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It’s OK To Ask!
I learned another beach lesson today, a perfect follow-up to last week’s post. (If you missed it, check out Intentionally Seeking Intently.) Honestly, I felt a little silly—even guilty—about constantly asking God to send dolphins my way this year. I wanted to watch them swim and jump! As I wrote last week, He answered one request immediately, but most of the other times, the water seemed empty. Then I compared that small, trivial request to a much bigger one: asking God to help me dig deeper into His Word, intentionally and intently. Of course I’d ask for that. It’s a completely honorable prayer. It’s a prayer for truth, for wisdom,…
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Intentionally Seeking Intently
On a recent beach trip, dolphin sightings were rare. I only glimpsed a fin twice, and a third time I wasn’t even sure it was real. Normally, we see dolphin often. At one point, I heard a dad tell his son, “Look, there’s a fin.” I saw nothing—until I kept my eyes fixed on where he pointed. Then, at last, the fin appeared. Most times at the beach, I’m reading a book, doing a crossword, or working Sudoku. Rarely do I just sit and watch the waves without distraction. And that’s often how we approach Scripture. We may open God’s Word, but instead of focusing fully, our thoughts wander to…
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Morning Rhythms
How do you start your day with the Lord? There are many ways to get focused: devotional reading, a chapter a day through a book of the Bible, listening to the Bible audibly, following a Bible reading plan. The point is to have a plan, even if it varies throughout the week. This is what my time looks like (I am memorizing these scriptures) as I focus. Worship: I love you, LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:1-2 Satisfy us in the morning with…
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Starting My Day
Last week I wrote In The First Waking Moments about where our mind goes to when we first wake up in the morning. This week I want to share with you some things that help me focus as I start my time with the Lord after rising and getting a cup of coffee. In retirement I have more time than I’ve ever had before and love it, but I realize many of you are not retired! Here’s what I do, though not always all of it depending on how much time I can spend that day: *Read and sing the lyrics to a worship song as I to settle my…
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You Must Be Looking to Find
Since I love all things “beach”, that means I love the water, sand, sunrises and sunsets, birds and fish! Dolphins are a favorite. But, if I am not intently looking for them I can easily miss their trek across the gulf in front of me. Some days I just glance once in a while, looking up from what I’m reading, and spot a fin. As I keep my eyes on the water I see more as they surface for air. On days I really spend time staring at the water, I tend to see quite a few more. One morning on the last beach trip, I began thinking how few…
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Joining In
Have you ever been sitting on the beach and enjoying the peace of the surf and sun? Next thing you know someone has speakers blaring out music that is not your style? And it’s ruined the peace you were enjoying. I often wonder if they think we all want to listen to their genre of music! But what can you do? Go ask them to turn it down? Give them dirty looks? Just put up with it until you leave the beach? Or, like I found myself doing, do you notice your foot is tapping to the beat? All of a sudden I realize what I’m doing and that I’ve…
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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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Thanksgiving Blessings
Next week I’ll conclude my two part post that began last week: Spiritual Game Changers Part 1. This week I just want to say how grateful I am that you read my musings as I process what God is teaching me and share some thanksgiving encouragement. Three things for finding gratitude: 1 This is a fabulous podcast to prepare your heart for this holiday of thanksgiving from LifeWay Women Marked: Finding the Courage to Celebrate. 2 This is an article I wrote for LifeWay Women recently and am sharing here again. Unpacking Gratitude in Scripture. 3 And this is a Bible study my life group just completed in preparation for…
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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…
