Lessons
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Are You Aging Gracefully?
I don’t ever want to get “old” at any age. I’ve had a chance to think about this recently to prepare an article I wrote for LifeWay Women, Tips For Aging Gracefully. Enjoy!
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A New View
After living 30 years in a 37 year old house, we finally replaced the windows! We have some big windows, which sold me on this house due to all the natural sunlight. But we never realized how cloudy the old ones were until the new windows were installed. The difference is amazing…going from double panes with lots of cross bars in the glass that can’t be cleaned, and needed it, to clear views that look like there is no glass at all. I feel like I can reach out and touch the trees! Because I love being outside and seeing animals behind our house, it feels almost like our den…
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A Rocky 2024?
How’s 2024 so far? Is it what you thought it would be? It has not been for me, in several ways. If you read my posts regularly you’ve seen some of my unexpected experiences. I’ve begun to wonder if this is how it will be all year! But God gave me the song “Good Plans” the first of the year and I decided I’d seek to find the good plan in whatever God allowed this year. I just didn’t think I’d have do it this soon! Instead of dreading what is next, I’m seeking to believe His good plans and ask the Lord what He wants to teach me. What…
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Conversation Starters for Grandparents
Have you ever struggled to begin and engage in conversation with your grandchildren or great grandchildren? Me too. I’ve done more wrong than right in my attempts. I’m linking you to a post I wrote for LifeWay Women Conversation Starters to Ask Your Grandchildren. Enjoy and add more questions to this list! Banner photo by Juliane Liebermann on Unsplash
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Delayed Gratitude
This week, I want to rejoice in a 3 year delay in celebrating our 50th anniversary on a cruise. We planned this cruise for 2021, but ships weren’t sailing at that time due to COVID. Our 50th was celebrated, just not as we had planned! We actually discovered a new favorite beach on Captiva Island, Florida that year! This year, for our 53rd anniversary, we made the cruise with several of our friends and had the best time. For me anticipation is half the fun! I love to plan ahead and wait for something to happen. But, I must say, the week we were to leave, a major winter storm…
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Spiritual Game Changers Part 2
Two weeks ago I started this list with #1-5 in Spiritual Game Changers Part 1. Please scroll back to read that first if you missed it. Here are the last 5: What else would you add? A lifetime is not long enough to get to know the One Who knows us best and loves us most! Banner photo by Jose Castillo on Unsplash, inset photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash
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Spiritual Game Changers Part 1
At this stage of life, and I have a lot of life behind me (although I’ll never get old!), I’ve looked back over my years and my walk with Jesus and thought about what has given me the ability to keep breathing when life is difficult. Especially if one difficulty leads to another and another. What is it that causes us to walk in faith throughout our lives? What keeps our focus on those things that will sustain us on into eternity? How do we allow God to use every circumstance in our life to draw us into a deeper walk of faith? Here in part 1 are the first…
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From Torment to Worship
When I was in my early 20’s, the Lord took me off the fence of faith to show me how to walk more closely to Him as His disciple. Though I still struggle and fall short in so many ways, that began a journey in discipleship that continues to this day, and the drive behind my heart in women’s ministry. In my study of Mary Magdalene through the LifeWay Women’s Devoted Bible study, I was struck by the contrast this woman lived as she went from being tormented by 7 demons to worshiping Jesus (Mark 16:9). We shouldn’t be surprised because, isn’t that what we also experience through salvation? Aren’t…
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Sand Traps of Life
While at the beach, my husband and I watched a man hitting golf balls (probably the plastic kind) toward his kids in the water. I said, “That’s a great way to learn how to hit a ball out of a sand trap.” To which my husband replied, “The goal is not to get in the sand trap in the first place.” (FYI, I am NOT a golfer!) My next thought, and the first thing that popped out of my mouth was, “Yeah, but how else would you learn to hit one out of a sand trap if you’d never been in one?” My mind began rolling and ended up with this…
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The Changing Landscape
Each morning while at the beach, my hero husband goes down early to claim our spot on the beach. Each day, where he puts our chairs changes a little. We’ve watched the changes as the surf has gone from calm to strong. When we first got here, the beach was level at the shore. Easy to roll our beach buggy onto. But as the waves got choppier, we began to see a “cliff” form at the shoreline. We talked about how it will be harder to be beachfront with that drop off. I love watching thees shoreline changes each day. One morning the attribute of God I was focusing on was…
