Real Women. Real Life. Real Faith.
I recently started a new job in a field I’ve never worked in before. They hired me based on my abilities in customer service, so the rest of the job definitely has a high learning curve.
But I’ve gotten some interesting insights into people through observing customers and coworkers alike.
There’s the coworker who is energetic and eternally cheering her coworkers on. Usually this is encouraging, sometimes it’s jarring – based on what’s actually happening.
[Read more…] about Love the SinnersI found myself faced with a crossroad.
Not a literal road, but one of those places in life where you must make a big decision. The decision could change my future. I was given a choice of taking a new position at a different company doing something I love, but to leave the old job would mean loss of benefits and seniority. The more I thought about it, the less clear the decision became. I asked God to make my path clear. I wished that He would reach down, hand me a map and say, “Go this way.”
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy and for me, making a big decision is hard.
[Read more…] about 6 Things to Consider When You Are at a CrossroadDo you ever get a verse stuck in your head? This happens to me all the time! I’ll read a passage in the Bible, and a phrase or a few sentences will captivate me. They’ll dominate my thinking, and I’ll camp out in that same chapter for days or weeks, just savoring that portion of God’s Word.
This recently happened to me with Hebrews 12. The chapter before, Hebrews 11, is the famous “Hall of Faith,” where we can read about the faith of Old Testament heroes. But Hebrews 12 gives us practical instructions for running our race and living a life of faith.
[Read more…] about Running Our RaceHow do you wake up each morning?
I appreciate people who can jump out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off and embrace the day in its entirety. I have never been an early riser unless it was Christmas. I am one of those people who wakes up slowly. Even as a child, my momma would wake me fifteen minutes before my brother because I needed the time to adjust to a new day.
My husband quickly learned not to ask me anything significant for the first fifteen minutes of the day. I don’t like to jump in the day, but more or less dip my toes in first. It isn’t that I’m grumpy; I need time to welcome the day. I’ve concluded that my body wakes up before my brain.
[Read more…] about How Do You Embrace The Day?Every one of us has cares. We have them in all ways and types. We carry these cares in our minds, souls, and emotions. We have the cares of worry, finances, health, the future, the past, our pain, friends, jobs, careers, life in general and much, much more.
I don’t know about you but sometimes when I read the Bible, I can read it too quickly. Then other times I read it with too common an attitude. I read the words but gloss over certain words instead of looking at the deeper meaning.
This was apparent to me when I read, I Peter 5:7 – “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (KJV)
[Read more…] about Cast Your CareA few underclass band students softly played “Pomp and Circumstance” as I joined the crowd of nervous parents and beaming grandparents filling the bleachers. The high school graduation planning committee spent countless painstaking hours putting together a lovely slideshow for us to enjoy until our young-adult children filed in to grace the matrix of folding chairs blanketed across the gymnasium floor.
[Read more…] about 5 Prayers For GraduatesYou know who Naomi is, you’ve heard of her in the story of Ruth in the Old Testament.
This story takes place in the time of the Judges, just a couple of generations before King David, a time when there was a great drought in the land of Israel.
She followed her husband to a land she did not know, into a culture she could not accept, and a religion she could not follow. She was alone there in her world. The Bible only tells us of her husband and their two sons. Daughters would have given her companionship, but she seemed to have none.
During their ten years in Midian, she gained two daughters-in-law, Orpah and Ruth. She also lost her husband and both sons within those ten years, gaining only those two daughters. Those are a lot of major losses in a short time span.
She was bitter. She was lonely. She was likely afraid, as well.
[Read more…] about Naomi: There’s More to This StoryI don’t remember the day of the week or the time of year, but what I do remember is the stark contrast of the moment.
On one hand, there was the clear blue sky, the gentle breeze tag-teaming with the sun to warm my skin to just the perfect temperature. Any other day it might have felt like a little slice of paradise. But this particular day there was a dark, cold feeling in my heart and a heavy weight on my shoulders.
A dear friend had shared that she had a lump in her breast and was going in for a needle biopsy. Another friend was going in the same day because there was a suspected mass in her lung and the doctors needed to investigate further. They were both going in for procedures that day, and our pastor’s wife had texted me and said she felt led to get a few women together to pray with both of them later that morning.
But I didn’t feel like a prayer warrior worthy of that invitation. In fact, I felt overwhelmed, and had absolutely no idea how to pray.
[Read more…] about What to Do When You Don’t Know How to PrayBe still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10
The chants of laughter, resounding loud that you could hear from the children who ran into the rushing waves and excitedly waiting for a tremendous wave to come and ride it like we own the vast of the ocean. Its sunrise and morning breeze from the waves are the best-loved moment I had when I was a child. My friends and I loved to dip every morning or afternoon.
Growing up in a place where rushing waves were fun, not even a scary thing, was one of my childhood’s best experiences. But not in the reality of life when I’ve grown up. Its emblem the adversaries in my life’s journey.
[Read more…] about Stillness in Rushing Waves of GraceI was a single parent and suddenly had a red skin rash. The doctor had a talk with me, “Your rashes are most likely caused by stress. What do you do to relieve stress?”
I thought about it a moment and said, “I took a group of seven cub scouts to a clean-up project last week. Ummm and then I helped chaperone the third grade class to the zoo. The fresh air was very relaxing, except the time a student was climbing in the bushes and I had to get him out of there.” The doctor just nodded her head as I spoke. I said, “I feel honored that the teacher trusts me with the most challenging students.”
The doctor just stared at me, blinking her eyes and said, “I see.”
[Read more…] about A Single Parent & Jesus
