Blessings
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Will We Ever Get There?
Do you remember as a child on a long trip ever asking this question? Didn’t the trip seem endless. You ride and ride and with each hill or corner, there’s still miles of road ahead to drive to get to your destination? As a child, when my family drove to visit family in west Texas, my sister and I used to count water towers! It did help to pass the time! Have you ever asked this same question about the prayers of your heart? When will we get there? To the answer, the resolution, the healing. We ask this about prayers we’ve prayed for YEARS. Sometimes we think the Lord…
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The Beauty of His Creation
If you know me well, or if you follow me (or my daughters) on social media, it doesn’t take long to discover our love for animals. Mine doesn’t include rehabilitating or adopting multitudes of homeless animals like my daughters do, but, none the less, I do love all animals (except for snakes…and that’s biblical, just read Genesis 3). When I was a kid, I would try to pet any animal I could get close to. This led to multiple scratches and bites, including snapping turtle and squirrel! I thought I’d be a vet, but figured out that wouldn’t work since I can’t handle the blood, and the pain of these…
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Who Really Knows You?
For women, one of the biggest issues I hear over and over is something that is connected to their identity. It shows up in many forms in the lives of women, but it stems from an understanding, or lack of understanding, of who I am, who I am supposed to be, and what am I supposed to do in life. So many women have lived all of life trying to figure it out. For some, it’s like being anonymous in a sea of people. For others, it’s questioning who their ancestors are and how that impacts them. Sometimes it’s a person seeking significance from the world. But whatever is the…
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What’s Your “Go To”?
What is your first “go to” when you struggle? We’ve seen recently what some people go to when they are upset or angry. Violence and hatred brings even more harm to an already unjust situation. But maybe you go to something less harmful like chocolate? Isolation? Running away? Despair? A friend? Usually we all default to something when things do not seem right in our world. As a Type A perfectionist-leaning woman, I think my big default is trying to control the situation. But God has shown me over the years that I am NOT in control even when I think I am, but I can fully trust that in…
- Blessings, General, Generations, Leadership Lessons, Lessons, Pandemic, Spiritual Growth, Test, Trial
Pandemic Panic
I recently wrote a post for Revive Our Hearts leadership blog. A Veteran’s Wisdom for Ministry in a Pandemic. I am so grateful for an opportunity to serve women’s leaders, especially as we face ministry challenges in this pandemic confinement. If you are challenged by having to learn new “ways” to connect and serve Christ, please head over to their blog to read! Today, I will link to that here. Leader Connection Blog is a great one to follow! Also, check out their leadership page and ask to join their private group. Here you can see all their women’s leadership resources. P.S. I previously wrote more detail on my technology…
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Peter’s 3’s
Numbers are important in Scripture. The numbers 3, 7, 10 and 12 indicate completeness. Most of us who have read the Gospels, remember the 3 times Peter denied Christ after His arrest, even as Jesus was defending his own identity to the authorities. And this was after Peter swore he would follow Jesus anywhere. Peter told him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.” (Matthew 26:33) And many of us also remember when Jesus restored Peter on the shore in (John 21:15-19). He asked Peter if he loved him, not once but 3 times. And each time Peter was told to “feed My sheep”.…
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I Fell For It….Again!
What an interesting week this has been…not to mention a challenging one. After staying home, and all services and groups at church being cancelled because of the coronavirus, our discipleship staff began providing podcasts and information on how to get our life groups on line digitally. I decided to use Google Hangouts for my group since I was most familiar with leading meetings using that platform. But after getting my group familiar with that, I discovered it has a limit of 10 participants. Our life group normally has 20-25 attendees on campus weekly. Sooooo…Hangouts won’t work! So, on to plan B! What about Zoom? I’ve used it before for meetings,…
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Focus 2020
This time of year I am always watching for direction from the Lord on a theme or passage of scripture He wants to develop in me for the year ahead. As I was reading and preparing for teaching at an event in 2020, the topic for the weekend grabbed my attention. It’s based on Kay Arthur‘s study, “Lord, Give Me a Heart for You.“ Our key passage for the event is Ezekiel 36:26-27: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will place my Spirit within you and cause…
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Indescribable Joy
Sometimes during the holidays I really miss not having parents to “go home to”, but I love being the parent my kids and grandkids come to for the holidays. Just once in a while I wish I still had parents too! Our last parent died in 2009, but it was several years before that when we stopped having a parent’s home to return to for family get togethers. So, holidays include both joy and a bit of sadness. Today I read Mark 12:24-25 a new way, “Jesus spoke to them, “Isn’t this the reason why you’re mistaken: you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God? For when they…
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The Silence is Broken Part 2
Last week we looked at how God ended the 400 years of silence. If you missed that post, first read Part 1 here. How did God speak to you last week? Did He reveal something about an issue you’ve been praying about? Did He remind you of something you had stopped praying about and had even maybe forgotten about? Has He been speaking and maybe it was so different from what you expected, you just ignored His words? As I focused on Mary’s response to her Lord, I started thinking: how obedient am I when I hear Him speak? Perhaps I’m finally hearing from God after a long period of…
