Would I grumble and complain? Would I start my day like that?
I'll never forget the morning I heard John Bevere give this analogy. I was listening to a podcast and putting my makeup on. As soon as he uttered these words, it was an 'OH SNAP' moment. (Can we even use that phrase anymore?).
Then it quickly turned into an OH CRAP moment as I realized that I had over squeezed the tube of my foundation and it got all over my shirt. And it also afforded me the instant opportunity to practice what I had just heard. Would I grumble and complain? Would I start my day like that?
Nope...I changed my shirt and squeezed some Spray'n'Wash on the other one.
How often do you grumble and complain? Do you even realize it? Do you even care?
Well, I know of an entire generation of Israelites who missed out on the things God promised them because of their complaining.
I don't want to miss out on what God has promised me, do you?
Let me challenge you to pay attention to how you react to things throughout your...
What comes out of your mouth is a reflection of what is in your heart.
We couldn't help but hear the huffing and the puffing behind us as my daughters and I stood in line at Kohl's to make an Amazon return.
This older gentleman was at the kiosk and he couldn't figure out how to find the bar code he needed to make his return. You know the one, it is the QR code that comes in an email from Amazon. And if you're lucky enough to have a good cellular signal inside the store you can actually bring it up and show it to the clerk. Well, this man didn't know how to find his code, he didn't know how to search his phone for the email and there was a LONG line of irritated shoppers behind him. There were mumbles and snarky comments coming out of the mouths of those who waited.
Not me. Not my girls. We watched with appreciation as this young kid, maybe in his 20s, helped this older man operate his iPhone. He helped him find the Gmail app and search for 'Amazon'. He showed him now to open the mail and demonstrated how to pinch his fingers, put...
God, what are you doing?
Consider this quote. After all you've been through this past year and ask, "God what are you doing?" Not just in the political landscape, not just in the pandemic, those are important. But what is God doing in you personally, and through you professionally? Have you asked?
I did and it was powerful. Let me tell you what happened.
I knew for God to answer this question we had to deal with all the stuff I was doing. Last year I was doing too much, again. I'm a recovering overachiever after all.
I took a break in January; I needed a detox from all the “doing” and to seek God’s plans for this year. To get away and hear from God, to hear his voice clearly.
"What do you have for me this year, God?"
"Just wait!"
"What does that mean? Wait"
I hate waiting...wait feels like a curse. Anyone else?
Then I felt such a peace wash over me and He then spoke of IMPACT. (Impact is one of my...
Are you lost?
In desperation, I picked up my phone and dialed.
It rang 3 times until finally, my friend Maggie’s voice said, “Hello?"
"I don't know where I'm going," I confessed through tears after an hour of driving.
Maggie's comforting voice, a relief to my panic, gently asked "Are you lost?" And, then with gracious laughter, she added "it happens all the time."
I'm convinced she lives in the middle of nowhere on purpose; off the road so far, out where no GPS has ever been.
I'm convinced she lives there for the sheer fact that she wants her friends to depend — on her.
Then, as if it was God's queue to chime in, I beat him to it:" Yes, God, she's a lot like you in that way, Lord. And I think you do it on purpose too; you create the fog, you dimly light my path and strategically place the curves and forks in my road; all to teach me: dependence."
It was because of a dependence on Maggie, that I eventually made it to...
Have you ever felt unheard by God?
“You ate it!?!”
Feet stomped up the stairs, a door slammed, and muffled cries came from my daughter's bedroom. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, my husband was making dinner and wiping crumbs from his face, cupcake crumbs. Crumbs from the last cupcake that had belonged to my youngest daughter - the one crying upstairs.
Yesterday, he had told her she could have it, then today he ate it.
She didn’t understand.
I knew her pain. I distinctly remember there was a 24-hour rule when I was growing up if we had sweets in the house and it was laying around we had 24 hours to eat it or it was free game and any dibs on it or sharpie written names expired. This rule, however, had not been established in my house.
