Got Stress? ...be still and know...

Our society does not make it easy to be still or quiet.  Everywhere I look there are distractions. My iPhone is sitting there on the table making sounds every few minutes, the TV is across the room enticing me to turn it on to see who the Today Show is featuring or what great cooks and recipes are being shown on Food Network. My laptop is just an arm's reach away with the internet, games, music - just about anything I could want for entertainment. And my Kindle
Fire is sitting right there as well, with books galore to explore! Yikes! It's all just calling out my name.

And yet....God's Word says to "Be still and know". (Psalm 46:10) But to know what exactly?  Well, it seems that if we still all the voices and noise in our lives we can know God, and that He is exalted in the earth - that He is the Lord Almighty and He is with us...He is our fortress.  Here's the exact quote:

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."  The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Psalm 46:10-11


I like to be busy. I feel more useful if I accomplish a large number of tasks during the day.  I love to cross things off of my "to do" list. It looks impressive.  So all of these things are pulling at me every day and yet God says to "be still and know".  I also like to do things for myself. Handling problems as they arise in my own strength comes naturally.  "I can do this" is constantly going through my head. It's not that I don't want help, but I just have a "get it done" mentality.

So how does that correlate with "being still"?  Not very well, apparently.  God is telling us that if we quiet our spirits and just dwell on Him we will find everything we need to face the situation. To face the day.  He says we will know that He is exalted - over the problem - that He is Almighty- He is strong. That He is with us - we are not alone. That He, the God of Jacob, is our fortress. A fortress is a place to hide & be safe from our enemies.  And isn't that what we really want, after all?

New Years and Second Chances

I am competitive. I love to win, hate to lose. When my older brother was teaching me to play baseball and I did poorly I always begged for a second chance.  Just let me try to hit one more pitch, or attempt to throw the ball a little straighter or further.  I needed desperately to try again and not end the session in defeat. I don’t think anybody likes to lose. It doesn’t feel good.  But some are more determined than others and press on until they win, or at least improve.

 Life doesn’t always give us second chances, though.  In school we are not always given the opportunity to take the test over again.  When performing in front of an audience we only have that one moment to do our best and then it’s over.

But God DOES give us 2nd Chances-right up until our last day on this planet! 

As we begin this New Year I contemplate what it means to have New Beginnings and am so grateful that with God every single day can be a new beginning.   His grace never ends and His love never fails.  With every breath we breathe we are given the chance to repent, to thank Him, to praise Him!  To begin again - to lean on His everlasting Arms for strength to walk with Him into a new day!

Lamentations 3:22-24
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

May the year 2016 be a year of knowing and experiencing
God's grace and His mercies brand new every morning!

A Thankful Heart is a Happy Heart

Thanksgiving is a Holiday that I believe is important for us all. It is said the pilgrims celebrated with a meal to thank God for His provision after much difficulty and trials.  Governor Bradford proclaimed
a day of thanksgiving in the year 1676. October of 1777 witnessed a time when all the 13 colonies joined in a communal celebration. It also marked the victory over the British.

After a number of events and changes, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November of thanksgiving in the year 1863. This was due to the continuous efforts of Sarah Hale, a magazine editor.

When we take time to be thankful it gives God glory and it also gets our minds off of ourselves.  People are constantly striving to be happy-I see news stories about it all the time, and the answer is so simple: bless others, consider their plight instead of your own. My grandmother used to say "There is always someone else who is worse off than you."  And she was right...all we have to do is go look for them.

We take so much for granted.  There are people in our own towns and cities that struggle daily for food and heat in their homes.  I've never known that kind of struggle and sometimes I feel guilty about that, but guilt about something I had no control over is counterproductive.  What God desires and even expects from us is to reach out and help those that are less fortunate.  It's not hard to find them..all we have to do is call a local church or a church located in the inner city, a homeless shelter or Salvation Army office - they will have a long list of ways we can bless others, I am sure!

Yes, Thanksgiving is important and I pray we never let go of the tradition of celebrating together as families and neighbors and friends.  True confessions: I didn't look through the whole bible myself, but  there are at least 46 bible verses that speak of giving thanks. Here are a few:

Psalm 100:4  "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

      And into His courts with praise.

      Be thankful to Him, and bless His name."

