Weed Your Garden
I am no gardener, and while I like a pretty yard and flowers, I don’t enjoy yard work. So I procrastinate until I can’t avoid the yard work any longer. This past weekend I was outside pulling weeds and trimming overgrown grass …
Blooms in the Desert
Have you seen the super bloom happening in California? These beautiful flowers are sprouting all over desert areas whose very name qualifies it as a place where nothing lives.
Bread and Water
Anyone else ever battle feeling overwhelmed? I've been there more times than I can count, and whenever I reach that word I think of the story of Elijah..
Hearing Problems Lead to Listening Problems
My 17-year-old hasn’t changed at all since she was a child. She is determined, self-motivated, and goal-orientated. She sees what she wants and no obstacles get in her way. I constantly remind myself how great these traits are—or will be, once they’re shaped through God’s hands.
More of Him
Friends, we will never be all we want to be until we align that pursuit with who God created us to be. Until we…
Posture of Prayer
Friends, I got schooled this week by God. And I needed it.
The other day I was on my knees lamenting to God over a list of things I've been praying about where I have yet to see movement of any kind--well, unless
Where’s Your Focus?
I was reading all about Peter jumping out of the boat and walking across the stormy waters toward Jesus. I always have loved this story. The faith it took for Peter to leave the safety of his boat. The love he had to have for his Savior to desire so much to be near him. And the fact …
Old Habits Die Hard
This past week I was reading Genesis. Sometimes I just like to go back to the beginning. Anyway, I came to the whole Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery part and dove into the familiar story. But it was once I arrived at the end that I stumbled on a few little words that I didn't remember seeing before.
Laughter and Joy
Life can be busy. It can be hard. It does its best to steal our joy and sometimes, just sometimes, it succeeds. I'm going to lay it all out there people,
Who’s Side is He on Anyway?
I was reading recently in Joshua right at the point where Joshua is nearing Jericho. You know, that large city with an even larger wall around it? The one he was supposed to conquer? Well, that evening he camped beside city and the commander of the Lord's army came to speak to him. Here's the passage that stopped me:
Be a Child
I was listening to a song recently, and it used the phrase "Child of God." It's one of those string of words you use and hear often, but I stopped this time when it played.
Old Habits Die Hard
…We need to stop jumping through whatever hoops we think it'll take to change and start believing in the power of Christ in our lives…
My Jelly Donut Life
Ever feel like you’re stuck in the middle? Like the room moves around you, but you don’t have a spot to sit? Like people wave and say hi, but then pair up with other friends?
Battle Praise
There is something amazing that happens as I open God’s Word in the morning and just read it. Some days it’s simply one chapter, other days I’m pulled into a story and blow through five or six. If you haven’t ever accomplished reading His story, I challenge you to try it.
Be Unshakeable
I was recently reading a section of Acts where Stephen recounts what we now call the Old Testament. Stephen summed up all the major plot points and kept it short. I was marveling at what appeared his natural ability to give a summary when something stopped me. It was one line about the Israelites and that golden calf:
Listen First, Ask Later
So I was reading Jeremiah the other day and chapter 32 stopped me. Mainly because of its title: Jeremiah Buys a Field.
The Beauty in Cancer
Cancer is ugly. It's cruel and doesn't play favorites. And last week it took my father-in-law. Yet in the midst of all that our family is going through, I refuse to let something so ugly get the last word. So I'm looking to the beauty in it.