I have in years past. This year I'm setting a few goals of things I want to work on.

How will you celebrate the New Year? What has the last year held for you? I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Share your traditions, prayer requests, reflections or goals. Wherever the last year has brought you and wherever the New Year takes you here's my prayer for you all.

May God watch over you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Happy New Year's friends!

Advent Christmas Day- Christ, Purity

Merry Christmas friends! This special Monday post is the last of our Advent series. It's the day that all the expectation and anticipation has been leading up to. For most of us we've been looking forward to Christmas Day since the beginning of December, around the time that the first Advent candle was lit. But on that very first Christmas, Mary and Joseph had spent 9 long months anticipating that wonderful day. Jews everywhere had been waiting for over 400 years for the Messiah to be born. And then it was finally there! The day that we remember everything they were waiting for and all that we've been blessed with.

Christ.

That's what the fifth candle represents, perfect purity embodied. The Messiah, the Son of Man who is God. That's who was born that Christmas Day, Jesus. The story of his birth is recounted in Luke 2:7-19
"Then she (Mary) gave birth to her firstborn Son, and she wrapped Him snugly in cloth and laid Him in a feeding trough- because there was no room for them at the in. In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. This will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a manger.'
Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors! When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us,'
"They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was laying in the feeding trough. After seeing them, they reported the message they were told about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary was treasuring up all these things in her heart and mediating on them."

That's what we celebrate on Christmas. Christ. The pure Son of God. The one who came to Earth, was laid in a manger, lived a pure life, died on a Cross, taking on the sins of the whole world- including you and me. Then was buried, rose again three days later and offered all of us the chance to accept his free gift of salvation, to be purified of our sin.

Merry Christmas friends and may God watch over you and keep you on this day of His Son's, our Messiah's, birth.

Advent Week 4- Love, His Presence

Week four of Advent has come incredibly quick. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! Can you believe that? Christmas Eve! It's hard to believe that this amazing season is almost over! It seems like the further we get into the Christmas season the busier things get, the more stressed people get and the harder it is to stay focused on what's important. That's why I'm writing this series, to remind everyone, including myself, how to stay focused on what's important and what Christmas is really about.

The fourth candle is for love. Isn't that what Christmas is really about? God is love.
'"I will tend My flock and let them lie down.' (This is) the deceleration of the Lord God. 'I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice." Ezekiel 34: 15-16

He sent His son out of love.
"For the Lord will not reject (us) forever. Even if He causes suffering, He will show compassion according to His abundant, faithful love. For He does not enjoy bringing affliction or suffering on mankind." Lamentations 3:31-33

Jesus came because of His love for us.
"For God loved the world in this way: He gave His one and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

Mary and Joseph chose to love baby Jesus and raise Him despite the difficulties they knew they'd face. And on and on go the examples of love in the Christmas story. What it all boils down to is the greatest gift any of us will ever be given.
"But God proves His own love for us in: While we were still sinners Christ died for us." Romans 5:8

In fact He loves us so much that He's promised that if we believe in Him then He will never leave us nor forsake us. Which brings us to the second meaning, His presence. In Week 1 we discussed prophecy and how over 400 years before Jesus' birth Zechariah prophesied that the Messiah would come and live among men. Zechariah 2:10-11

So He left heaven and lived among men. Philippians 2:5-7

Week 3 we saw the many angelic proclamations including the one about His presence in Luke 2:8-11.

Even the Heavens proclaimed His presence with a star in Matthew 2:1-2.

His presence was recognized and declared by Simeon and Anna in the temple. Luke 2:28-32, 38

And of course as we've already said His presence was motivated by love. John 3:16-17

So there it is, tonight as you see the candle burning and you enjoy the wonder of Christmas Eve dwell in His presence, rejoice in His love and extend it to others.

Advent Week 3- Joy, The Journey

It's week 3 of the Christmas season friends! That means that we're already halfway through this beautiful and wonderful Advent season. Can you believe that? It's almost the end of the year! But that's a conversation for another post. Today's post is about joy and, according to some advent traditions, the journey.

Let's start with joy.
Luke 1:26-33
"In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, 'Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.'
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.'"

If you were Mary would you be happy with the news from Gabriel? But the theme of this week's Advent candle isn't happiness, it's joy. Joy isn't just an emotion. It's a choice. So how do you choose joy? Trust. Trust in Christ as Mary did.

Luke 1:38
"'I am the Lord's slave,' said Mary. 'May it be done to me according to your word.'"

Mary chose to trust and so discovered the secret to joy. We have the same choice before us. Trust God and delight in the joy that resting in His presence gives us or let our joy be stolen because of our fear and doubts.

The second part of this Advent candle is the Journey. There's actually lots of journeys in the story of Christmas. The one that Mary took to visit Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-56. Then there's the most famous journey of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem in Luke 2:1-5 and of course the journey of the shepherds in Luke 2:8-20. Finally the journey of the wise men in Matthew 2:1-12.

None of these journeys were easy for the people involved. Mary was a pregnant virgin, Joseph was getting ready to raise a baby that wasn't his own and traveling with his very pregnant fiancee. The shepherds were calmly tending their sheep when angels suddenly appeared! That's not a normal night and the wise men had to travel a long ways and evade a king who wanted to kill them.

And yet each journey is filled with hope and joy because the people on these journeys were trusting God. What journey is God taking you on? And how will you choose to handle it? With trust and joy or doubt and fear?

Whatever journey you're on this Advent season I pray that you'll choose joy as the third candle is lit this week.

Advent Week 2: Preparation, Peace

It's hard to believe that we're already heading into the second week of Advent! I love December, the Christmas songs, the lighting of the Advent candles, the decorations and of course the lights! It's my favorite time of year. However, it's also the time of year when it's easy to get too busy and caught up in our own lives and forget what Christmas is really about. That's why I'm writing this series on the Advent candles, to remind all of us, myself included, what this season is about.

The second candle of Advent stands for Preparation and Peace. Can you imagine being in the shoes of Mary or Joseph? Preparing for the birth of your first child? Who, oh by the way, just happens to be the Savior of the World! How much faith does it take to travel on a journey with God? Preparing for His plans but staying at peace with where He has you and where He's taking you?

Isaiah 40:1-3 says

"Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins. A voice of one calling: 'In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God."

Preparation is hard. It means trusting God's plan no matter where He takes you. Staying at peace while preparing is even harder but it's what we're called to do.

Use this 2nd week of Advent to prepare for whatever God takes you through in the next year and learn to be at peace with it.

Advent Week 1- Prophecy, Hope

Hey bloggers! Before we delve into this week's post about the season of advent I have some very exciting, and long awaited, news. Almost two weeks ago a book was released called People Are Good: 100 True Stories to Restore Your Faith in Humanity by AnnaMarie McHargue. Inside there are two short, nonfiction stories written by... me! A few months ago I submitted some stories about when everyday strangers had helped me and made a huge impact on my life. They were selected and put into this book along with stories from some of my wonderful writing friends. It's such a cool experience to see my name in this book and I just had to share this great news with all of you who have followed me so faithfully along this writing journey.

If you'd like to take a look at this book it's available on Amazon. Just search, People Are Good.

In other news, December is officially here! And with December comes the wonderful season of Advent. If you attend church during the month of December you'll often see an evergreen wreath with four candles around it and one in the center. But this pretty display is more then a decoration, so what does it mean?

