• Beach Lessons,  Hurricane Sally,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Test,  Trial

    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…

  • Beach Lessons,  Hurricane Sally,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Test,  Trial

    More Lessons From Hurricane Sally

    I’m till processing and learning from our experience of riding out Hurricane Sally. This is the third, and probably (although I’m not promising) the last post on this.  I’d encourage you to read the first two posts (Part 1: Peace Over the Storms, here  and Part 2: My Cornerstone here) before you start this third post. Sometimes it takes a while to process an experience and see God’s hand in it all. I believe with all my heart God is sovereign and not one thing happens without His permission as well as His purpose. So I’m warning you, this is not a short post since I process God’s lessons partially…

  • Beach Lessons,  Hurricane Sally,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Test,  Trial,  Unity,  What I'm Reading

    MY Cornerstone!

    Photo by Joel Filipe on Unsplash As I write this series following Hurricane Sally, I’d love to encourage you to read the first post, Peace Over the Storms, here before you start this second post. When a building is constructed, it has what is called a cornerstone to make it secure and give direction to the building. It unites two masonry walls and is the starting place for construction. It’s absolutely essential, or indispensable, to the building. Personally, I am so grateful for the cornerstone in the 18 floor (we were on 16) condominium we were in while on vacation in Perdido Key when Hurricane Sally chose make landfall in…

  • Beach Lessons,  Hurricane Sally,  Lessons,  Spiritual Growth,  Test,  Trial,  What I'm Reading

    Peace Over the Storms

    Normally, by now, during our extended time at the beach each fall, I’ve had a number of “beach lessons”. Until today (September 14, the day I began this post), this year I’d not had what I consider a beach lesson, although I’ve had lots of balcony Jesus time. This morning, this was the scene I watched as tropical storm Sally was about  to become hurricane Sally. This is the third coastal hurricane we’ve experienced, but it’s not something we ever look forward to by any means! Waves were crashing and, yet, I felt safe sitting on the 16th floor balcony of our condo looking down at the churning water. All…

  • Lessons,  Pandemic,  Spiritual Growth,  Test,  Trial,  What I'm Reading

    Behind the Clouds

    Years ago I was captivated by how God got my attention one morning as I drove to work in downtown Nashville. Reading Adore by Sara Hagerty I was brought back to that morning as she shared her own cloud story that led her to “adore”. No doubt I’ve written about this experience somewhere in the past, but I couldn’t help but relive, and write about, that morning again after Sara’s reminder! It was such a tough season for many reasons: my mom’s declining mental abilities, heavy work and travel load, family crises all piled up. This was also the week of our annual LifeWay Women’s Leadership Forum, our largest training…