When we constantly seek things to prove our opinions, actions, or half-truths, we are being double-minded in our thinking seeking something false. This undermines the way God created us. He created us to be one-minded in Christ seeking truth, light and wisdom not a fabrication. This world and everything in it passes away but His truth remains.
Mom Life: Drunk on Emotions
Moms, you know that moment when someone comes to you and says or does something that either shocks you, makes you mad, or catches you so off guard that your emotions take over. The knee-jerk reaction we give in response is anything but wholesome and the raging emotions can set the par for the rest of your day or evening. My husband constantly tells me in the heat of the moment that I am drunk on my emotions and asks to discuss the situation later after I’ve had some time to think. Sometimes even him saying that makes me even hotter under the collar and I erupt like Mount Vesuvius leaving behind a lake of boiling lava in the aftermath of my emotional tirade. After I’ve had time to soak everything in, I’m remorseful and wish I had listened to his request.
How Does Your Garden Grow?
“Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.”
-Mother Goose
There’s just something about a garden whether it be a vegetable, flower, or fields of grain. As I gaze among them with awe, I see and admire the beauty in the backdrop of creation. By far, my garden is not even comparable to the awe-inspiring gardens of those featured in magazines. Each year we set out to plant a garden with hopes of it being better than the year before. We prep the soil in order for it to be less clay like and more fertile. We fuss about whether to plant seeds or plants already started from our local stores. We buy the plant food and the things needed to keep grub worms and pests away. There is also a fence around the garden to keep out the sweet, wild bunnies that love to eat away the vegetation as well as the slithering things that hide away in the brush to prey on their next meal. In all our efforts to make a beautiful garden, we constantly fall short of the goal. Each year brings a new challenge leaving our garden not so appealing let alone tended to.
Etched in Ink Psalm 104
I remember the days when I was younger, I would write with ink on my blue jeans. Needless to say, the constant retracing of the shape or word written made them darken and stand out on my jeans and would not go away in the wash regardless of how often they were washed. The jeans became a statement of me etched there to be seen each and every time I wore them. As I read through Psalm 104 today verse 27 spoke to me of this etching of ink. It says, “They all depend on you to give them food as they need it.” As I read the study text for verse 27 in my Bible, it said, “All life depends on the gracious sustenance of the Lord of life and death.” Continue reading
Broken Beauty
My family and I love to go to the beach. We have particularly fallen in love with the beaches in Sanibel and Captiva Island in Florida. My littlest is a shelling machine and this past December, as we strolled along the beach with our buckets and shovels in hand, it looked as though the gulf literally dumped seashells by the bucket full up and down the beach as far as we could see. In some areas, we stood in shells that went over my ankles! My daughter giddy with excitement to share her love of shelling with me and me to spend some one-on-one time with her, we set our sights on finding our shells. I was in awe of the plethora of shells before us and it didn’t take long to notice that the shells we typically saw were not in the majority and the ones we had desperately sought before were there on display in large numbers and colors.
To Be Known
We all were born with the desire to be known. This is not a new feeling but one set in motion even back in biblical times. We place our identity upon accomplishments, successes, titles, what we have; in addition to all things good and yet this desire goes even deeper than our outward productivity! We want everyone to see the very nature of our hearts. We want to be seen, not just by the physical eye, but by the depths of our very souls. We want to be understood and valued as individuals not compared to the world’s thoughts and patterns. We want to be established or fixed in memories; however, we look in the wrong place!
Mom Life: Car Troubles
Laughter overflows as my husband’s voice echoes in my ears. “How can you not notice or pay attention to the things going on outside your vehicle!” to which I reply, “I’m so focused on the chaos going on in the car that my mind cannot focus on anything else!” The stories that I or my children tell, leave just about everyone wondering how I could scrape the side of the car backing out of the garage, or knock off mirrors, or side swipe my husband’s car twice (who by the way didn’t park correctly….that’s my story and I’m sticking to it), or back into a car that I clearly saw behind me in the drive, or the most recent a poor tree!
Moms you know what I’m saying…right! Sometimes, Taylor Swift’s song, “Trouble” begins among our children the minute we step foot in the car! I know I’m not the only mom since our carpet cleaner verified his wife doing this when he went above and beyond and popped out a small dent and used something to buff off the black streaks on my car. With that being said, how can my car troubles be a living example of truth and light? Let me unfold the tree story for you!
Encouragement for the Encourager
“When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.”
Romans 1:12
When I look at encouragement in the form of faith it takes on a new perspective. It is no longer the pat on the back of a job well done or a note/card given in response for a good deed, but something lived out and carried forth by example sharing with others.
In Chapter 1 in the book of Romans, we find Paul’s letter to the Romans sharing the Good News of Christ and expressing his wish to visit them to give them a spiritual gift that would help them grow strong in the Lord. (Rom 1:11) We then see Paul write, “When we get together, I want to encourage you in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.”
Prayer for the Awakening of Christian Sleepers
“Awake, O Sleeper, rise up from the dead and Christ will give you light.”
Ephesians 5:14
The study text to this verse says, “calls on God’s people to turn from their sinful darkness and live life in the full light of Christ.”
There are many who know and love Christ but have allowed their hearts to become angry and bitter towards Him. Their once light filled eyes see the darkness of the circumstances surrounding them and lose focus on the real Truth substituting instead for a lesser truth.
Father, stir our hearts to repentance and may the darkness that consumes us loosen its grip. Give us eyes to see and ears to hear delivering us from the dirt and mire that binds us. May our souls be awakened into the fullness of life teaming with grace and abounding in joy at the release of bondage giving glory to Your Holy Name. May we imitate everything you do. May we live life filled with love following your example. May we be so filled with Your glorious light that even those set in darkness tremble causing conviction in their hearts and questioning lifestyles chosen. May the fulfillment of the cross come to full realization in Jesus bringing forth repentance throughout the nations. Awake, O Sleeper, rise up from the dead and Christ will give you light.
Mom Life: Lesson Learned from the Lego Movie
My family and I like to snuggle up and watch movies together. One of the girls will pop the popcorn, the other will slice and ready the apples, my husband prepares the movie to be viewed, while my son and I grab the blankets. It’s one of our favorite times to spend as a family but every so often a movie may catch me off guard when the Lord uses it to convict me in my spirit and give me a wake-up call.
Life Unfolded 