Stress. That would be the single word that best describes the last few years of my life. So much so that when we rounded the corner into 2014, I began to pray, “Lord, will You please grant me a season of rest?” I was so weary that it didn’t seem like a selfish thing to ask for. I felt like I wouldn’t be able to keep going without some time to re-energize. Maybe I just wasn’t specific enough in my request… ‘cuz I was kind of thinking about several months, maybe even a whole year of rest! And initially, it …
Soil of My Soul
I am going to be honest: I do not really know you that well. I don’t know if you are a 30-something mom, a divorced man, a hurting teenager or a heart broken widow. I don’t know what part of my testimony to offer you and what parts to withhold and keep guarded. So, as I write this I fully trust the Holy Spirit to intercede so that my words reflect God’s heart and encourage yours. Sticking to the theme of honesty, you do not really know me either. I am Katie. I just turned 30. I have experienced the …
What If?
I keep asking myself the question, What if I lived my life as if I believed everything the Bible said is really true? What would THAT look like? I actually do believe that, but I know that through the years of life’s experiences I have unwittingly allowed little lies to creep in or built up protective walls to defend myself that can also be a barrier to real truth. Life seems to have brought one trial after another the last several years and this week dropped another bombshell. My initial reaction was not a calm reflection of the truth I …
Embrace Your Beauty In Christ
We were in the giant discount store trying to find some discounts we really needed when a friend called out my name. I had already told Danny that because I had my hair up, I would see people. Self-conscious about the hair in a pony tail I laughed and told her about it. She responded by telling me she liked it and I ought to wear my hair up more often. We visited a moment longer and she I we were on our separate ways. That one statement changed the rest of my trip to the big store. We saw …
Don’t Play Whack-a-Mole with Your Passion
I’m not sure I can quite convey the emotions I experienced in the garden last November. I had been dreading and putting off the garden cleanup for weeks. In previous years I would have had that soil ready for rest, but this year my plot still held a long-dried-up bean vine, matted black-eyed pea vines, and shriveled cucumber vines with rotting cucumbers on the ground. But even in the midst of the cleanup I found myself rejuvenated. What had taken me so long to get out here again? Although most of the garden’s lush growth had browned, I found joy in …
His Way is Better
My life is not at all what I thought it would be, and nowhere close to what I “hoped” it would be when I was growing up. I don’t say that regretfully. The Lord has shown me so many times that my thoughts are not His thoughts and His ways are not my ways. Praise the Lord for that! Sometimes in life, we end up being most grateful for the things in life that at that time we hated the most. I look back over my life and see fingerprints of God all over it. Places I lived, people I …
It’s All About Jesus
An evangelist friend of ours coined a phrase “It’s all about Jesus” for his region several years ago. Although we’re not in the leadership of this evangelist anymore, we still use the phrase often. Especially times when we feel that things are chaotic or we get into issues. Breathing this simple phrase can be a prayer of sorts to remind us, “It’s all about Jesus”. Oh beloved, for the believer “It’s All About Jesus” is more than a phrase. It’s our banner! It’s our comfort, our shield and our fortress. When the gates of hell whisper prevail we say …
Love Lifted Me
“I was right on the cliff-edge, ready to fall, When God grabbed and held me. God’s my strength, he’s also my song, And now he’s my salvation. Hear the shouts, hear the triumph songs in the camp of the saved? “The hand of God has turned the tide! The hand of God is raised in victory! The hand of God has turned the tide! I didn’t die. I lived! And now I’m telling the world what God did. God tested me, he pushed me hard But he didn’t hand me over to Death. Swing wide the city gates-the righteous gates! …
Memorial Day: A Day for Gratitude
“I have not stopped giving thanks for you…” Ephesians 1: 16a We often think of Memorial Day as: A day for loading up on hotdogs and funnel cake A day for camping and hiking A day to celebrate the launch of summer Instead, would you consider making it the following: A day to remember A day to acknowledge our freedom to work, play, hike, and, yes, eat more than we should. A day to remember those who died so we could live Our U.S. Constitution grants us freedom to speak, worship, bear arms, assemble, vote, own …
Who are we pleasing?
A thought has been in my mind for quite some time. A thought that seems to judge, but I am just as guilty. A thought about parenting, about the past, about what my spirit is teaching, and about what I am learning… a thought about truth. You see I look around and see. I see more deeply than before. I see what my past has done to me; the thoughts, the inescapable connections in my brain that have been hard wired because of a choice or a thought, whichever it may be, that occurred a long time ago. Sometimes I …
Letting go and Letting GOD
Have you ever thought you were just living in survival mode? I often think I stay there. But, I believe I may finally have it figured out….we all STAY in survival mode! Just about the time we learn to work with what we have, life changes or throws us a curve and we have to learn to survive again. Let me back up, I am a wife and mom of four children, ages seven, five, two and a half, and four months. I have been married for nine years. My husband and I were married in June 2003, he finished …
Personal Liberty
Freedom: Personal liberty as opposed to bondage or slavery I am so glad to be born in America. So often I wonder why I was born in a land of so many freedoms, while someone else millions of miles away was born into an area of oppression and hardship. I know things are not always easy here in the US. As one of our writers brings to light this edition, there is a terrifying and growing slave trade here that rivals any other country. There is poverty, hunger, unemployment, abuse, and many other areas that are keeping America …