First we need to know what the Advent season is. It's the four weeks before Christmas which is a time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. When God sent his Son, Jesus, to come to Earth to be born of a virgin. Jesus lived a sinless life then was crucified on the Cross in our place, taking on the sins of the world so we might accept His free gift of salvation and spend eternity with God in heaven. Three days after the Crucifixion He was raised to life again, He spent forty days teaching among the people then ascended into Heaven but one day He will return to rapture the believers and bring judgement on the Earth.

Our celebration of Christmas begins with remembering Christ's birth because of what it all leads up to- His gift of salvation.

So the first Sunday of Advent is the candle of Prophecy and Hope. In the New International Version Romans 15:12-13 says "And again, Isaiah says, 'The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope,' May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

What a great passage! Isaiah prophesied the birth of Christ and when He arrived He gave us a reason to hope! Our hope is that we can be reconciled to God, through Christ. That my friends, is the gift of salvation.

And I love what Paul says next, "May the God of hope" what a great way to remember God. He is the God of hope who fills us with joy and peace when we trust in Him. Then we can overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Advent is an amazing time of year, one filled with hope, joy, love and peace. This advent season remember the source of where those things come from as you go about your holiday business.

Holiday Tidings

I love the holiday season! It's my favorite time of year. Like the song says, 'It's the most wonderful time of the year'!

For me the season always starts a few days before Thanksgiving. That's when the baking begins- pies for starters, pumpkin's my favorite, chocolate cream is my second, sour cream lemon is my Dad's favorite. Of course on Thanksgiving there's all sorts of cooking going on, from the turkey to the mashed potatoes to the yams and don't forget the fruit salad!

Grandpa always has us go around the table and tell what we're thankful for. It's fun to hear what people come up with each year. Then we sing the chorus of the old hymn, "Doxology".

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below.
Praise Him all ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen."

After dinner we hang out, play games, laugh and just enjoy spending time together. The next day is one of my favorite because, finally, I'm allowed to start playing Christmas carols and begin decorating!

Christmas is the best part of the holiday season as far as I'm concerned. When I was a kid of course there were presents to enjoy and I've always loved giving gifts but now there's more to it. Now I appreciate so much more the story of Christmas. I still can't imagine how hard it must've been for Mary to learn she was pregnant or Joseph to accept he would be raising a child that was God's, not his.

However as an adult I can appreciate those hardships and difficulties in a way I couldn't when I was a kid. My favorite part of the story though is the shepherds. God sent the heavenly host to announce the birth of His son to a group of lowly shepherds. If that doesn't show how much God loves all of His people, no matter what station they have in life, then what does?

Anyways after Christmas comes New Years, a great time for reflection on all God's done, resolutions on what you'd like to do and one last party to enjoy for the end of the wonderful holiday season.

So what's your favorite part of the most wonderful time of the year?

Slow, Quick, Speak, Listen

A couple of weeks ago I spent five days without a voice. After getting over a cold I got laryngitis and couldn't speak above a whisper. It was a frustrating experience. On day one I was still very tired so I spent most of the day in bed.

Day two I had to work for a little bit and then had to run errands. I got so frustrated having to explain to people at the bank and gas station that I wasn't being rude or quiet but just couldn't speak any louder. Thankfully most people were understanding but it was surprising to realize just how much I take the ability to communicate for granted.

By day three I was wondering when this was going to end and I started thinking about what God might teach me through this experience. That's when He reminded me of James 1:19
"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry..."

I like to talk. Anyone who knows me will tell you that. But having no voice I had to be more aware of what I wanted to say. I couldn't call a friend on the phone, I had to text so I had to choose my words a lot more carefully then if I was just talking. I couldn't talk to someone from across the room so if I thought of something I wanted to say I had go stand next to them to say it. This experience, although frustrating, encouraged me to listen more then I spoke. I learned some interesting things about people just because I listened when normally I would've shared my own experiences. It was a rather humbling lesson.

Day four He taught me my next lesson/reminder. Even though other people can't hear me God always can. I don't have to pray out loud for the Creator of the universe to hear my thoughts. He knows all, including my every thought! So I can have a silent conversation with him no matter where I am, what I'm doing, or how loudly I can speak. Pretty incredible when you think about it. So why don't I think about it more often?

I pray silently every morning when I go over my prayer list but what I forget is to have conversations with Him. Say you're sitting with your best friend over a cup of coffee. You're going to tell them about the serious stuff in your life, "Hey I'm looking for a new job" or "I'm thinking about moving" etc. but you're also going to talk about the little things. "Hey, I read this cool article the other day" and "I'm frustrated today because..." whatever it is, big or little you'll likely share your thoughts with someone you trust and have an ongoing relationship with. Who is more trustworthy then the Lord? Who better to share your thoughts with and have a conversation with? Especially since it can be an ongoing conversation throughout your whole day!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

On day five my voice was starting to return but was still no louder then a hoarse whisper. That day I got a combination of my first two lessons. A conversation isn't one sided. God can hear me no matter what but I need to slow down and remember to listen to Him also.

All in all it wasn't fun to go five days with no voice but God uses all things to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose. This time he used my sickness to teach me some very important lessons.

Veteran's Day

What does Veteran's Day mean to you?

To me it makes me think of the countless veterans I've known throughout my life. My granddad was in the Army. My dad served in the Navy, retiring shortly after I was born. My uncles served in the Air Force, and National Guard. I have cousins who have served or are serving in the Navy, National Guard, Army and Air Force. And that's just my family members that I've known. We can trace our genealogy back to at least one person from our family serving in every war including the Revolutionary War.

But why? Why do we have a day to honor these people? Because they made or were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Those who have served in the military knew that they could be called upon to fight and even to die to defend the freedoms that our country was founded on. Their families paid the price of not knowing if or when they were coming home.

Today we have so many people who take those freedoms for granted. They protest because they have the freedom of free speech. A right that was defended and paid for by the blood of our men and women in arms.

They worship how they choose because they have the freedom to pick their religion or have none at all. A right our soldiers have defended.

They can protect themselves because they have the freedom to keep and bear arms. Another right that most people in the world can't even dream of.

And they have the right to elect their own government. They can vote people in and out of office, have a say in what laws pass or don't. Is it a perfect system? Of course not. But it's a right that we have that most of the world's population can't imagine.

There are so many rights that we have that our soldiers have defended since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. Many take them for granted or have not learned what they really mean.

So why do we celebrate Veteran's Day? So one day out of the year we stop and think about that sacrifice that was and is being made.

So thank you to Veteran's everywhere and a special thank you to your families. And happy Veteran's Day.

Insecurity

Is there anyone reading this that has ever struggled with insecurity?
For the record I doubt anyone said no to that question. At least not if they were answering honestly. At some point in their lives everyone struggles with insecurity, everyone. Whether it's the black hole of comparing yourself to others or getting bogged down in the mud of a mean or careless comment that someone says to you. Maybe it's the nightmare of hating the image you see when you look in the mirror instead of seeing yourself as God's creation. Whatever causes it the result is the same. Insecurity.

In the Bible translation called The Voice 1 Peter 2:1 is translated this way. "So get rid of hatefulness and deception, of insecurity and jealously and slander." I love the way that this translation puts it because insecurity is listed right along things like slander and deception, hatefulness and jealously. Think about that for a moment. Would you list hatefulness with insecurity? Most people wouldn't. I never would have but this translation does.

