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June 30, 2016 So, Monday I sat down to have my quiet time with the Lord, and I read this verse: The humble will see their God at work and be glad. Let all who seek God's help be encouraged. ~Psalm 69:32 And encouraged, I was. Because I have been wrestling recently with questions about my calling. Wondering which path I should be walking. And I am seeking Him! Thus, when I read that those who seek His help should be encouraged - when I was reminded that He is at work - my heart felt like a weight had been lifted. I wrote in my journal, I am forever thankful for my Lord's attention, help, and encouragement. HE knows what I need and HE is faithful. Yes. HE is always at work. I want to remember that Truth. Oh, I need to trust that God is working things out - even when I can't see the result and am uncomfortable in the not-knowing. Thank You, Father, for Your work and Your perfect plans. I confess my uneasiness in waiting to see the end, but I will wait. Please help me to ...

December 2, 2015 I have been so absolutely blessed by the time I have spent with the LORD lately. I mean, I have always been blessed in spending time with Him. ALWAYS. It's just that yesterday's moments were especially wonderful and I simply have to share about them with you. I entered into my time with God with a fairly heavy heart, because of so many needs which have been made known to me. My desire was to spend time laying the needs before Him, trusting and thanking Him for meeting every one. So I knelt down and wrote out my thanksgivings and requests and then my eyes fell upon this scripture which was printed in my prayer journal: I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. ~Isaiah 42:16 I read those words, and then read them again. And I felt pretty sure God was giv...

October 7, 2015 I always love going to church. It is a delight to gather with my brothers and sisters in Christ to worship the LORD together, and to hear His Word preached for our edification and transformation. I just love being part of such a service. But sometimes, God has a little something extra planned to make me cherish the experience even more. Like HE did this past Sunday. Our pastor was teaching about praying the scriptures and at the end of the service he gave us opportunity to put into practice the very thing he'd just been saying. We each had a list of topics about which we might want to pray, which were followed by a couple related scripture references. Since I had very recently decided to host a women's listening retreat and have much planning to do, the topic Guidance appealed to me and I "randomly" chose the second scripture reference listed. (If you know me, you know I don't believe anything is truly random.) I just love what happened next....

April 2, 2014 Saturday I was grocery shopping. When I got to the frozen vegetable isle, I walked up and down it four times - progressively slower with each pass. I was looking for pearl onions for the chicken pot pie I'm going to make this week, but I just couldn't find them. At first I took my usual brisk stride down the isle, then I walked slowly, then slower, until I was eventually going step, step, pause and scan; step, step, pause and scan. Finally I decided, Whatever! I don't really need those onions, anyway. And I walked over to pick out the ice cream. (Where I was much happier to spend time lingering until I found just the right flavor...) Were it not for the goodness of God, I'm sure I wouldn't have thought about those onions again. But God is good (All the time!) and I did think about those onions once more. I was back home, putting the groceries away when it happened. I opened the freezer, picked up a basket, and got a great big smile on my face. T...

February 20, 2014 I learned something about myself. I want to be known, and I want to be special. And when I was first realizing those desires, part of me felt ashamed. How self-centered of me , I thought. What a huge indication that I still have so far to go in learning to be self-less, and more like Jesus. Until. Until I felt God speaking to my heart asking me, What if it was I who gave you those desires? What if you are that way, because that's how I made you? And what if, My dear, what if I am the One who can fulfill those desires? Ahhhhh. Spend some time pondering those questions! I thought about my year of memorizing Psalm 139. I remembered how much it delighted me to realize how deeply God knows me . He knows my thoughts, my actions, my whereabouts. He knows my words - before I even say them. He knows what scares me, and what gives me hope. Oh, He knows so.much.more than just my name. I am fully known by my Father. Then I thought about one of my favorite Bible verses...

July 11, 2012 I don't like to be a nag. I really don't. But sometimes, my son simply doesn't give me an option. When he ignores me, pretends not to hear me, or goes directly against what I'm saying, well... I repeat myself, er, nag. And Joshua says I'm annoying. I can't say I blame him for calling me annoying. I mean, if I kept saying the same thing to myself over and over (and over!) again, I suppose I would call me annoying, too! *wink* So, the other day when I was dealing with Joshua and his attitude, I braced myself for the label again. But something else happened. Oh, Joshua called me 'annoying'. I knew I could count on him for that. But I heard Someone else speak, too. When Joshua finally agreed to what I was asking of him (Can you say 'Lip service'?) I felt the need to keep speaking. I said, "Joshua, you need to know I love you. I realize you don't like what I'm saying, and you don't want to do it. But I'm trying...

