Right about now is when New Year's resolutions start to flounder. It's been a few weeks... maybe you started off strong and enthusiastic, but you aren't quite seeing any results yet. Or maybe life is getting too busy again, and your "need-to's" are over-powering your "want-to's." Sound about right? One of my resolutions goals for this year is to focus on gratitude. In fact, I jumped on the "one word" bandwagon and made it my keyword for 2013. I want to be more grateful. I want to have a heart of thankfulness... in all things and for all things. I want that to define me -- just like being a Christian and a wife defines me. But life has gotten pretty busy again (not that it ever [...Read More]
“C” is for Compassion.
October 8, 2012 By 8 Comments
Lately I've been overwhelmed by the compassion of our God. It started as I read through John this past week. I'm also reading Ezekiel - in fact, I'm mostly reading Ezekiel. But my reading plan included 5 chapters from John as well. And I've been struck by the pure compassion of Christ as He dealt with all aspects of humanity. He had compassion on the multitudes, offering physical and spiritual healing. Not only did He care enough to bind their wounds and heal their diseases; He cared about their eternal state. He sacrificed His own rest and time alone, to meet the needs of the lost world around Him. He had compassion on the religious leaders, as He preached about futility of [...Read More]
Dealing with the Mundane
June 20, 2012 By 2 Comments
You know the story all too well. That sink full of dishes can never quite stay empty for very long. Neither can the hamper full of dirty clothes. Those fingerprints in the kitchen keep coming back. There's always more dust to be wiped away, more dirt to be vacuumed up. It's repetitive. It's mundane. It gets old fast. But guess what? There's a way to handle the mundane that will both help you and please God. First, change your attitude: remember that all we do is for Christ Himself. Paul talks about this in his letter to the Colossians: "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your [...Read More]
We’re not very good people.
June 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Do you know what's in your heart? God does. He created it perfect, beautiful, and whole. But then Adam disobeyed Him in the Garden of Eden, and sin entered the world. And like a cancer, sin spreads throughout our hearts and overtakes us [Jeremiah 17:9]: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Contrary to what the world says, we are not inherently good. We read that in Paul's letter to the Romans, when he states that there are none righteous. In fact, he's quoting from the Psalms, when David speaks of God looking down from heaven, searching for one man who lives wisely and seeks God with his whole heart. And he states quite firmly [...Read More]
Mirroring Christ
March 21, 2012 By 3 Comments
1 Corinthians 13 is a rather well-known passage. It's quoted on greeting cards and at weddings. I daresay half the population could at least stumble through a paraphrase of verses 4-7, the popular "love" passage. But how often and how extensively do we actually apply those verses? They're not just for weddings or valentines, you know. They're not just about newlyweds or dating couples or those who have celebrated 50th anniversaries. Those verses are for every single Christian on this earth. Every one who calls himself (or herself) a follower of Christ. Those verses should be biographical of each one of us, even as they are of Christ. Let me explain. Here is the original passage: "Love is [...Read More]
Glorifying God at Christmas
December 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment
One thing to keep in mind this weekend: it's not about you. It's not about the presents, the decorations, the plays and cantatas, the lights and music, the cookies and candies, or even the family and friends. It's about glorifying God. However you celebrate Christmas, make sure you keep Him first through all of it. Determine to seek His pleasure in every little thing you do. Determine to put His purposes before your own. Whether you celebrate by giving time and money to local charities, or by simply exchanging gifts with your family and friends, do it for His enjoyment, not your own. Whether you bake cookies to give away or to enjoy within your own family, bake them for His glory. Seek His [...Read More]
Occupied with Joy
August 4, 2011 By 1 Comment
"There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy... Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life [...Read More]
Five Minute Friday: Grateful
July 8, 2011 By 2 Comments
First, a confession. I've barely written anything lately other than my grocery list. A few weeks ago I had a couple of marathon days working on my book (and am now really close to finishing the first draft). But since then I've barely touched my writing. Still been reading plenty, but I think I've only attempted poetry one time, and I know I haven't shared much on here. Hopefully another few weeks and I'll get back into writing mode. But, there's good news. It's time again for another Five Minute Friday. And even if I'm not feeling poetic or prosaic, I can at least write for five minutes. Especially when someone else gives me the topic, which today happens to be.... GRATEFUL My thoughts [...Read More]
Obsession
June 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Lately I've been studying about nutrition - learning how to incorporate whole grains into our meals, which proteins are the leanest, and what fruits and vegetables help counteract which physical ailments. I'm trying to lose weight, but I don't want any "fad" diet that makes the numbers on the scale plummet too quickly; for I know that kind of diet can't be kept up long term. Those kinds of diets are usually low in key nutrients, and they end up having negative effects in the long run. I want something that can turn into a "lifestyle" for me and my husband. A way we can both still enjoy our food, and have enough to satiate our appetites, but still glean as many nutrients as possible and [...Read More]
Yet I Will Hope
May 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
"Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17-18) "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling" (Psalm 46:1-3) Why this trust? Why this rejoicing? We need not fear the wickedness of men: "Fret not yourself because of evildoers; [...Read More]