The definition of insecurity is listed as "uncertainty or anxiety about oneself; lack of confidence." My translation- not trusting that God knew what He was doing when He created us. We doubt Him and give into our sin nature when we give into everything listed in that verse. Slander, hatefulness, deception, and jealously. All of these things come from our sin nature. Including insecurity.

The beginning of that verse says to get rid of these things. In the New International Version it says "Therefore, rid yourselves of all..." So not only is insecurity listed alongside all these others horrible things but it also says to rid ourselves of all these things.

How do we do that? How do we rid ourselves of insecurity, hatred, slander, jealousy and deception? Well I don't have all the answers but I do have another verse that goes along with it. Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things."

Maybe it's not an exact science but it seems that if we're trying to getting rid of the things listed in 1 Peter 2:1 then a very good place to start is to think about the things listed in Philippians 4:8.

So let's go through the lists again. Get rid of hatefulness. Think about what is admirable. Get rid of deception. Think about what is true. Get rid of insecurity. Think about what is pure. Get rid of jealously. Think about what is noble. Get rid of slander. Think about what is right. Instead of dwelling on the bad and getting caught up in things like insecurity focus on whatever is excellent and praiseworthy.

I Deserve It!

Have you ever gone through a hard time and asked yourself "Why is God doing this to me?" I have. Lots of times. Or here's a thought that I never like to admit I've had, "God, I'm doing so much for You! So why are You doing this to me?" After all when we serve God then He's supposed to reward us, right? Wrong.

God doesn't work that way. He's not a vending machine. We don't use our service to Him as quarters that we put in to a machine then select buttons to get the perfect spouse, or that great new home, or even the right job, good health or money to pay the bills out of the machine. 

But what about all those verses that say God will provide, and God will bless us. Are you saying those aren't true? Of course not! However, do you remember the other verses? The ones that talk about God's will? And His timing? Or here's one, that little verse in the middle of the Lord's prayer, Matthew 6:10- ".... your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

That's a really hard concept to follow through with. When life gets tough, when things don't go the way I want. When a friend unexpectedly contracts cancer and they're far too young to deal with such a tragedy. When a loved one makes decisions that will ruin their life and no one's words or even prayers seem to be turning them back to the right path. When you're trying to do what God wants and things just keep going wrong. The car breaks down, the bill comes due, the kids get sick, the credit card is maxed out. How do you respond then?

Have you ever seen a little kid throw a tantrum? They stomp their foot and cry, or maybe throw themselves on the ground and flail around while screaming at the top of their lungs. But fast forward to their teenage years. Sometimes they yell but teens are experts at the silent treatment. They get angry and they just glare at you but they won't say a word. Too often this is my reaction. Instead of giving God my honest emotions I just get angry and stop talking to Him altogether.

I get so sick of saying "Let Your will be done." So I stop saying anything. Not an idea I would recommend. After all, how am I going to hear Him answer and speak comfort in my darkest days if I'm not listening?

So what do you do? When the bills are piling up? When the car won't start? When you get laid off and you can't provide for your family? Where do you turn then?

Let me suggest two places. The first is the book of Job. The ultimate book of trials, tribulations and standing pure before God despite being stripped of absolutely everything imaginable. 

The second is the book of Psalms. Here you'll read about men like King David who gave every emotion he had to God, the good, the bad, the ugly and the even worse. He laid it all out there on the table! And God called him a man after His own heart.

Life is hard, it's not going to get easier but there's two things you need to know. One- God is good all the time. Two- We don't deserve the things that we think we do. God will provide, He will take care of us but not always in the way we think He should. 

If you want to read a fantastic, real life example of this then pick up the book called "When God Doesn't Fix It" by the renowned singer, songwriter and worship leader Laura Story. Her story and the trials that God took her and her family through will give you a fresh perspective about trials, service to the Lord and His will not ours being done.

Running Away from God

Have you ever had to run after an animal? When I was a teenager I had this horse. His name was Starbucks but I called him Buck. (Yes, I am addicted to coffee.) He was a Mustang and had a mind of his own. One day I got him all saddled up and took him out riding on the paved bike trail across from my house. As we were riding along things were going all right until for some reason I dismounted. I can’t remember now exactly why I got down, maybe he was acting funny and I wanted to check his saddle or he picked up a rock in his shoe? Whatever the reason when I went to mount again Buck decided he was done for the day. Before I knew it he had turned around and was running down the trail away from me!

So there I am running down the pavement in cowboy boots (which are not easy to run in by the way) chasing after this huge horse and yelling his name. “Buck! Buck! Stop Buck!” I’m not sure why I expected him to obey but regardless of my, apparently faulty, logic he just kept running.

I’m sure it was quite the picture, my saddled horse running down the trail and me running behind him screaming my head off. The closer I got the faster he ran, the more I called, the more he ignored me and headed for home.

I thought of this story the other day when I read Hosea 11:2 “But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images.”

Aren’t we like that with God, constantly running away? The Israelites were. The more God called to them, the more He instructed them to do something the more they ran away from Him. He called them out of Egypt, they complained about the desert and not having water. He provided manna, they wanted meat. He was their ruler, they demanded a king and so on and so forth.

It’s easy to look at the Israelites and see where they went wrong, it’s harder to do that with our own lives. But take a moment to think about it. How often has God told you to do something and you’ve ran away.

Talk to that friend about me.

That friend God, really? Surely you don’t mean that. I must have heard you wrong.

Offer that homeless person that extra food you have in the car.

Oh I can’t do that God, I might get hungry later and I don’t want to stop.

Give up your daily latte one day a week so you can give extra money to your church.

Sorry God, I need the caffeine.

Whatever the situation is we have an amazing skill to run away from God. So next time you hear that still, small, voice try to take a moment and instead of running away like a bratty horse trying to get home, stop and listen and do what He says.

By the way in case you’re curious the horse was fine. A log truck and a couple of cars had to stop in the middle of the road but my mom walked out and the dumb animal ran straight to her, happy to stop and let her lead him safely across the road. Needless to say I wasn’t impressed with his antics and I swear that horse spent the rest of the day laughing at me. However we did make it on our ride. It was just a little delayed and a lot harder than first anticipated.

Fidget Spinners

Oh the wonders of fidget spinners. When I first saw the toy phenomenon sweeping the nation I thought they were silly. I considered it the latest fad that would pass quickly enough. Then I went to spend a week with my family and my cousin brought a fidget spinner. Being the good cousin he is he let me play with it and I quickly found myself addicted.

On the one hand it was a very mindless activity, just watching it spin around and around but on the other hand I was able to come up with different things to do with it- I practiced balancing it on my thumb, then my finger. (Now I know kids do this all the time but I on the other hand had a very hard time accomplishing such feats) I spun it on the table, switched hands, even held it with one finger while my cousin, Ace, held the other side with her finger- it was a strange version of teamwork but a fun one and my awesome big brother took notice of my amusement.

On our way home Benj stopped at the store so he could pick up a few things and then we looked at the display of fidget spinners. He asked which one I liked best but I didn't really answer because it was his toy, not mine although he did let me play with them in the car. Pretty soon I was regretting the fact that I'd have to give them back when we got home but I didn't say anything to him. The next day as he got ready to leave I noticed that he'd left the fidget spinners on the counter. Confused, I asked him about it which is when he told me that he already had some at home, these ones he'd bought for me.