Tracing her steps I gently knocked on the door, "it’s Mom can I come in". She mumbled something. Her head was buried under the pillow and she peeked out at me. Her tear-streaked face was puffy and her lips were pouty.
“I’m sorry Dad...
Good in grief? How is that even possible? How can that happen for me?
We’ve all lost something or someone dear to us and when we experience loss we grieve. Time will heal our hurting hearts and while some may get stuck, many of us will get through it.
Here’s what I know about grief, my own and those I’ve walked beside: many of us don’t know we can expect something good to come out of our grief.
We can?
Yes.
Listen to Jeremiah 31:13, "...I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow." (NIV)
The Message Translation says, "I’ll convert their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy."
Amplified says: "For I will turn their mourning into joy, And will comfort them and make them rejoice after their sorrow."
God promises to give us:
- Gladness and laughter.
- Lavishing comfort.
Then, He says he will invade us with joy and make us rejoice.
I don’t know about you but, not all my losses have ended like that.
Sure, after the loss...
Failure, what do we do when we are faced with it?
I am no stranger to failure.
I’ve failed licensing exams multiple times. Been passed over for promotions.
Ended engagements and
Felt the betrayal of friendship.
And then after being laid off I became an entrepreneur who learns through what doesn’t work. Again failure.
This week, I even failed at my calling.
Is that even possible?
You betcha it is because I just did it.
I fumbled and fouled up those things that God calls me to do. Those things we aren’t at all naturally equipped for.
Not naturally equipped means it’s a set up for something to go wrong.
And it did. Publicly.
Doh!
“Why?”
“Why does this happen to me?”
Because God does his best work in weakness.
Because he wants us to stop striving and to just be real, and raw, and messy.
I don’t like weakness and messy.
I like neat and orderly.
But as...
Speak to injustice and declare what the Word says.
I have a heavy heart. So many of us do. We have seen injustice with our own eyes. We have seen one man take the life of another. We are angry. We are pissed because this should not be happening.
The death of George Floyd - and the countless others - should not have happened. We are grieved. What happened in the mid-west is terrible. The heart of our country is pierced.
And we should also be sickened, because as quick as unity began to rally over this injustice it was squashed with negative voices bringing division and hate. This a cancer and we need healing.
There is only one person who can bring healing and that is Jesus.
We all need Jesus.
He died for all of this…Ephesians 2:14 says "Our reconciling “Peace” is Jesus! He has made Jew and non-Jew one in Christ. By dying as our sacrifice, he has broken down every wall of prejudice that separated us and has now made us equal through...
Is it selfish to make time for yourself?
More than likely you’ve heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.
We nod and we laugh
And yet we’ve all got places where we’re doing the same ole thing and still expecting breakthrough.
It seems easy to stop the insanity yet we can’t.
One of the biggest reasons is:
“I don’t have time for myself”
Many even call it selfish.
Life is so full already. We don’t have a leftover moment to ourselves.
We’re juggling work and kids, and then due to no fault of our own, we just got tasked — both unexpected and unwelcome — with stay-in-place orders and home school.
Under the weight of all that we can’t do it all. We can’t be the perfect wife, perfect mother, perfect employee, and a perfect teacher. All at the same time.
Then these kids want to eat, so...
The answer to anxiety
My daughter walked into my home office with her latest creation, a homemade caramel iced latte from our kitchen coffee pot, the basic one not the one with all those fancy pods. Beaming with pride she sipped on this sweetness and described how she cracked the recipe code: just the right amount of syrup, and coffee, and milk. How the whipped cream and chocolate drizzle mimicked the one from the boutique coffee shop down the street.
In her excitement I noticed something... her hands were shaky, and so were her feet.
After celebrating with her for finally finding the perfect ratio I grinned and said, "I think your missing one thing."
She looked at me curiously as to what could be missing from this decadence her lips slurped through the straw.
“Your breakfast. You're wobbly and that tells me you didn’t eat.“
"Oh? yeah." She laughed.
We walked back to the kitchen together and I made her scrambled eggs and toast.
...