February 16, 2011 Anyone else working on taxes these days? Brian and I spent time on ours last weekend. (Oh, yeah. We know how to plan an exciting weekend! *wink*) And as the number-crunching came to a close I found myself face-to-face with another example of God's perfect provision. I had entered all the income and expense information for my speaking and book sales, and when I hit the final 'Done' button and Turbo Tax made its last calculations, the report was that I 'made' a couple hundred dollars in 2010. Ever since I began speaking and writing I have always said - I'm not in this for money. I don't want to charge big fees. I want to share my story, and the things God is teaching me. That's what it's all about! Yet every year at tax time - when I see in numbers how the previous year went - I am tempted to link my worth to a number. And when I consider an average income of less than $20 a month, I tend to rate that 'worth' on the low...

October 1, 2009 I love to brag about God. Love to tell about His faithfulness. It simply delights me to share cool God-stories. And I have one for you today. As you may know, my husband is a small-business owner. As you may also know, small-business owners are particularly prone to stress these days. Brian is no different. Like everyone else, he is dealing with a failing economy. He has had issues with employees, had his business burglarized this summer, and is having his faith stretched as He tries to trust God in the midst of all of it. Not to mention he is also a landlord, dealing with some very difficult tenants. Yeah, that, and he has to come home to ME every day. *grin* A few months ago I started seeing ads in the bulletin at church about a four-day men's conference coming up in October, and I was so hopeful that Brian would want to attend. I knew it would be a good thing for him to get away and have God refresh his heart. And one Sunday I pointed to the announceme...

August 8, 2008 He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. ~Psalm 121:3-4 It is the desire of my heart to become holy. I want to be a godly woman - to be a reflection of Him to the world around me. But last night I found myself thinking, No, God. I don't want to be like You in this way! The "this way" to which I was referring was the neither-slumber-nor-sleep way. It started when I went to bed. Joshua had a friend spend the night and they were up late, making lots of noise. We finally told them it was time to be quiet and go to sleep, because they were keeping Brian and me awake. I thought that would do it. Ha! I spent the next hour or so dealing with a nosy little brother who wanted to spy on his big brother's sleep over. Joshua was irritated. By this time I could tell he was quite tired and really wanted to go to sleep, but Matthew was keeping him up. When I f...

August 1, 2008 It has delighted my heart to have God show Himself to me in so many ways - thus leading to this "HE" series, which I never intended to start...but I have to go where HE leads me! I woke up this morning, knowing I needed to go running. I have sort of been too lazy, er, busy to run much over the past week or so, and before not running becomes a habit again I knew I needed to get going. So I did. As I ran, and enjoyed my iPod, I prayed, and realized how much I was enjoying being with God. Really. I talked with Him and just knew He was running with me. When I was getting tired and wanted to quit I prayed and asked Him to give me strength, and - seeing the parallel - I asked Him to strengthen me in mothering when I'm tired and I want to quit there, too. As I was going up a hill, and really wanted to quit, I asked God to call me onward and push me forward. I prayed, Be before me and behind me . Then I smiled and added, And beside me . I continued on an...

July 24, 2008 This morning as I was getting dressed, I put my hand in my pocket and found a verse which I had left there the last time I wore these shorts. As it always is, God's timing was perfect. I read these words and knew God was speaking to my heart today - just as He did the day I choose to carry this verse the first time. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. ~Psalm 94:19 I don't know about you, but I am quite familiar with anxiety. No need for me to study that word any further. But consolation ? When I hear that word, I think consolation prize - loser . And I began to wonder how being a loser applies to this verse, so I grabbed my handy Webster's Dictionary and looked up "consolation." This is what it said: the act or an instance of consoling: the state of being consoled: COMFORT . And I put the definition into the verse. What do you think about this? When anxiety was great within me, your act of comforting me brou...

July 2, 2008 For several weeks now I have been saying I think I could "handle" running so much better if I had an ipod. Something about music makes painful things tolerable to me. Well, my dear husband had an ipod at work and last night he brought it home. We sat on the couch and loaded some songs from my favorite CDs and a couple more from itunes, and this morning I found out how much music truly helps me run. I got up, got my running gear on, figured out the ipod and was on my way. And Sandi Patty, Keith Green, and Barry Manilow came with me. We had a blast! As I was running and listening to some of my favorite tunes, I was reminded God laughs. I had the ipod set to play the songs randomly and I am just sure God was picking the order of play. I imagine He was smiling as He watched me gliding along listening to Sandi Patty sing "You Set Me Free," and when I was laughing at Keith Green's silliness in "He'll Take Care of the Rest." Then there ...