1 Chronicles 16:34  "Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever ."

 1 Thessalonians 5:18   "...in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Happy Thanksgiving Day!  Enjoy your meal and time with family and friends and if you don't have someone to celebrate with, know that the Lord God is always near.

Just a Simple Girl

Well, let me start off by saying I'm not really a "girl" anymore since I'm beyond the age of "girl-hood", but inside my head I am still a girl.  :)  So, that being said...I am not fancy, I'm not beautiful, I'm not rich, I live in an average home in an average neighborhood. I don't have great ambitions - never have - but I do want to make a difference in this world.  And that is actually a huge ambition, and yet each and every one of us can attain to it!

How?  Just by being you and using the talents and personality you've been given...that's how!  It doesn't take a great ability or beauty or money to start a chain reaction of blessing in this life.  A smile.  A helping hand. A prayer. A thoughtful note.  Some people call this "random acts of kindness."  I call it bearing fruit for God.  It's what we're called to do.  We all have our "sphere of influence" - people in our lives that no one else can reach but us.  This is important to realize because when we do, we understand the importance of showing them Christ's love that they may not get to       experience anywhere else.          

One of the keys to success in bearing fruit for God in this life is not comparing yourself to ANYone else!  One side of comparing is pride and on the other side is depression.  Neither are healthy or productive.  So we accept ourselves as God made us, with whatever gifts he's given, and we go forth in His name to just love on people.  And everyone can do that!  Just be a simple girl-or guy. Be who you are and let God show you how you can make a big difference in someone's life today.

The pics I've added show ways to be simply "you"....make muffins for a neighbor, invite someone over for a visit, give flowers, sew a tablerunner or something else for someone - or just smile!

 Just go out there and be simply, beautifully YOU! And let the love of God flow...

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

A Patchwork Life

If your life is anything like mine, it's a combination of the good and bad, the beautiful moments and ugly moments, the fun, carefree times and the stress of trying to hold it all together as a parent or in a workplace environment.  Some days I'm just glad to be alive and other days people and the world around me are so negative and disappoint me so severely that I just want to leave it all behind.

How can this be?  It's because we have been created with emotions and also because this world is not paradise.  In the Bible Jesus tells us that "in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)  So we have basically been promised that we will experience trouble and hard times. Rich Mullins wrote a song about troubles that I can relate to and it also encourages me. You can find it on YouTube. A lot of his songs encourage me because he's just real and sings about real life.


The hard times will make us strong if we let them.  I've heard people say that trials will either make you bitter or better, and I believe that's true.  It's a matter of perspective and attitude.  When I was in grade school I was made fun of all the time.  I would often go home in tears and my mom would just tell me that kids do that because they're jealous of me...although I couldn't for the life of me see anything they would be jealous of!  I was just a normal kid - not really pretty, not rich, not stylish, not good at sports..just ordinary.  But what I learned from the pain of being treated that way was that I never wanted to purposely cause that kind of pain to anyone else.  It helped me to become compassionate.  And God also taught me about forgiveness at that young age.  Forgiveness is freeing.  Compassion is essential to live a Christian life effectively.


So as I reflect on these things I see my life as a quilt that has been pieced together of all types of fabrics (I am a quilter, so this is a good analogy for me).  In a scrap quilt there are all colors and types of prints used - some are spectacularly beautiful- some very ordinary; some I might not even like, but when you add them to the scrap quilt they become one lovely piece of artwork and you would never even notice a particular fabric....you see the whole, not the individual pieces.  That's how God sees us - one beautiful creation and that's how we should see ourselves.  Don't obsess over the not-so-nice or  repulsive parts of your life - see what God sees!

Oldies and Broken Hearts

Music is one of my favorite things on this earth.  Even as a little girl I loved to sing and to hear my dad or mom play on the organ or piano.  I was a teen-ager in the 1960’s and listened to the latest music on my parents’ old wooden radio cabinet that stood about 3 1/2” tall in my room.  Discovering the Beatles and Beach Boys and Motown music was magical.  We could’t wait to hear the latest hits from our favorite groups.  As I now listen to those “oldies” I realize that a large number of those songs told of broken hearts and rejection.  It’s a common theme even in today’s music.  The reason must be because relationships are important to us and we thrive when we are loved and we die a little inside when people leave or reject us, and that can be a friend or lover hurting us by deserting us or through death as well.  Hearts break for a lot of reasons, but the result is the same...grief and deep hurt.



