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“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the…
“Alright Ms Angela,” my instructor encouraged as he held out a red paddle shaped target. Last one is my best one, my mind whirled as I put my right foot forward prepared to kick. I twisted my torso and legs to my left, then lifted my left leg up to kick the target. The next thing I knew sharp pain…
“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but…
Happy New Year friends! In 2013 God gave me the word “wait.” And He taught me a lot about waiting and what it means and what it doesn’t mean. I learned a lot…. I learned to wait on dreams and wait for God’s timing and to trust His way… Now 2014 God has given…
“…a stiff-necked people.” Over and over again as God deals with His chosen people – the Israelites – that is what He calls them. And as God chastises the Israelites those words echo in my heart and mind. I.AM.STIFF-NECKED. I am stubborn, rebellious, and just plain ignorant. Still God calls me His precious child, righteous,…
Happy Memorial Day…I have a post at The M.O.M. Initiative about telling your kids about Memorial Day. Here we are working through 30 days of training ourselves to pray continually. Here are links to the previous posts: Because I Don’t Want to Sleep Anymore Praying to a Jealous God Pray Continually Day 3 10 Things…
Chaos. I avoid chaos like the plague. In fact I stay away from situations I cannot figure out. I prefer life with a pretty bow. Situations that turn out neatly tied up. I don’t like things I don’t understand, things I can’t offer a suggestion to help fix. I prefer to flee those situations. I…
My belly growls, but I can’t think of a single thing that will satisfy. I wander into my pantry and consider my options. I shake my head and move to the refrigerator. After sorting the left-overs into moldy and not moldy stacks, I still cannot find anything to satisfy my growling stomach. I sigh and…
Yesterday about 8:30 AM I read Psalm 34. I underlined the following verses: The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (verse 7) The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (verse 18) The LORD redeems his servants; no one will…
He is independent and nearly four-years-old. So when he asked to go the boys’ bathroom – the one with the door cracked open and one stall – I said yes. When he stepped out of the stall with his pants and underwear at his knees asking if I could help him use the urinal, I…
There it is again. A tug at my heart. My shoulders tense and my head aches. I sigh, but the heaviness remains. I look at the clock, 5:30 AM. Determined I get out of bed, the heaviness accompanies me throughout my day. Dirty dishes, piles of laundry, scattered toys, and longings for more children tell…
Good Friday. A day to remember. A day to look at the ugliness of our sin and think about the price which Jesus paid that we may live. Our sin condemned us to life separated from God and later eternity separated from Him. Then Jesus “who knew no sin became sin that we might become…
In my mind’s eye, I see him, Achan is his name. His heart flutters in nervous excitement. He thinks, “I got away with it.” A smug grin spreads across his face. “Yes, I’m home free now.” He hums a song as about 3,000 of his people go to overthrow a small city. “I’m rich. I…
My head aches and my heart lurches. “Ugh!” I think. “I don’t want to be here. I have so many things I need to do.” I look down at my watch. “I just want to protect my time. How long is this going to take?” My shoulders tense. “Relax would you?” I chide myself. My…
Yesterday as I perused my blog stats, I discovered somebody got to my blog by typing in the search “marriage – what was God thinking.” I laughed because I thought, “yea what was God thinking?” Bringing a man and a woman together in the same house. Men and women really don’t “get” each other. Then…
I have a post at The M.O.M. Initiative today called How to Mother in the Spirit. Check it out if you have the time. Welcome everyone. I have been dwelling on God’s names lately because I am doing the Bible study Knowing God by Name by Mary Kassian. The more I know about God the…
Today I have a post at Encouragement Cafe titled “Walking in Freedom.” I hope you check it out. Hello to all of you came from the Encouragement Cafe. I pray God blessed you and I hope you enjoy my little piece of cyber-space. Holy. In some circles that word is synonymous with self-righteousness. I lived…
I like being right. I hate being wrong. In an effort to never be wrong I often ponder, pray, and only take steps when I know for sure God said yes. Not a bad way to do things except sometimes I am a bit like Gideon. Offering test after test to make sure God really…
I have a critical eye. I don’t like to mess up or fail or sin. When I make a mistake I rehearse it over and over again. I want to do better next time – to improve. So I wonder what God sees when He looks at me – this stumbling, fumbling, missing-the-mark-so-completely-I-wonder-if-I-am-in-the-right-county-much-less-city woman. How…
The task seemed monumental to me. God gave Moses specific instructions about how to build the Tent of Meeting. The Israelites would need about a ton of gold, 3.75 tons of silver, 2.5 tons of bronze, special cloths, embroidery work, jewels, hides, and more (See Exodus 36-38). Remember these are the folks God just freed…
Happy Birthday to me and my twin sister! Last year I posted some pictures of us when we were cute…You can see them here. Anyway, last night I spoke to the fifth and sixth graders at my church about joy. Sometimes God just takes hold of me as I speak and shakes me hard….