Excited and feeling blessed I immediately put one in my pocket so I could always have it handy to play with. What I wasn't expecting was how much it would help me. From something as simple as giving me something to do with my hands so I don’t pick at my fingernails, (a lifelong bad habit I’ve struggled to break) to actually helping me control my anxiety. When I start feeling anxious I just pull out my fidget spinner and it gives me something to do with my hands, allowing my brain to rest and giving me time to calm down.

It's interesting that a silly toy can have such awesome effects and that got me thinking about the wonders of human ingenuity. People are always creating new toys, devices and tools that are designed to entertain, distract or help us from/in our everyday lives. It’s rather amazing when you think about it. But where does that ingenuity come from?

Well its part of who we are. We are made in the image of God and His creativity is evident all around us. From His creation of mountains to deserts to oceans and forests to all the different kinds of animals He spoke into existence to the beauty of the sunrise and the majestic canvas of the night sky. He created it all, including us. Our creativity is only a dim reflection of His. The ingenuity humans has is really just one more way we show His handiwork in our lives.

Next time you see a new technology come out, or hear about a new cure for whatever disease, or even just find a cool new toy, take a second to thank God for the ingenuity and creativity He gave to those who invented it.

Praying Technology

I actually wrote this post a while ago but in the last few weeks so many tragedies have struck, from the natural disasters to the massacre at Las Vegas. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people affected and their loved ones. Sometimes it's hard though to feel like you're praying with someone who's far away. That's why this post seems fitting for today.


Prayer. It’s an amazing gift. To be able to approach with boldness the throne of the one and only God and present our requests to Him. Not because of anything we’ve done but of the sacrifice of Jesus.

But Jesus doesn’t just leave it there. He goes a step further and says in Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.” I’ve always taken great comfort in this verse and, though I recognizing that prayer can be an intensely personal task, I know there’s something truly special when believers come together to pray because Jesus is there too.

However distance can make this a problem.

How do you pray with someone when you’re in Texas and they’re in Asia? Welcome to the wonders of modern technology.

You can pray over a text message.

Lord, please be with my friend today. You know that she’s not feeling well and I just lift her up to you, asking you to bless her and give her a great day today.

You can pray over email in much the same format and even make it longer or maybe add on to what you would’ve sent over text.

Please help her to feel better soon so that she can accomplish the things that need to get done but also help her to get some rest so her body can heal.

Praying over the phone I find particularly helpful because then I can hear the other person’s response and they can pray alongside me.

Thank you Lord, for this friend who prays for me.

There’s lots of apps that uses audio messages or where you can broadcast videos and either of those are avenues that you can use to pray with or for someone.

Typically I keep my general prayers, like prayers for the nation, or prayers that are likely to upset people, private. However when I want to pray for someone while I’m talking to them but I can’t see them in person this is a great method that can be used. I know it’s not literally the same thing as gathering together but there’s still something powerful about praying with someone even from a distance.

Just something to think about next time distance keeps you away from those you care about and pray for.

The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck

I just finished "The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck" by Bethany Turner and let me just say that you've got to read this book!

Bethany weaves a fun, inspirational and (dare I say it?) sexy story revealing the life of the quirky but delightful heroine, Sarah Hollenbeck. The story follows Sarah through her conversion from steamy romance writer to Christ-follower. Throw in the complication of falling in love with her new pastor and she's in for a wild ride. Then again, Christ never said that our lives would be easy and Sarah learns that the hard way!

Filled with lines like:

"I stood up straight with my new resolve, determined to do the right thing for Ben. And isn't cute how I thought I knew exactly what the right thing was?"

And:

"He'd slammed his hand into the wall, I destroyed a cell phone and howled like a banshee. Everyone handles frustration in their own way."

Right on down to a thought provoking line like:

"It was all about the journey, not the inevitable outcome."

Or one of my favorites:

"I got dressed and did my makeup with confidence, certain I was going to be an awesome Christian."

Bethany Turner gets real about issues like temptation and redemption and learning to rely on Christ for strength to deal with past mistakes. 

I fell in love with the characters, laughed at the dialogue and stayed on the edge of my seat through the twists and turns. It was awesome so at the risk of repeating myself, you have to read this book! It goes live on October 3rd but you can pre-order it on Amazon now!

Mismatching and Knitting

“Katt! Put your feet down!”

I was a little startled by the three year old’s demand but I complied and stood up from the table, curious what had her so upset. She climbed down from her seat and walked around the table to stand in front of me, peering down at my feet.

“Your socks don’t match!”

With a laugh I shook my head, “You’re right sweetie. They don’t match.”

“Mine match!” She announced, pointing to her own socks.”

“Yes, they do,” I agreed. From the other room where her mom was feeding the baby I could hear her laughing at our conversation.

It was a rather amusing moment. See laundry is not my favorite chore. I don’t mind washing and drying the clothes because the machines make it easy but I hate folding them. And of course the worst part of folding clothes is always matching socks.

Seriously, you have to go through an entire load of laundry just to find the matching pink sock with white stripes? That seems a little ridiculous to me. Not to mention the fact that it can take just as long to match all the socks as it does to fold everything else in the load! That’s insane!

So years ago I came up with a solution. I stopped. I couldn’t stop folding laundry unfortunately because then my clothes would get wrinkled but I did stop matching my socks. Now most people who don’t want to match socks just buy socks that all look the same but that’s far too boring for me so now I have socks of all different color and design that hardly ever match. Today, for example, I’m wearing one blue one and one pink one.

Now my mom is someone who has to have things match. She can’t wear two different earrings that look similar much less two different socks that are completely opposite. She wouldn’t wear red and green together outside of Christmas time, because they don’t match. She notices that sort of thing. My aunt even goes a step further and matches her shirt for the day to the socks that she’s going to wear. Even the three year old I spoke of earlier has a definite opinion that things are supposed to match. Me? I just don’t care and it’s one of the things that people who know me now recognize as one of my relatively unique quirk.

All of us have quirks, different things that make us unique as individuals. Mismatched socks is just one of many little idiosyncrasies that I have all of which combined, make me, well me. God made us different. My mom’s need to match and her love of symmetry is as much a part of her as my mismatched socks and hate of laundry are a part of me.

These are small things, not really important, but when you take into account the billions of people in the world and how different each person is it really paints an incredible picture. Not one of diversity so much but of great love. Psalm 139:13 says “…You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

God made each and every one of us. He didn’t just make Adam and Eve and then ignore the rest of human race. No! He created, knitting together, each person on the planet, including you. Have you ever watched someone knit a blanket or a sweater? It takes, time, concentration and effort. It’s not an instantaneous process and that makes it a labor of love. How fitting then, that this is the description that’s used. Our Heavenly Father loves us and he knits us together with great love, creating each of us to be unique and quirky but still in His image.

Waiting by a Cave

In 1 Kings 19:9-14 we find Elijah, the prophet, in a cave. Now he’s just come from an amazing showdown where God destroyed the prophets of Israel’s false god, Baal. Afterwards God brought rain, drenching the ground to break the drought and famine that had been holding the country for years. It’s a wonderful victory, but immediately afterwards Elijah, being human, is scared for his life and runs away from the king and queen of Israel, hiding away in a cave.

God speaks to him in the cave and (I’m skipping most of the conversation here) tells him to go out because He’s about to pass by. Elijah goes out to the mouth of the cave and a great wind passes by, but God’s not in the wind. Elijah stays where he is and an earthquake passes by but God’s not in the earthquake. Next there’s a great fire but God’s not in the fire. Finally a gentle whisper passes by and Elijah hides his face for he realizes that God is in that whisper.

