Good and Hard Run on Parallel Tracks

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Good and Hard Run on Parallel Tracks

When I read this quote by John Woodall, it hit me like a freight train (pardon the pun)…

“Good and hard run on parallel tracks.”

Oftentimes, we can find ourselves in hard places, right? From less than ideal circumstances to life altering events, life can dish out hard on a daily basis and it can put us in rather uncomfortable places.

But did you know, there is always good to be found … even in the hard.

Sometimes it’s harder than others to find the good in the hard, but when you look for it (or more importantly, when you look for God, you’ll find Him), and you’ll realize the good has been there all along, waiting to be noticed, waiting to be the focus.

The good is God. He is good … even in the hard…

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Unity Centered Around You and Me is Not True Unity as God Intended it to Be. Actually, it’s Idolatry.

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Unity Centered Around You and Me is Not True Unity as God Intended it to Be. Actually, it’s Idolatry.

Unity centered around you and me is not true unity as God intended it to be. Actually, it’s a form of idolatry. Any “unity” that calls for coming together while leaving God out will fail. It will fall. God will have no other gods before Him. Man made unity held together by worldly ideologies is a false god. It will will unravel at the seams, because it is far more destructive than it seems.

Disobeying God’s instruction always leads to destruction.

Just look at the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. In verse 4 we see the very reason for their construction of the tower was to protect or control their unity “lest they be dispersed over the face of the earth.” They sought man made unity by “making a name for themselves.” Man made unity will always give a false sense of security. What they created God frustrated. He confused their language and dispersed them.

When we do things our way, we will always be led astray, but when we do things God’s way, He will protect and bless as we obey.

Pastor Joe Green brought a WORD today on UNITY in the first of a two part sermon series centered around Pentecost.

Pastors, your people need you to boldly proclaim God’s truth in a world that is constantly feeding them lies. Today’s Godless culture is nothing new. It’s reminiscent of others that have made brick and mortar towers and golden calves, and more recently, these graven images appear in the form of Godless ideologies and man made philosophies.

Collin Hansen said “Many pastors are trying to have the “both and” mentality in an “either or” world and it’s pulling their churches at the seams.”

We are either for God or we are against Him. There is no “both and” in His “either or” call for devotion and loyalty. He requires an undivided heart. Hot or cold. Not lukewarm. We must choose between God’s way and the world’s. We cannot do both. When we choose one, we must reject the other.

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” ~ James 4:4 ESV

So, in the words of Pastor Green, let’s remember these 5 things…

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Motherhood: 3 Valuable Lessons from My Point of View

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Motherhood: 3 Valuable Lessons from My Point of View

I know, I know. You don’t need another Mother’s Day post. There are so many good ones out there chock full of valuable lessons worth a share, and while my two cents may not make a difference for you, these three lessons have made a huge difference for me!

{Disclaimer: these are all lessons I’m still learning, and quite frankly, they’re the three things I struggle with most, so this post is probably more for me than you, but nonetheless, I pray you find value in it, too.}

Motherhood: 3 valuable lessons from my point of view:

1. Don’t do it for them. Do it with them. Show and assure them. It will grow and mature them.

2. Being proactive helps guard against being inactive or reactive.

3. Give yourself grace to begin again.

So, what exactly does this mean? I’m glad you asked…

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Words Have Power

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Words Have Power

I love Winnie the Pooh. I mean, who doesn’t love that “silly ol’ bear” who came to life through the words of A.A. Milne. His words while simple and somewhat subtle, were indeed pretty powerful, too. So much so, a few of them from the movie Christopher Robin inspired this blog post. And if you' haven’t seen the movie, it’s worth the watch. And maybe after watching it, this movie inspired mantra will resonate with you, too!

You do you like Pooh did Pooh.

As a writer, I want my words to matter. I want them to penetrate past the surface and sit with the reader in a deeper place of heart work and life change. Sometimes though, I can find myself trying too hard, worrying too much, and allowing too often the very life and purpose I want my words to give to others to be drained right out of me!

And that’s when I am reminded, “You do you, like Pooh did Pooh.”

So many of Pooh’s ponderings have quite a correlation to God’s promises!

Simple yet profound. Empty yet incredibly full. Small yet oh so big.