Yesterday I wrote about how easy isn’t necessarily better and how Jesus told us we would have trouble, but we could have peace in Him. Today as I drove my kids to school I wondered about peace in Christ. I was stressing out about things I could not control – schedules that blossomed, puppies that…
While I was in high school, I learned about a great Christian band called Jars of Clay. They have a song called Worlds Apart and one line has been reverberating in my heart this weekend… It says, “…what I need and what I believe are worlds apart.” Aren’t we blessed that God knows what we…
Yesterday I had a guest post Known By a New Name on the Encouragement Cafe blog. I’d love it if you would visit their place and check out my post. Now down to business: 2012 and my year to “GO” has been frustrating to say the least. Frustrating because I am allowing my inner dialog…
Stories. Our lives are full of them. Interwoven stories that bind us to others, divide us from some, and leave impressions on our hearts. Stories that are not mine to tell, but that I live out. I live my part of supportive wife, encouraging friend, loving daughter-in-law, praying sister, admiring daughter, and the list goes…
I thought I had today together. I had thought about it and planned it in my head and then it happened. I realized I double booked myself. I was getting my bag ready for church and looked at my appointment card. “Monday?!?” I shook my head. “I thought my appointment was on Tuesday.” Monday morning…
I have an attitude problem. I am cranky, easily irritated, and downright frustrated. UGH! I think if only my kids would behave, if my husband would meet my every need (even when I don’t know what it is I need), if health wellness and prosperity marked my whole extended family, if my dreams and longings…
We sat outside in the unseasonably warm December sun. I sat on a folding chair reading Psalm 97 aloud as my kids sat on the stone patio. “Mommy,” my 8-year-old furrowed her brow. “I have a question.” “Sure,” I nodded, “what is it babe?” “I don’t understand how God loves people and then…
We evangelical Christians don’t get the idea of a high priest. We nominally nod when we think of Jesus as our high priest, but we don’t really get it. I still don’t think I get it very well. Other Christian denominations may have a better understanding. Those with popes and bishops have a hierarchy someone…
The joy of Christmas comes wrapped in ordinary. How often do we look for joy in the extraordinary when it is the ordinary God uses to wrap true joy? Jesus a babe wrapped in ordinary clothes, placed in an ordinary feed trough. Immanuel, God with us, wrapped in flesh, made from dust. Yet often we…
My brother was born before sonograms could determine the gender of unborn babies. My parents chose to decorate his room with green and yellow. Ironically so was the outside of our house (yellow with green trim) and the colors of our middle school (green and gold)…I digress. Wallpaper was also popular back in that…
Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God. 1 Corinthians 8:1b-3 Paul wrote this to people arguing over whether eating food sacrificed to idols was sinful or not. Ironically it…
I was never going to marry a doctor, but God. He was never going to marry a nurse, but God. I could not see how that marriage was going to make it, but God. I did not see how God was going to use my writing, but God. but God…You know the creator of heaven…
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18 This Wednesday night I have the privilege and responsibility (along with our children’s pastor) to talk to fifth and sixth graders about purity–how to flee sexual immorality in…
Here is a little story about my three-year-old…He humbled me…What do you think? [tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOGE-X-4bxI[/tube]
I claw and scream inwardly as I cling to unraveling plans–my plans for a good life, great kids, a perfect marriage. But lives don’t follow carefully laid plans and great kids have minds of their own. Perfect marriages don’t exist–there are no perfect wives or husbands. Still I tie myself in knots when my plans…
Jesus stood near the water. He had been teaching for a long time and it was getting dark. His disciples urged Jesus to send the crowds away so that they could get dinner. But Jesus tells them, “You give them something to eat.” Mark 6:37a He wanted his disciples to be involved in something beyond…
Welcome everyone to my blog today! If you are visiting from the Keeping It Personal site I am so glad you stopped by. If you haven’t been to the KIP blog check out my guest post here. I hope you enjoy it. God has been messing with me. He has been up in my…
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,” Phil 2:12 Working out our salvation…Becoming more like Christ…Glorifying Him more. We are called to work out our faith. Live it out, figure out how to…
I am super excited to introduce you to my friend Christy Long. She wrote this guest post today AND she has a super fun give-away at the end. I hope you all enter! Contentment in God Alone ..if the unbelieving spouse walks out, you’ve got to let him or her go. You don’t have to…
Have you ever had a dream that didn’t turn out the way you imagined? {I hope this isn’t just me} You dream of being married, contentment, love, romance…But marriage is hard work…choosing love despite feeling it. You dream of being a sports super-star…But practice, injury, and team politics make the reality of the dream a…
I just wanted to do a fun vlog for you all today. I pray it is a blessing to you. [tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HM2YFoBoxI[/tube] If you liked learning about dry bones from me, check out Wendy Pope’s discussion here. She is a woman who loves God and has great insight.