It’s an amazing recounting of an incredible event. There are so many lessons to be learned from this story, as there are in every incident in the Bible, but for a moment let me just focus on one. Can you imagine Elijah’s patience?

I fully admit that I’m not a patient person. I can have times of patience but overall, especially when I’m praying for something, I tend to lose my patience. I ask God for something and I want it now. Often the need feels so urgent. That bill that has to be paid in three days. That deadline that is coming up faster then you can get the work done. That boss who won’t let up and is making your job harder and harder each day but you can’t seem to find another place to work.

Whatever your situation may be you try to do the right thing and you turn it over to the Lord and then… you wait. It’s one of the most dreaded words in the English language. Wait. However there's really nothing else to do so you wait. And wait. And wait. And wait some more. And it feels like forever. Pretty soon you start to wonder how long you’re supposed to be waiting. Surely it’s been long enough, right?

As I was thinking about this Bible passage and reading it over I tried to put myself in Elijah’s shoes. God has said He’s going to pass by and I believe Him but the wind goes by and He’s not there. So now I’m starting to get a little antsy. 

"Where are you God?"

Then comes the earthquake but still no God. Now I’m really concerned. 

"Um, hello? Did you forget about me? I’m still down here! Still waiting. You’re supposed to be appearing, remember?"

Finally the fire but this time when He doesn’t appear I’m freaking out. 

"Did I miss Him? Was He in one those great and wonderful shows of His power and I just didn’t realize? Or is He not coming? I mean, come on God! If you’re not in the wind or the earthquake surely you’ll be in the fire! So what’s happening here?"

Now on a good day we’re like Elijah and we stay put. We listen to the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of all believers, and we trust God’s promises. We stay outside the cave, waiting for God. But how often do we have those good days? I’ll tell you friends, in my case, it’s not often enough. Too often I lose hope and I walk back inside the cave. Maybe it’s because I think I’ve missed God. Maybe it’s because I think He’s forgotten me. Maybe I just stopped listening. I curl up into a ball and wait it out, missing God completely.

Thankfully He doesn’t let me stay there. He calls me again, picks me up off the floor and gets me back on the right path because He wants me to be there when He does pass by.

See Elijah’s story doesn’t end after the fire. He stayed where he was, waiting on God and as a gentle whisper goes by there, in that whisper, that still small voice, is God. He could’ve come in the wind or the earthquake or the fire and sometimes He does but often, more often then we realize, it’s in that gentle whisper that God appears.

So let me leave you with this question. Where are you? Are you inside the cave because you’ve lost your patience and given up hope? Or are you still outside, waiting to hear? I know it may seem like it’s taking forever but don’t give up. God will fulfill His promises, but you have to wait because He’ll always do it in His time, not ours and so often the fulfillment doesn’t come in the way that we had hoped or even imagined.

Elijah had just witnessed God literally reigning fire onto the earth. I doubt that a whisper was where he expected to find Him next.

Bottle Feeding Lessons

First I just have to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful and amazing mother who gave birth to four kiddos, raised 5 teenagers (plus several extras here and there!) and still takes cares of even as adults. She checks in, loves us, worries about us, helps us and is always, always there for us with a hug, a smile, and a listening ear. Happy Birthday Mama, thanks for being the best mom ever!
And it's fitting it's her birthday today since she and Dad were the first two people to teach me to make allegories about my faith from my everyday life. This one's dedicated to you Mom!

While I was in Texas I was helping take care of a 3 month old precious baby boy. One day as I was feeding Jr. I noticed that he had a habit of pushing the bottle away. It wasn’t that he didn’t want it. It was actually the opposite, he wanted to hold it himself but his hands weren’t big enough and he didn’t have enough coordination to be able to handle it. He needed help.

It got me thinking about our interactions with God. Our Heavenly Father will try to feed us spiritual truth in a loving way but we push against His efforts, wanting to do it ourselves but we’re not strong enough to handle the tasks. We may want to take care of it on our own but we can’t. Patiently the Lord tries and tries again to teach us until finally, like I had to do with Jr., He sometimes has to hold down our hands. This way He can get the bottle into our mouths so we can eat and be nourished without us getting in the way.

Another thing I noticed with Jr. was that when he would get hungry he would, like all babies do, cry. Nothing new there but then I’d have to make him his bottle. He didn’t understand the process so he would cry harder and harder until when the bottle was finally ready he was crying too hard to eat. He was hungry and I had the bottle he craved but he couldn’t enjoy it until he calmed down a little.

It got me thinking how when we’re asking God for something and we don’t get it right away we get upset. We start complaining, screaming and crying so by the time we finally do get it our attention is so focused on our tantrum that we don’t realize He’s answered our prayer. Or we do realize but we’re not as grateful as we should be. Instead of thanking God for what He’s been doing, preparing us to receive His gift, we’ve been complaining and we’ve let the devil steal our joy.

The best way to combat this is to thank God for what He’s doing even when we can’t see it. So when I’m praying “Lord, please let me find a way to pay the bills.” and I get an extra $5 I need to say, “Thank you Lord for this $5 to put towards the bills!” instead of saying, “Lord, this isn’t enough!”. Or when I’m praying, “Lord, please work in Sally’s life.” And then I see Sally making horrible decisions I can say, “Thank you, for the work that you’re doing in Sally’s life that I can’t see.” And it will keep my joy, and my faith alive so when I do see changes in Sally’s life I’m that much more joyful about it.

One more observation I had was how distracted Jr. would get when he was supposed to be eating. So I’d give him the bottle and he’d eat for a moment but then something would catch his attention and he’d stop. Now if I took the bottle away he’d start to cry. He wanted to eat but he also wanted to be distracted.

Doesn’t that make you think of how we are with God? We want to call ourselves a Christian but we also want to do our own thing. Yet God says He wants us 100% of us not 41% or 72% , 13% or even 99.9%. He’s only satisfied with 100% of our hearts, attention, actions, thoughts, and soul.

So there it is! Lessons I’ve learned from feeding an infant. As I write this I’m hoping and praying that someone actually finds this useful and it’s not just the result of not enough caffeine and a different schedule that makes this relatively simple task seem faith testing and though provoking to me.

If you like this post, or any other post, or just have something to say I’d love to hear from you. Please leave me a comment. One tip, if you get this blog through your email you can’t just hit reply. You will need to follow the link in order to post the comment but I hope you do, it would be great to hear what you think!

Moses?

A couple of weeks ago I got to spend the week at my Grandpa's cabin with my mom's extended family. It's a beautiful location set in the mountains, right on a lake, surrounded by forest where you can really dwell in God's presence, surrounded by His creation.

Of course when you put twenty some people together for a week things are bound to happen and there's a few funny stories I just have to share.

The first is about my niece Addy.

All the kids are out playing and I believe I was working on a puzzle when we suddenly realized that Addy was missing. We start looking around, calling her name and one of the kids says "I think she's downstairs" at which point we're a little concerned since she's not allowed to be downstairs on her own.
I ran downstairs to the daylight basement only to find that she had locked the door so I started knocking, "Addy, it's auntie, unlock the door sweetie." Thankfully she listened and a moment later I open the door and ask her what on earth she's doing down there on her own.
"The girls left me here!"
Now it's time to go back upstairs and ask the 7 year old and the two 5 year olds why Addy had been left downstairs. That's when we learned that the oldest girl had needed to go downstairs for a moment and she'd been given permission, the two 5 year olds followed her because... well that's what you do with your older cousins, you follow them, and of course, Addy, who's only 2 followed right along. Now why the girls came out and left her? Well, that's something that we never did quite figure out but it was only for a moment before we found her again. Still it's enough to give this auntie a serious heart attack!