The good news is that Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted.  It’s one reason He was sent here.  It’s the result of accepting His love into our hearts and following him day by day according to his word.  Often our gut reaction to pain of this type is to run and/or hide.  To try to avoid future hurt we strive to protect ourselves and we build walls.  But that only prevents us from receiving love and healing.  It’s been said that you can’t heal a deep wound by placing a bandaid on top.  It has to be cleaned out and some sort of medication has to be administered which is often painful. (my mother was raised on a farm and they would put rubbing alcohol on cuts, which she did for us also and boy, did that burn!) But going through that painful experience is what helps bring the healing.  Leaving the cut or abrasion alone allows bacteria to grow and cause infection.  Our hearts are like that.  We need to go to our Creator and pour out our grief and pain to him so he can clean the wound and apply his mercy, compassion and love.  Trying to be strong and handle it on our own will only keep us from experiencing this wonderful, healing balm from our great God.  A friend and pastor once said that people that feel deeply laugh a lot and cry a lot and that’s just how God wants us to go through life - feeling deeply.  I’ve known people who are so guarded that they seldom laugh and don’t allow themselves to cry, but to my way of thinking that’s not really living.  It’s just going through the motions of life.  So take your broken heart to Jesus and let him do what only he can do effectively - heal us from the inside-out.



Psalm 34:14 “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Isaiah 61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted.”

Do you see what I see?

We love traveling to Florida for time away and have been blessed to do so many times.  One of our favorite past times while there is to hunt for shells.  In the northern panhandle there are not many shells to be found because of a sandbar several yards out that inhibits the larger shells from reaching the shore area.  

 We especially enjoy finding sand dollars, but they are difficult to obtain in one piece.  By the time they reach the shore the waves have beat them up till they are in small pieces.  Most of the ones we locate are about the size of a quarter or less.  They are known to get as large as 4 or more inches in diameter.  You usually have to swim out beyond the sandbar and dive down to retrieve the larger ones, which we have never tried.

Along the shoreline many smaller sand dollars may be found, along with a variety of other types of shells.  If you are persistent you will discover the unbroken ones.  When I am searching for my treasures oftentimes I see other footprints in the sand, indicating that others have searched the same spot, but even though that’s true I still find some lovely shells intact, not beaten up or broken and I wonder “did they miss this one?”  Which leads me to my point:  If we are diligent when seeking God and His truths, we WILL find him!

Jesus himself is a treasure that cannot be compared to earthly riches...he taught this about the kingdom of God, but I believe it can also be applied to a person finding Him.  He alone can satisfy our deepest desires and needs.

Matthew 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

Jesus has made us this promise, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7

Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on him while he is near.”

So, the question remains...do you see what I see?

Worship-what does it mean to you?

Worship.....the very word conjures up many different images as well as opinions and experiences...

My question to you today is "What does worship mean to you?"

Romans 12:1 says "Therefore I urge you, brothers and sister, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice,
 holy and pleasing to God - 
this is your true and proper worship."

For me it means living for God everyday in everything I say, do and think.  Some days it's when I'm out in nature as you see my husband is above; observing the beauty and life that God has created in each and every object.

It can also be when a child is consecrated to God through baptism or dedication.

For me, much of the time it is my love for God expressed in song...

Often as I look up into the vastness and glory of the skies I see His Glory and stand in awe.

I once wrote a song about worship...here are the words:

"The One We Worship"
"How do you worship Someone who - 
Spoke into existence the sky so vast and blue....He filled mighty oceans that break upon and shape the sand, Yet takes and molds my life with the gentle stroke of his hand.  How do you worship Someone who paints each fragile flow'r its own design and hue?

He carved heart-stopping mountains that rise and stand so tall; Yet lovingly reaches down to lift me when I fall.

He's worthy of everything I can do - asking
only devotion from a heart made new.
O Father, I love you, I worship you; You've ransomed my life - my heart belongs to You."

Yes, He's worthy of everything I could possibly do for Him - yet He asks for me - just me....ALL of me....my heart, my love....and I give it gladly, because therein is my joy, my pleasure, true fulfillment.