I am a thinker. I do not believe that makes me special or even different per se, it is just a fact. Thinking means I like to ponder and meditate. I think about random things and wonder about things like: Did God really create the world in six 24 hour days or in six fixed…
Do you ever say something and immediately wish you could somehow swallow those words back down as if they never were? Then walk off thinking failure… Do you find yourself is situations of your own creating wondering how I got roped into doing this? Do you wonder if your heart is wrong if if you…
I saw a car today with two bumper stickers. One said, “The more people I know, the more I like my dog.” I sort of chuckled inwardly at that. There are some people (me included) that are hard to love. Let’s face it most of us are hard to love in one way or another….
C.S. Lewis once wrote: “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is…
Is your God easily understood? Does He fit in your preconceived ideas and work how you expect Him to? Is He scary? Is He just? Is He deep? If you had all eternity to get to know Him would it be enough? Does He love you, even the you that nobody else knows? Does He…
It starts innocently. I want to honor God with the gifts He has given me. So I step out and speak and blog and write. Soon others are blessed by what I do. I hear: “God has gifted you.” “I love your blog.” “You are a great teacher.” Those words encourage and build me up….
“After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel.” Judges 2:10 I wonder how this happened. How only a generation after the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, God’s provision in the desert, the tablets…
It was stuck fast and it hurt. The tiny brown sliver was protruding from my daughter’s hand. Tears welled up in her eyes as she jerked her hand away. “Noooooo, Mooommmyyyy. Don’t touch it. It hurts!” she shrieked at me. Every time I attempted to hold her hand so I could look, she screamed before…
I am not a great housekeeper. In fact I would argue that I am not even a “good” housekeeper. I actually pay someone to help clean the house…I am unorganized and I ignore things. If I don’t like the piles on the kitchen island, I don’t look at the piles. I do not think I…
My eyes darted wildly, fear etched lines in my forehead. Thoughts came one on top of the other, my skin felt incapable of holding in my heart and soul. Desperation. We all feel it at some point – when we are cornered or found out. Perhaps our child has wandered around a corner and we…
Rapists, pedophiles, murderers, child abusers, wife-beaters and others seem to embody evil. Is it possible that people are evil? Are they born that way or do they become that way? My simple answer is I do not think there are evil people. Here is why: Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created mankind in his own…
It is on the news. Reported from stoic faced reporters. It is on T.V. shows. Glorifying heinous crime, criminals, and those charged to hunt them down. It is clear there is evil in this world. The question is are people “evil” or are their actions “evil?” I know what I think, but I want to…
I was in the bathroom the door closed. You know getting some things worked out and having a little private time. As a mother of three there isn’t much “private” in “private time.” So it wasn’t long before I began having conversations through the door. Conversation with J who is potty training and on the…
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,” Ephesians 3:20 Did you catch that? God’s power is at work within us. The power that created the universe, the power that calms the sea, the power that raises…
My voice reaches His ears. He who can hear my thoughts and knit me together. He who holds the universe in His hand and keeps us from floating off this rock that is hurtling through space. Yes the God who keeps the air breathable and knows the stars by name, He hears us. Not only…
My stomach often seems to be unsatisfied. It rumbles and gurgles begging for more. Sometimes I cannot trust it’s appetite. There are times I cannot seem to be filled no matter how much I eat. Those are the days that I feel like I could cut off my own arm and eat it if nothing…
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