Next up was losing Michael. My eight month old nephew was in his little raft in the lake and always had an adult with him until we heard Ella, his 5 year old sister, say something and turned around and saw her holding her brothers raft.
Apparently there was a miscommunication and everyone thought that someone else was with him and he had started to float away when Ella caught him. Of course they were right next to the dock so it's not like he was in any danger but it was still a bit scary. Which is when we considered changing his name to Moses, you know the baby that floated down the river in the Bible as his sister Mirriam kept watch? Just sayin'.

There were other moments, like taking kids on a hike and trying to convince them to stay on the path so they don't get to close to the edge and fall. Or one child on the swings when another walks behind them.

The fact is that things happen. Kids do things that scare you to death. Adults glance away for a second and suddenly the kid has found a whole new way to get into trouble. But we still love them, they are some of God's greatest treasures and I'm blessed to have such wonderful kiddos in my life.

Prayers for Texas

As so many in Texas and Lousiana are facing fear and devastation due to Hurricane Harvey I just want to say quick prayer over them.

Lord,
Please be with those who are in the midst of this tragedy. I ask your protection and peace as they endure this storm and deal with its aftermath. Please reunite separated families and give strength and endurance to rescue workers. Let Your light shine in the midst of this tragedy as neighbors and strangers alike reach out to help each other.
I ask for protection over lives as well as over propety. As bad as this storm is we know Your hand keeps it from being worse when we thank You for that.
Please just raise up people who can help clean up after this tragedy and let your glory and goodness shine through the devastation.
In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Accepting Compliments

I have this awesome friend who used to have a very time accepting compliments. I would say "Hey, you did a really good job at that." and she'd be just brush it off or explain it away. We ended up having lots of conversation on why you should just say thank you. 

1. Brushing off a compliment can unintentionally offend the other person.

2. Ignoring or explaining away a compliment can give the impression of false modesty and reflect badly on you.

3. Someone is trying to be nice, let them.

4. God's given you gifts and made you who you are, accepting a compliment on using those gifts well can give Him praise.

Recently I was reading a wonderful book, "The Brides of Chance" a collection by Kelly Eileen Hake, Cathy Marie Hake and Tracey V. Bateman. Within that collection is the story "Chance Adventure" by Kelly Eileen Hake and there I found this wonderful nugget of wisdom. 

"I know yore modest, but it does no justice to you nor gives glory to the Lord to dismiss earned praise."

Isn't that interesting? There's a difference between being modest and accepting a compliment. Can you accept a compliment modestly? Sure.

"Hey, you look really pretty today."

"Thank you."

Instead of...

"Hey you look really pretty today."

"Oh, I know! Right? I got this dress the other day and it was practically tailor made for me and I just look awesome in it!"

Yeah, that's not modesty. 

But this lovely quote also says that denying earned praise "does no justice to you nor gives glory to the Lord". 

Have you thought about that before? I hadn't. You’re not only insulting the other person and yourself when you ignore a sincere compliment but accepting a compliment graciously and modesty gives glory to the Lord.

Next time someone gives you a compliment think about your response in relation to this quote before you reply.

God's Will

When I was younger I'd hear a lot about God's will for your life but no one ever told me how to find it.

I got a little older and started reading devotional books and would get excited when an author said they could tell me what it was. But then they'd say something like "God's will is for you to glorify Him in all that you do". Well, that's true but that doesn't give me a lot of specifics now does it?

This was a real struggle for me and I wanted a magical equation that would tell me a+c*x/4= God's will for my life. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) God doesn't give us that. And it's probably a good thing. If you'd told me when I was sixteen how my life would look at twenty-one I would've been furious. If you'd told me at twenty-four how my life would look just a couple of years later I would've been confused and upset.

I have a great life but by the grace of God it's not the one I'd planned. He didn't show me a road map of my life (maybe because I can't read a map 😃) instead He protected me by just giving me the grace to get through the next stage before He revealed the trials around the corner.

So how do you find God's will?

Well as much as I didn't like it back then all those authors and preachers and speakers were right. God's will is for us to glorify and worship Him in all we do. Here's the part that took me a little while to understand. We should glorify and worship Him in everything we do.

Joni Eareckson Tada has a great way of putting it in her 365 Daily Devotional Readings "Pearls of Great Price"

"God has saved some to open medical clinics, run shelters for homeless people, work in Africa, write books, and speak from platforms. These constitute "good works". But for more God has saved us to wipe the nose, prepare the dinner, run an errand for a sick neighbor, clean the toilet, drive a relative to a hospital, hold the Bible for, or even play chess with, a lonely friend. Look around your church or neighborhood today- Jesus saved you to be excited about helping others."

So what's God's will? For us to praise and glorify Him in the good works that we do with a grateful and rejoicing heart. In every action we take if we praise Him then we are doing His will. For some that will mean being a stay-at-home mom, for others, working two jobs to make ends meet and for others moving across the world to be a missionary where God has called them. Wherever's He's called you, whatever's He's called you to do be excited about it, praise Him, glorify Him, point others to Him, and you'll do God's will.

A Word From the Lord

If you grew up in conservative baptist churches like I did then every time you hear someone say "I have a word from the Lord" you get really concerned. If you grew up in more charismatic churches then you stay pretty calm and just wait to hear them out. However that's not what we're talking about today.

I want to to talk about those time that you know, deep in your heart, God is prompting you to say something to someone. How do you handle it?

For example, I remember this time that I was in the car with a friend of mine. I was sitting in the front seat outside her house and although I don't remember the details of our conversation now I remember that as I replied to something she said I knew that the words weren't my own and I told her so. I said something like, "I don't know why I was supposed to say that but God wanted me to."

To other people that might have seemed like a strange statement but she's used to hearing things like that from me so she accepted it and we went inside. It wasn't too long later that something happened in her life that suddenly those words that had come out of my mouth had a very real application for her.

Another time, I was at dinner with a friend and I knew there was something I needed to say to her but I didn't want to. I wanted to just let it go because I was so afraid that it would make our precious little time together awkward. And you know what? It did. For a few moments. But God is good and He didn't leave it that way. He then gave me the words to explain my position and gave her the heart to accept what I had said, to agree to pray about it, and to not be offended.

In that case I didn't tell her that I felt like this was something that God wanted me to say. Why? I don't know. It just didn't come up. I was scared that she would be upset but I couldn't let that risk stop me. My job was to be obedient in passing on this "word from the Lord". Once I completed my job and we talked it through all I could do was take a step back and let Him do the work. Now whatever happens is between her and God. I did my part so now I can walk away, pray for her, and not regret that I disobeyed God.

Trust me friends, I've lived with that regret. I've stayed quiet when I should've spoken and spoken when I should've stayed silent. The hard part is having wisdom in what to do or say. When you're having a tough discussion you don't want to just jump in with your own words that might do more harm then good. Take a moment to pray and ask God for words to speak, if He doesn't give you any then maybe it's better to take some advice from James 1 "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak..."

Which leads us to my third example. I was visiting a friend and she was sharing some concerns. I wanted to speak. I didn't believe that everything she was saying what theologically correct and I wanted to say something to her but as I prayed for words none came. Instead a peace about staying quiet was what God gave me and that wasn't easy to accept but it was what was needed in the moment.

