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Gratitude In ALL Things
I recently had the privilege of writing an article for LifeWay Women’s The Reference Desk department. The topic was “gratitude.” The timing of the request was designed by God, as it was during a really tough few weeks. Gratitude was not overflowing, but I desperately needed it! I was forced to look at my heart as I studied in preparation for writing this article, and as I prepared to teach my life group using the study Grateful. Banner photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
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Just Below the Surface
As I write this my husband and I are on an extended time away from home. We don’t live here, but the beach is our home away from home every chance we get. Our time here began a bit sad as I wondered what God was doing. The first couple of days we were here, I saw only a handful of dolphins. It was in the morning as I sat on the balcony spending time with Jesus. The dolphin sometimes jump and spin and are very obvious. Today, they were only showing their fins once in a while. It was a quiet and slow movement and I had to watch…
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Treasures
I started this train of thought last week in When It Makes No Sense. Today, I want to share 7 follow up treasures He has given me, and how I am getting those insights. I do not like waiting for answers…just ask my former co-workers! I’m just not good at waiting. And right now…waiting is where I am. But in the waiting, the Lord ALWAYS shows up. These things occurred (and this time I was listening!) in a weeks time. And even though resolution has not yet appeared, He has shown up, every single day! 1 I read the phrase “don’t hurry through the heartache” alongside Romans 8:28, “We know…
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When It Makes No Sense
It was one of those days. I’d been dealing with something heavy on my heart. Something that just isn’t how things should be. This led me to look at others and wonder why my situation couldn’t be fixed like their situations seem to be. This day, as He does often, God spoke in various ways as I spent time with Him on my deck. I started with the song, Sovereign Over Us, one I listen to especially when I just need the reminder of His sovereignty over EVERYTHING. Take a listen. My Bible reading then took me to John 21 and the conversation Jesus had with Peter, after He told…
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A New Year…And?
I just reflected on where my thoughts and heart were this time last year. Here was my new years post then, What’s Ahead. Now I’m looking into 2022 and wondering again what this year will bring. We cannot predict this new year anymore than we could 2021. We aren’t allowed perfect predictions of the future. We have no idea the wonderful experiences we will have, nor the pains and losses. We can make plans, we can dream and pray, but only the Lord sees every day of 2022 completely. So, what do we do? Simply put, yet so profound, is that we trust the sovereignty of The One who does…
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Hearing Voices
How many voices a day do you listen to? I guess that would depend on who you live with, or work with, go to school with, or serve in ministry with. It would depend on who your neighbors are and whether or not you converse with them. Perhaps you have a co-dependent dog who doesn’t know he’s a dog (that would be our almost blind #MoDawg). If you do have a dog, you tend to listen to their barks, whines, or growls as they try to talk to you. The last 2 week’s posts, He Speaks and I Listen and When It Just Won’t End, would be a great place…
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When It Just Won’t End!
What else? How long? Have you asked that once or twice in the last couple of years, the last couple of weeks, as I have? Jut about the time things seem to be healing or changing, a variant COVID pops up. Then world events just take our breath away. Add to that personal crises, several friends who are in a health fight for their lives, on and on. Seriously? What’s next?…I guess the same thing that I wrote about so recently in He Speaks, before the last couple of “issues” mentioned above popped up. So this is how that morning a couple of days ago played out as I did…
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Sharing Our Prodigal Story
Just a week or so ago, my daughter and I had the privilege to share our “prodigal” story on Leighann McCoy’s new podcast. One thing I’ve experienced over many years of teaching women is how God encourages ME when I get to remember what He has done and tell others of His work. I’ve witnessed His faithfulness in every single tough situation He has allowed into my life. One of those stories was the topic that Leighann asked me to share on this podcast, The Power of Praying Momma’s: Praying your Prodigal Home. I asked her if she would like for me to ask my daughter to also be on…
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Another Stop-Over “In- Between”
Ever feel like you’ve just left a dry place but it was where you truly experienced God’s amazing presence and provision…then you find yourself in another “pickle of a place” when you really want to get to that mountaintop of perfect contentment and accomplishment? Often, waiting is like that. We wait and wait. Then God moves, and we think it’s all behind, and we’ve learned what He wanted to teach us. Now let’s get to the good stuff! Then there’s another delay in that perfect picture of life. As my husband and I waited in days of infertility, and eventually were blessed with the adoption of twins, I thought…now it’s…
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Grieving God’s Heart
Don’t you love it when you hear God speak the same message through different avenues? Perhaps it is in the course of a day, or several days or weeks. But the message recurs in various ways, all leading you to the same principle. Some days, because I study and read several things at the same time, they all seem to point in a particular direction. This happened the day before I wrote this post. I was reading Genesis 6-7 as a part of my Foundations F-260 chronological reading plan. The verse that stood out was Genesis 6:6. After creation, sin entered the world. Adam and Eve were banished from the…
