• Blessings,  Generations,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth

    Marriage Thoughts Part 2

    Be sure to read back to see part 1 before reading this second post. This continues my encouragement to a young bride, things I wish I’d known when I married. 3. Remember, your first ministry is your family. Serve your spouse without grumbling when you’d rather do something else! This is still something I am praying to achieve: being grateful I have to close his dresser drawers AGAIN for the 5th time today. Doing it is one thing, doing it with gratefulness instead of resentment is another! If you have children, they too are your first ministry, but do not place your children ahead of your spouse. One day, Lord…

  • General,  Spiritual Growth,  Unity

    Why Church?

    I love my church and look forward to attending weekly. When we miss for some reason, we REALLY miss it. In fact, we normally join the live stream or watch later if we are out. But especially if we have been out for more than a week, I cannot wait to get back. Recently I read a blog post by Carey Nieuwhof, whom I read regularly, whose title, 10 Reasons Even Committed Church Attenders Are Attending Church Less Often. I understand the responsibility on both the church and the attender to this dilemma. But it also made me think, “why do I love attending so much?” So, I made a…

  • General,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Unity

    When Social Media Isn’t “Social”

    Have you ever been misunderstood, criticized or even attacked on social media? It’s painful, is’t it? It’s frustrating when someone assumes they know your intent better than you do. Without hearing the sound of our voice, a person doesn’t really know how we said what we said. Often we think that our own opinion is the only one that is correct and assume we know what is best for someone else. I was on the opposite side of this coin recently. Someone asked a question whether we’d ever had a man in our lives who has encouraged our leadership as a woman. I responded with the name of a former…

  • General,  Leadership Lessons,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Unity

    Teamwork That Works!

    We have quite a menagerie behind our house that includes deer, squirrels, rabbits, birds, ground hogs and sometimes a fox. So we enjoy watching nature at work before our eyes. This past week I was working in my home office and heard my husband Pat say, “Well, that’s something I’ve never seen before!” When I asked what he’d seen, he said it was a squirrel scampering off with a peach in his mouth. Our neighbors have a peach tree that we have watched grow for several years, so that squirrel found himself a treasure. We’d noticed that although there had only been peaches hanging ON the tree and none on…

  • Leadership Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Test,  Trial

    God’s Word for You Next Year

    First of all, I pray you had a wonderful celebration of Christ’s birth with your friends and family. Now that Christmas Day has ended, let’s think about next year. I’ve shared before that instead of making new year’s resolutions, I watch for God’s Word specific to me for the year, whether it’s one word or a song or a scripture. In 2018 the word was “selfless” (along with a song He gave me). You can read this post from last year if you’d like. I had no idea how hard it would be to seek to become more selfless! And I have so far to go on this one I think…