God has called us to be bold. Sometimes that's being bold in speaking the words He's given us and sometimes it's being bold in staying quiet, listening and letting God do the work.

If God is laying on your heart today something that you need to say or do for someone then take that leap. It's scary and they may not appreciate it. They could get angry, or ignore you, yell and scream or just shake their head and walk away but their reaction is between them and God. Your job is to be obedient.

Guard Your Heart

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23 

Think about that verse for a minute. Everything you do flows from the heart. Your attitude, your thoughts, your actions and especially your words. It all comes from what’s in your heart. Imagine filling up a glass so it overflows, the overflow will be whatever you’ve put into the glass. If you put root beer in the glass then milk won’t come out, root beer will. By the same token what you put into your heart will be what comes out.

If all you’re putting in cynicism from your friends, curse words from movies and complaining from your co-workers then cynicism, curses and complaining is going to be what come out. On the other hand if you’re balancing the complaining from co-workers with encouragement and uplifting attitudes from your friends, and wisdom from Scripture, combined with worship at church then it will be far easier to block the complaining from entering your heart and making sure that the encouragement is what’s coming out.

So step one to applying this verse is to guard your heart. Be careful who you’re surrounding yourself with, what you’re looking to for entertainment, whose advice you’re taking and even what people you’re allowing to speak wisdom into your life.

See friends someone can be very wise and have great advice but if all of their advice is tainted with criticism it might be best not to let them get too close. You shouldn’t ignore their advice completely though, after all it’s good advice. So what do you do? Well, you can take what they say, decide what you want to keep (i.e. the advice) and throw the rest (the attitude) away! Get rid of it before it has a chance to sink too deeply into your heart and become part of the river flowing out into your life.

Step two is to watch your outflow. Of course the first step to this is to watch what you take in but sometimes bad things filter through our guards. So before you open your mouth to speak, or start to take an action take a moment to think and pray about what you’re going to say or do. That way you’re controlling your outflow before you cause too much damage or regret.

Make an effort this week to remember Proverbs 4:23 and guard your heart.

Take a Time Out!

"Go to your room!"
"You need a time out!"
"Take a walk, you can come back when your attitude adjusts."

Do you remember hearing things like that when you were a kid? Or do you remember saying something like that to your kids? Maybe it's even been recently but how many times have you wished someone would say that to you?

I've been there more times then I care to count.

Life's been crazy lately. Sometimes I get so tired I just want to curl up in bed and sleep the day away but real life invades and I have customers to help or events to plan, appointments to keep and people that I need to talk to. Being polite when I'm tired, hungry, run down, exhausted or all of the above isn't always easy.

So what do you do?

You make an executive decision to give yourself an adult time out!

This isn't being selfish or spoiled or anything else. It's actually the opposite. Giving yourself a break assures that you have the physical, mental and emotional energy to take care of your family, friends and mark things off your checklist!

Next time you're feeling overwhelmed, give yourself an adult time out. You don't need to feel guilty about it, you need to remember that taking care of yourself is the first step in taking care of everyone else.

Mojo

I was talking with a friend of mine when she said "I think accomplishing X has given me my mojo back! I've gotten this, this and that done!" Okay that's not exactly what she said but it's the right idea.

Have you ever been in a slump? You feel like you can't quite break out of that rut you've fallen into? Things just aren't going right and you keep trying but you just can't quite figure out how to set things back right? Trust me, we've all been there! When you get to that point there's a few things you should try to remember-

1. You are not alone!

     -Everyone, and I do mean everyone, goes through this at some point or another. I have never met a person who hasn't had these moments. (And if you're reading this and you've never had this kind of thing happen than it's probably going to happen sooner rather than later. Sorry friend, it's a part of life.) This kind of feeling is normal so don't let yourself think that there's something wrong with you or that you're the only one in the world who this happens to. That's a lie from Satan, don't believe him!

2. Stop trying to solve all your big problems right away!

     -So often what happens to either cause or exasperate this problem is when you're trying so hard to solve all of your big problems so when little ones come up it overwhelms you and you can't handle anything. Take a deep breath, prioritize your problems and maybe even make a list to decide what needs to be done first but let me just give you a head's up here, the fastest way to get things done is one step at a time. Otherwise you'll be running around like crazy and at the end of the day you won't feel accomplished because you've only done bits and pieces of lots of different things but haven't finished anything! That only adds to the frustration, it doesn't solve it. 

3. Accomplish a small task.

     -One of the things that I always thinks helps when I'm in this mood is to accomplish some small tasks. Do the dishes. Fold and put away the laundry. Clean my desk. Vacuum the floor. Check the oil in my car. Get in a workout. Whatever it is completing that small task can often give you that sense of accomplishment you need to get you out of your funk!

4. Do something creative.

     -Now this isn't for everyone but it might be worth a shot. Do something creative, particularly something outside your comfort zone. (This advice came from a different friend a while back.) Change up your scenery! If you like to paint with oils, use watercolor, if you prefer to draw with charcoal, try colored pencils. Maybe you're a writer like me so if you write non-fiction try your hand at flash fiction instead or visa versa. Whatever it is just try being creative and mixing things up a bit.

5. Pray.

     -As always this is the best advice that I can give you no matter the situation. Pray about it. Ask friends to pray with you. Leave me a comment and I'll pray for you! But take your situation to the Lord, He'll always be the one you can turn to for help.

The Planner

Jeremiah 29:11
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord. 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Did you catch that? The Lord has plans for you but they're His plans, not ours! I love my plans, a little too much sometimes. Check out this next verse.

Psalm 94:11
"The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile."

See the difference? Human plans versus God's plans. His plans are perfect. Our plans are futile! So should you plan?

Well, I got a planner this week. It's from the company "The Happy Planner" and I love it! It helps me figure out what needs done. For example, it allows me to keep track of my writing goals. In July I've set a goal- I want to write X amount of words this month. So every time I write I make a note in my planner of my word count. At the end of the month I'll know how I did in comparison to my goal.

There's nothing wrong with planning. Nothing. But the flip side of that is that your days are not always going to go according to your plan. In fact I don't remember the last time I had an entire day go exactly according to plan. Life doesn't work that way!

You can plan, you can be structured. You just have to accept that sometimes those plans will go awry. And when that happens instead of getting frustrated try looking for the blessing. So often our "interrupted plans" are God's divine appointments.

A few days ago I worked late, it wasn't my plan, that's just how it happened. As I was driving home I came around the corner to see a doe and her two baby fawns in the road! Around the next stretch I saw four birds fly out of the woods and glide through the air! What beautiful sights of God's creation that lifted my heart! And yet if I hadn't worked late I wouldn't have seen them.

Sometimes His hand shows up in other ways, a "chance" meeting with an old friend, a conversation with the cashier at the grocery store or missing an accident because you were running late. Whatever it is learn to look at your interruption as His plan.

You can plan, you can make lists and structure. Just don't let your attitude get derailed if the day goes off the tracks.

4th of July

Picnics and rodeos, parades and fireworks. Parks, parties, pools and barbecues. Floating the river or going for a road trip. Camping or going to the racetrack.

It's the 4th of July! And it's a holiday to celebrate! We celebrate our freedom by going out and enjoying the day in all sorts of different ways, and what better way? We've been given, by the grace of God and the sacrifice of brave men and women throughout history, freedom. And it's something to be celebrated.