My words apart from God’s Word will always fall short, but God’s Word will never return void. (Isaiah 55:11) My words have no power, but they do have the ability to connect others with God’s powerful Word. The only Word that is “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12) and does have power, authority, and “truth that sets us free.” (John 8:32)

And while these words from the movie, Christopher Robin, spoke to my heart in a whimsical and wonderful way, the Word of God has the ability to speak even more powerfully and profoundly every single day…

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o.BE.DIE.nce

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o.BE.DIE.nce

Obedience seems to be the theme on the blog this week, and I’ve learned from experience, when a word resonates, there’s a reason, especially when words within the word resonate, too. So, without further ado, let me break it down for you. That’s what the Lord did for me, and in order to live it out, it’s so important to understand what it’s all about!


o.BE.DIE.nce.

That word smack dab in the middle of the word — DIE. Die to self so I can live for Him. And then the word that comes just before it — BE. Be with God first, so I can serve Him best.

I’m a doer by nature. The word “obedience” has always appealed to my “doer heart.” God says, “Do this,” I obey. Plain and simple. But, well, it’s not that plain and simple. If I make obedience about a formulaic task, before long, I forget the heart of obedience, and make it more about my work and less about His will. I replace obedience with busyness.

And then before I know it, busyness has stolen the spotlight from obedience. Yep, we all battle busyness (to some degree). It invades every life stage and is no respecter of age. It even creeps in to the slower pace forced by a global pandemic. Busyness isn’t limited to our schedules outside the home, it can creep in to our to do’s lists at home, too!

Busyness manifests itself in the way we relate, respond, and react to others. It affects the way we cope and robs us of our hope. It even masks itself as honorable responsibility, and we wear it like some Medal of Honor around our neck hoping others see significance, when in reality, we are choking trying to make a difference.

We can organize it, categorize it, colorcode it, and try to unload it, but it attacks, fights back, and cuts us no slack. Why does it keep winning? We get a handle on it, scale back a bit, and then boom, it hits us again, this time harder and stronger. How do we battle back?

As I wrestle with it myself, I can’t offer you a tried and true 5-step plan to get rid of it or a foolproof “how to” program to manage it, but I can offer these 4 “r” words as a little piece of advice that always invite peace into my busy life. All four of them reminders of true o.BE.DIE.nce...

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Here Am I for the Great I Am: Making Sense of Obedience

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Here Am I for the Great I Am: Making Sense of Obedience

Recently, my Monday mornings have been spent pouring over my notes from Sunday sermons. When you are given such rich truths, you want to make sure they take root!

Sunday morning, Pastor Joe opens the Word and brings a word. He then challenges us with that word to obediently live the Word so we can give the Word to a world desperate for a word. We know that the only word that can bring a word worth hearing and heeding is God‘s Word, so we’ll start there again today (and every day), as we learn what it truly means to trust and obey...

Genesis 22. I’m sure you’re familiar with this passage. I thought I was, too, until I found out Isaac was much older than I had imagined him when he made the multiple day journey with his father to Mount Moriah to carry out an act of obedience that would be hard at any age or life stage.

I’ve always thought Isaac was this young boy (likely a toddler), walking alongside his dad, maybe even carried by him at times because of the long trek they had up that mountain. But as Pastor Joe recapped this story as he read and reread details from the text, emphasizing timelines and connecting the series of events with the previous and following chapters, he concluded Isaac was likely 37 years old at the time of this journey.

I know. Shocking, right? For those of you to whom this is new news, I’ll give you a minute. Believe me, I’ve taken quite a few myself yesterday and today, dissecting the text, looking for myself, seeking to truly understand that which I cannot fully comprehend.

And that, dear friend, is what Bible study is all about — reading the Word in a way that It can read us, teach us, and beseech us to live according to It. God’s Word is alive and active. (Hebrews 4:12) It changes us, from the inside out, so It’s not just something we talk about, it’s our deepest desire to live it out.

So, when I recovered from the shock of discovering how old Isaac was at the time of this event, I was able to glean these three lessons about OBEDIENCE…

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Stay Brave as You Age. Live to Grow. Grow to Live. Stay Young and Hungry as You Grow Older and Wiser.

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Stay Brave as You Age. Live to Grow. Grow to Live. Stay Young and Hungry as You Grow Older and Wiser.

I just started another round of the Brave Bible Study in my home, and we gathered last night for the first time around my kitchen table to study God’s Word in order to encourage and equip each other to walk out what we talked about.

This group is multigenerational — mothers and daughters, physically and spiritually, and as we gathered last night, I was reminded that no matter how young or old you are...

You will one day be older and wiser, and yet you can still be young and hungry. Honestly, I’m not sure what’s best, but I think it’s probably best to learn from both. Biblically, they both have place and purpose in the family of God, and they both can be powerfully used by God to further His Kingdom.

“Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” ~ 1 Timothy‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

“Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” ~ Titus‬ ‭2:3-5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

So learn and grow older and wiser, but keep growing and learning as you stay young and hungry. In other words, grow in maturity, and as you grow more mature, always be open to learning more. Never think you’ve arrived. Always be teachable, because when you are, others are more reachable. It’s quite a beautiful thing.

Embrace the age you are now. Celebrate where you’ve been. Anticipate where you’re headed. It’s a wildly beautiful process. We experience the best of both worlds when we learn to live in the tension of the two (and when we live to learn from the tension of the two). Don’t despise the one you’re not yet and don’t neglect the one you once were.

Step into multigenerational spaces. No matter your age or life stage, always have someone older and wiser pour into you, so you can overflow and pour into someone that’s young and hungry.

Live to grow. Grow to live. It’s the bravest way to give our lives to Him.

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Aaronic Blessing — a blessing of respect, to guard and protect, and give peace to reflect...

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Aaronic Blessing — a blessing of respect, to guard and protect, and give peace to reflect...

Pastor Joe Green, pastor of Saint Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, had us sit in the book of Numbers yesterday during his Sunday sermon. Specifically, we not only looked at and read through “The Priestly Blessing” found at the end of the sixth chapter, we also dissected this passage. It is also known as the Aaronic Blessing, a blessing Aaron was instructed by God, through Moses, to pray over the people of Israel. We looked at the original Hebrew words used in this blessing so we could understand the significance it had not only on the people of Israel, but also on our lives today.

So, from God’s Word, through Pastor Joe’s words, by way of my Sunday sermon notes, may these words bless you and keep you as God’s face shines upon you, he is gracious to you, and He gives you peace today...

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Giving God Glory for a Recent God Story

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Giving God Glory for a Recent God Story

Today on the blog, I’d love to share a special God story with you. This story isn’t necessarily mine to tell, but I did watch it unfold, every little detail, and I can tell you it’s a story worth sharing. God stories alway are...

On February 1st, the day after his 18th birthday, Caleb had an interview for an internship. Mind you, this wasn’t some random internship he happened upon. This was THE opportunity he’d been anticipating for about two years now. You see, after he attended Summit (summer of 2019) in Manitou Springs, Colorado, he knew that the summer after his first year of college (2021), he wanted to be a video team intern for the ministry. So, as soon as applications for summer interns opened this year, he submitted his, and prayed God would open the door and make a way to work for a ministry so very instrumental in his spiritual growth — a ministry with a message he was passionate about and would gladly help share through his video work.

Fast forward a few weeks to the end of February when Caleb received the dreaded email — you know the one, “We loved getting to know you. Your resume looks great. You have so much potential, BUT we’ve hired another candidate. We hope you apply again next summer.” Basically, it was the nicest rejection letter ever (and was even followed up with a gift from the guys who oversee the video interns). So, even in his devastation from missing out on the job, he was extremely encouraged by just being a part of the process. He knew then, it obviously was not God’s plan for this summer, and he moved on to Plan B, which he quickly had to figure out since summer was approaching, and in his excitement about Summit, he really hadn’t thought about other options.

He reached out to a local video production company he had job shadowed and interned with while in high school, and was waiting to hear back from them.

And now is the perfect time to talk about God‘s perfect timing…

In September 2020, I was asked to speak at a women’s conference in Travelers Rest, South Carolina at Look Up Lodge, a camp that was very near and dear to my heart. I grew up going there as a camper and then worked there the summer of 1995 while in college as a camp counselor. I’ve always wanted my family to see/experience this special place, and when the invitation to speak was extended to me, it was also extended to my entire family to come along and spend the weekend at Look Up.

March 12-14, 2021 we did just that! We made the 10 hour road trip to Travelers Rest, SC with a stop half way in Lynchburg, VA to pick up Caleb. While we were there, some of the staff members took time to talk to Caleb, show him around camp, and tell him all about a summer staff position (for college students). Caleb was immediately interested because he loved what he saw and experienced during that God ordained, perfectly timed trip to LUL, but he had to quickly apply for the job since the application deadline was the Monday after that weekend!

He was yet again excited about an opportunity God had literally and instantly provided (unlike the waiting and anticipating for the Summit internship). So, he quickly got to work, completed the application, had a zoom interview, and was offered the position. He immediately accepted the position because not only had he already been praying about what he should do this summer, he was also watching God answer those prayers by orchestrating the details that had led him to this point, and there was no denying the hand of God in establishing the work of Caleb’s hands this summer.

