• Beach Lessons,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth

    Broken: Fall Beach Lesson 2021

    A day or so after arriving at our favorite beach spot, I got up really early to hunt shells. (Read Beach Lesson #2 from our July beach trip to see why I was encouraged to get up earlier than I like to, just to find shells!) As I walked a distance I was passing up lots of large broken shells, looking for that one that was whole. Then I came across this one…palm sized, and brightly colored, yet broken. So I picked it up and added it to the other whole and unusual shells I had collected. I also began thinking about how many other broken shells I had left…

  • Beach Lessons,  Generations,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Test,  Trial

    Beach Lesson #2

    As I shared my beach lesson on mentoring with Amanda (please read that post first, Beach Lesson on Mentoring) , she told me she got something totally different from that experience of finding shells. So this is her take on it. Amanda’s thoughts are in italics and my comments follow. 1 Our lives are like shells. How many come to the shore completely shattered. Only a few come whole. Most have broken pieces.  Perhaps you are a broken shell yourself. Can you trust God for your healing? Maybe you know broken people, can you be a source of encouragement and healing for them? 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 Blessed be the God…

  • Beach Lessons,  Lessons,  Trial

    Perfect, Broken or Perfectly Shaped?

    How often do you hear someone say (or perhaps you have said it), “I’m broken and unusable.” Or  “I can’t be forgiven for what I’ve done.”  Or perhaps, “I know God has forgiven me, but I know He can’t use me after what I’ve done.” Maybe even you have thought these things. As I’ve mentioned, I LOVE beach time. And I love what God teaches me when I’m at the shore. One of the sweetest messages He’s given me relates to how I look for big, perfect, whole shells. Perhaps like this shell I found. It was big and perfect. I wanted to find more! Then I came across this one…