 We have the freedom to gather as we wish, say what we want, worship as we choose, wear whatever we want, protect ourselves, and on and on. Without these freedoms we wouldn't be the people we are, the nation we are, but these freedoms aren't free. They come at a great cost.

Recently my brother called with a heartwarming story about Ella, my five year old niece. They were at the mall and walking outside an Army recruiter's office when Ella walked up to the recruiter (who was standing outside) held out her hand and said "Thank you for your service."
Already her parents have begun to teach her to be thankful to those who fight for our freedom. This fourth of July she won't look at the fireworks and realize that they're a memorial, a yearly reminder of the fighting, bombs, and gunfire that took place during the revolutionary war as we fought for our independence. But they are.

I don't know the history of fireworks or why they were first created but I do know that they can serve as awesome reminder. A reminder of the fighting but also the celebration. Every time you celebrate your freedoms on the Fourth of July (or any day) you have a veteran to thank for it.

If you were given a great gift you wouldn't put it in a corner and ignore it, you'd play with it, use it, admire it and enjoy it. In America we've been given the gift of freedom. Enjoy it, appreciate it, and thank someone who served in the United States military for helping to defend it.

Have a safe and happy fourth of July this year!

And since Fourth of July is still a few days away I just have to add that for my family July 1st is also a yearly celebration, it's a super important day to us kids because it's the anniversary of the marriage of the best parents we could have ever asked for. 39 years ago today they said "I do" and committed themselves to each other before God and man, promising to make the Lord the center of their lives and marriage; it's an example they've taught to their own children and countless other people over the last 39 years and one that they keep living day in and day out. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad. I love you!

Stories of Your Life

There's this song on the radio, "Mended" by Matthew West. It's written as if Jesus is talking to His people and it has some of the most important reminders put to music. There's a couple of lines in particular that I want to share with you today. There's so much to this song that I may end up having to do another post later to talk about more of it.

"When you see broken beyond repair
I see healing beyond belief"


"You see your worst mistake
But I see the price I paid
And there's nothing you could ever do, to lose what grace has won"


"You see the scars from when you fell
But I see the stories they will tell"

Okay, I skipped around a bit in this song but there's a point to these lines I pulled out. 

How many times have you felt broken? Like you're at rock bottom and there's nothing you can do to pull yourself up again? It feels like no one, least of all God, would want anything to do with you and yet that's not how He looks at us. He looks at us (as it says later in the song) with mercy, with love. He looks at us and sees how He's able and willing to heal us if only we'll come to Him He'll put us back together, mend us, stronger then ever into a new creation.

What's your worst mistake? That one thing that more then anything else you wish you could go back and change. That decision or action that haunts you in the dark of the night when everyone else is asleep. That's the price that Jesus paid on the Cross. The moment you ask Him for forgiveness of your sins and ask Him to be Savior of your life, confessing He is Lord with your mouth and believing in your heart that God raised Him from the dead (Romans 10:9) He no longer holds that mistake against you. And more then that, nothing you ever do will change what His grace has already won for you. The payment on the cross was final, all we have to do is accept the free to us gift of salvation that He's offering.

The scars from when you fell- Earlier this week I was talking with a friend about how much I regret some of the actions in my life and yet, given the chance, I wouldn't change most of them because through them God has given me an opportunity to connect with people, especially teenagers. He's used those horrible decisions from my past to bring beauty to my life, connection and the opportunity to speak into someone else's life and maybe, help shape their future. Those rock bottom times, those worst mistakes, all of those are scars that He will turn into stories for us to tell.

Please don't misunderstand me, it's God doing the work but one His tools is my mistakes. And that's the stories that my past tells and how He uses them for His glory today.

Superhero Dads

I remember when I was a little girl and I would've sworn that my Daddy knew everything, could do anything and was just about as close to perfect as you could get! Now that I'm an adult I know he doesn't know everything, but I appreciate the wealth of knowledge he does have. I realize there are things he can't do, but I love the fact that he's willing to learn, and try and because he's always had that attitude there's an incredible amount of things he can do. And I know he's not perfect, but I also know that he lives each day following Jesus who is refining him and bringing him closer and closer to perfection all the time.

There's this T-shirt I saw on Facebook that talks about Dad being faster then Flash and stronger then Superman and more superhero comparisons that I can't remember. But you know what I love about Dad's? They're not superhero's. They're better.

Dad's are real. They're human and they mess up and make mistakes. My dad taught me by example, and with his advice, that's it's okay to make mistakes, but you should learn from those mistakes.

Dad's are present. Superman always has to fly off and save the world. Flash is always running somewhere to save strangers. Dad's work hard to be there for us. Even if they can't be there in person they call, email, Skype (not my Dad, he doesn't use Skype or social media but definitely email and phone calls) or other tools to try to be there for their kids even when they can't be with us.

Dad's are loving. As a kid I could be a brat, (who wasn't/isn't? I mean really) and sometimes Dad lost patience or even yelled but he always loved me. He never hesitated to tell me about his love, to give me a hug or reassure me that he forgave me, and that he would always be there for me and he's never broken that promise.

Dad's are protective. Superheros have to protect the whole world, and some Dad's do too. My Dad served in the U.S. Navy so yeah, there were times he was out there protecting others, but he's always tried to protect his family and sometimes it's the intention that matters. Dad's can't protect us from everything but they do their best, and the fact that they make that effort, that's what matters.

So thanks to Dad's everywhere for being our real life Superheros. And thanks to my Dad, for always being super and my hero! You're a Superhero in my book!

I know not everyone has a dad who's there for them, or who loves them or protects them or one that's present. First let me say I'm sorry. I don't know your situation but I pray that God comforts you as you come into Father's Day but I also pray that you realize He is your father, your heavenly father and He is perfect as no earthly father can ever be. Turn to Him for comfort, He's always waiting to wrap His arms around you and He'll never, ever, let you down.

If you had a Superhero Dad who you've lost I pray that you too are comforted this day and that you're thankful for the memories you have of him and that you turn to your Heavenly Father for comfort and love and those conversations that you can't have with your Dad any more. I also pray that someone will come into your life, not to replace your dad but to fill that void in your life and give you the advice, encouragement and love that your dad once gave you.

If you have a Superhero dad like mine who is still with you then make sure you give him a hug, or a call, and tell him how awesome he is and how grateful you are for him.

Lastly if you're a Superhero Dad, thanks, and Happy Father's Day!

High as the Heavens by Kate Breslin

I don't do a lot of book reviews on here but I have to share with you all about this wonderful book that I just finished. It's called "High as the Heavens" by Kate Breslin.

I started reading it yesterday afternoon after I got home from work and was nearly halfway done before I went to bed. This morning I was so excited to curl up with a blanket and a cup of coffee to sink back into the story world of Brussles during World War 1 and find out what would happen next to Evelyn Marche and how she would handle it.

There are so many fantastic reasons that I want to recommend this to you but there's one quote in particular that struck my heart the moment I read it.
"Guilt can become a stumbling block to keep us from God's mercy. Our Lord is always ready to forgive, eager to take us back into the fold of His love. But sometimes we humans deny ourselves that grace, especially when our transgressions seem insurmountable."

How true is that? There have been many times in my life that I get tripped up on my guilt that keeps me from running to God for His love, mercy and forgiveness I desperately need.

If you want to read a fantastic, fast paced, wonderful book that will take you on a journey exploring this very issue through World War 1 then pick up Kate Breslin's new book!