And had this God story ended there, it would have been enough — a tale worth telling and retelling, giving God glory for writing such a timely story.

But God. He’s always extra, ya know. More than enough because He likes going over and above…

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How Well Do You Dwell?

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How Well Do You Dwell?

Just a little Monday morning Sunday sermon recap. Pastor Green was droppin’ some truth bombs yesterday at Saint Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, and I was picking up what he was putting down. In fact, one of the first things he said stuck with me throughout the sermon, and I knew then, I’d keep sharing God’s Word with you because it’s what we’ve been put on this earth to do.

There’s a line in the new Phil Wickham song, House of the Lord, that reminds us to “not stay quiet” and to “shout out His praise.” When we truly realize the gravity and depth of His great love for us and begin to fathom what that love has done for us, we can’t help but be moved to shout it, to share it, to stand up on it and to speak up for it.

As Pastor put it yesterday in his sermon, “Tell your story. Share the life changing truths of God’s Word and what He has done for you! Y’all tell everything else on social media — what you had for dinner, that you passed your test… If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, and you don’t have a desire to tell that to the world by sharing the Gospel and the power of His Word, you aren’t fulfilling what God has called you to do.”

Can I get an Amen?

We know this world is a dangerous place, and without the hope of Jesus, it’s a deadly place. We are on a mission and have been commissioned by our Maker to be disciple makers, and guess what? When this call on our lives seems daunting and impossible, He is a Waymaker. He will never lead us astray, but we must choose to stay — abide and dwell — consciously, constantly, continuously, and consistently.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. ~ Psalm 91:1

The word dwell in this passage implies an ongoing process. It is a constant state of living, not simply in and out when convenient, but steadfast and consistent because you mean it.

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Woke vs. Awake: The Gap is Great

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Woke vs. Awake: The Gap is Great

The gap between the woke and the awake is getting greater and greater while the cost to stay awake is getting higher and higher. The more aware of the difference between the Word and the world I become, the more evident the distance between those who are woke and those who are awake becomes. The gap is growing greater because the two are going in opposite directions.

Let me take a moment to define the two terms I’m using (as I understand their meaning and as I am using them in this post):

Woke — those who are aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). They typically advocate for reconciliation by extra-Biblical and anti-Biblical means using the framework of ideologies such as Critical Theory and Critical Race Theory, and in my opinion, defeat the purpose of reconciliation by further dividing people by intersectionality (or the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage).

Two quotes I recently read that sum up wokeness pretty well:

Wokeness is today’s religion. Cancel culture is it’s sacrament. — David Benham

Wokeness is a graceless religion. It never forgives past missteps. Its mission is to kill, steal, and destroy. It wants destruction and not restoration. As you stand for Biblical truth, wokeness will criticize you, demonize you, terrorize you, and someday soon, criminalize you. But love... Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not dishonor others. Choose love, not hate. Reject cancel culture. — Brian J. Dixon

And now, my take on being awake…

Awake — those who are aware of the enemy’s deception and use of these worldly ideologies to try to confuse Biblical Truth. Those who hold fast to sound doctrinal theology and see things through the lens of a Biblical Worldview realizing God does not show partiality, nor does He want His people to show partiality. (James 2:1, Acts 10:34-35, Romans 2:11, Galatians 3:28, 1 Timothy 5:21, Proverbs 28:21) Those who are awake, in my opinion, are wide awake and well aware of the deception and want to stand up for the Truth they know is the only way to true reconciliation.

The woke want to right the wrongs of the world by their own means and with their own terms and conditions while the awake know only God can right the wrongs, in fact, He already did, and it has NOTHING to do with us and what we do or don’t do and EVERYTHING to do with Him and what He has already done on our behalf.

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Revive Us Again

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Revive Us Again

{a reflection of Holy Week through the lens of the continual and consistent work of being REVIVED again and again}

My friend, Haley Barinowski, recently shared these words after reflecting on the word REVIVE as it relates to Holy Week. It pricked a place in my heart, and opened my mind to contemplate further this word, it’s meaning, and it’s transformational power in the life of all those who BELIEVE the Bible’s literally account of Holy Week and have RECEIVED Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior — those who have turned from their sin and surrendered to Him.

These were Haley’s words…

I've been thinking a lot about the word revive recently. Not so much revival in the sense of big church movements (although I want to learn more about that, too), but more about what it means to be revived personally — to be brought back to life, woken up, restored. And if the Lord is making all things new, then he is continually reviving. He was, He is, He will. I was in Luke some this week reading about Jesus last week before he died, and it was there, too, even on His way to death, He was bringing things to life…

Palm Sunday: He revived service by hand picking a brand new colt — choosing the unlikely and unfamiliar.

