Tag Archives: Bible

The Power Of Praise

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I woke up feeling utterly exhausted.  I had barely slept.  My almost 4-year old daughter was up multiple times in the night, crying out from the darkness, pleading for someone to come and rescue her.   Her little body was urging her to get up to go to the bathroom, but her slumber weary mind seemed powerless to actually help her complete the task.

Experience had taught me that if I waited too long to respond, I’d be changing sheets in the dark, and doing extra loads of soil-stained laundry in the morning.  So I groggily willed myself out of bed and answered her persistent calls of distress. Continue reading →

Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

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Our water heater broke almost two weeks ago, and because of crazy work schedules and the fourth of July holiday, we weren’t able to get it fixed until yesterday afternoon.  All that said, it was a bit of a trick figuring out how to bathe and do dishes without any hot water in the house.  Continue reading →

How To Keep Past Mistakes From Defining Your Future

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Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a flash of black.  My heart sank.  Not again!

As I turned my head to get a closer look, my suspicion was confirmed.

They were back…

With a sigh, I grabbed a wad of Kleenex from the bathroom and then set out to track down my uninvited little intruder.  I found him marching resolutely across our freshly painted dining room wall. Continue reading →

Peace In Trying Times

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As I have browsed online articles, and scrolled through my Facebook news-feed over the past few days, I couldn’t help but notice an overwhelming sense of fear, anxiety, frustration, anger and in some cases, hopelessness, reflected back at me.  Tensions are high right now.

Transitions are hard.  It’s especially hard, if you aren’t a fan of the changes unfolding around you.

As I was thinking about this, a scripture popped into my mind.  John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” Continue reading →

What will you choose?

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A few days ago, I was grocery shopping at Aldi with my 3-year-old daughter.  The store was busy as usual.  It was filled with men and women, elderly couples, and lots of young mothers with carts overflowing with groceries and little kids.  As I shopped, I found myself smiling and making casual conversation with a few of the other customers in the store.  (I just can’t seem to help myself… I’m an extrovert!)

When it was time to check-out, I ended up in line behind a mother with three little boys.  Her youngest was seated in the cart and trying desperately to “help” his mom.   Unfortunately, when things didn’t go quite how he hoped they would, he got upset.  As his frustration level rose, it appeared his mom’s anxiety level did as well.  Continue reading →

An Open Letter To Christians Concerning American Politics

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Dear Fellow American Christians,

Let me start out by saying, I have never written anything about politics. Quite honestly, I never thought that I would.  This has been very intentional.  You see, I don’t EVER want differences in political views/opinions to be a reason that someone gets turned away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Because, in my humble opinion, relationship with Jesus is the ONE thing that I think is worth putting my name/reputation on the line for.

Let me be the first to admit, that I haven’t always been a shining example of what a Christian should be.  I am so human (i.e. flawed).  But one thing I do know is that Jesus came to reconcile people like me (sinners) to God.  Continue reading →

How Can I Please You Today?

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Last week, I had a conversation with someone in passing that left me feeling incredibly frustrated.  It actually sparked my last blog post (read here).  This brief interaction left me questioning myself and my abilities.

Now I’m sure that the person that I spoke to probably had NO IDEA how I was feeling.  And let me be clear, they did absolutely nothing wrong!  The topic of our conversation didn’t even deal with me directly.

But for some reason, our little chat left me feeling overlooked. Passed over. Rejected..

Ever been there? Continue reading →

Transitions

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I have been traveling through life, navigating a winding road of what feels like never-ending transitions…

Graduating from College.

Starting Graduate studies and a ministry internship.

Marrying the man of my dreams. (Sigh)

Graduating from Seminary.

Starting my first professional ministry job.  (YAY!)

Becoming a mom for the first time.

Being a working mom.

Becoming a mom again!

Choosing to stay home with my kiddos.

Becoming a mom AGAIN!!!

Sending the first kid to school (mom tears up a bit)

Sending the second kid to school (mom does the happy dance!)

Restless…

Feeling pulled and called into something more… but what?!

FRUSTRATION!!!!

And yet… maybe this restless angst is the beginning of something new.

Again.

I guess that’s what life is.  It’s a series of new experiences.  It’s learning how to live in and through these new experiences until they are no longer new.  And then repeating the process over and over and over again. Continue reading →

Running On Faith

The wind gust blew hard against my tired body.  My feet felt clumsy and heavy, almost as if they were encased in cement blocks instead of snug inside my trusty asics running shoes.  To make matters worse, half-way through my run, I started to feel a cramp in my side.

This was supposed to be an easy run!  It was a mile shorter than my last trek.  I didn’t even have the usual added resistance and weight burden that came from pushing my 2 ½ year-old-daughter in our jogging stroller.

Continue reading →

Straight Paths

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When I was a young girl, one of my favorite things to do in the summer was to explore the ravine behind my best friend’s house. She had a huge backyard filled with what seemed like an endless forest of trees.  We spent a lot of time building forts, eating sticky peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and navigating the trails that wound through the woods.

The main avenue into her woods was a wide and easy to follow trail that had been landscaped into the property. It was a large U shaped path that started on one side of the backyard and if you followed it completely around, would bring you right back to the grassy lawn behind the house. Continue reading →