Monday: He revived worship by cleansing the temple — making a way for the poor and helpless.

Tuesday: He revived giving by honoring a woman's two coins — honoring a sacrifice from scarcity, not surplus.

Thursday: He revived religious ceremony by fulfilling the Passover dinner — bringing substance to symbols.

Friday: He revived our access to God by tearing the temple veil — bringing us in with boldness, not fear.

Saturday: He revived our waiting — bringing meaning to our longing.

Resurrection Sunday: He revived my desperate soul — putting death in its place and bringing me to life in a way I could never find without him.

And in that case, I have to believe He will do it again tomorrow. Every spring, every morning, every moment.

"Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name." Psalm 80:18

After reading Haley’s words, I opened the Word and did a quick word study on the word, REVIVE…

There was SO MUCH in the Psalms about being revived (specifically Psalm 119). The Hebrew word for REVIVE used in the fifteen verses below is CHAYAH, and it is used 264 times in the Old Testament. It has several similar meanings when translated. These are the translations that stood out to me: to live, to sustain life, to quicken, to cause to grow, to restore, and these verses all have a common theme. That theme and the profound meaning it has in the life of a believer leapt off the page and into my heart as I read these verses. I’ve highlight the words that connected the dots. I pray that message comes alive in your heart as the Holy Spirit connects the dots personally for you, too.

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Our Daily Bread. The Bread of Life.

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Our Daily Bread. The Bread of Life.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

These words of Jesus in John 6 establish the sustaining significance of the Word of God in the life of a believer. John affirms the authority of the Word by penning these words in chapter 1, verse 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He continues to emphasize the significance of Jesus' words by saying in verse 14, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

In other words, Jesus is the Word; therefore, when we spend time in the Word, we spend time with Him. When we spend time with Him by spending time in His Word, we are nourished by the bread of life — all powerful, all sufficient, never changing, never deficient.

If I'm honest, I don’t always take time to truly consume His Word. Sometimes, the moment I “put it in my mouth,” I'm spitting it back out on social media, liking it and sharing it more than I'm consuming it and allowing it to nourish me. I've barely "tasted and seen" (Psalm 34:8) before I want to be liked and seen.

He is the bread of life — our DAILY bread. Like the Israelites gathered manna, the miraculous bread of heaven, DAILY, we must gather our portion DAILY. His Word is “alive and active” (Hebrews 4:12), straight from His heart and His life to our hearts and our lives. Just like day old manna was foul and inedible, leftovers will never satisfy like a fresh, new, daily portion.

Spending time in the Word with the Word (Jesus) not only nourishes us, it fills us to overflowing, and can nourish others, too! When we daily open God's Word and let Him pour out a fresh word over us, we are able to receive it for ourselves and release it to others, because it’s a natural (or rather supernatural) byproduct. We not only read to regurgitate, we consume to cultivate.

When we realize the sustaining power of the Word of God by consuming it daily, we want to live it and give it to others every single day, too! And then we get to watch what the power of His Word can truly do!

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The Silence of Saturday Speaks a Message That‘s Loud and Clear.

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The Silence of Saturday Speaks a Message That‘s Loud and Clear.

“Just wait. I’m working. Take heart. My plan is unfolding.” A message He whispers often in the wait.

Good Friday was yesterday. Resurrection Sunday is tomorrow. But today is Silent Saturday. We wait. We pray. We sit in silence.

We’re not always comfortable with quiet, are we? It’s called “awkward silence” for a reason. For a talker (like myself), silence can test my sanity. I want to fill the silence with something. A solution. A sound of some sort, even if it’s not thought out or prayed about. Anything will do to silence the silence!

God has been speaking, in the silence, a message that’s loud and clear in my heart.

Seasons of silence should bring us to our knees. When we don’t hear God’s voice. When we don’t know what’s next. Pray. Surrender. Lay things down. Lift Him up.

When we sow seeds, we assume that posture — on our knees. We lay those seeds down. We surrender them. We bury them.

Yesterday, we remembered how Christ laid His life down for us. He surrendered. He was buried. His lifeless body was laid in a borrowed tomb. And they waited.

Just like we wait. In silence.

Good Friday does give way to Resurrection Sunday, but there’s a day in between. A wait. A pause. A process. And it is all good. And it is all for growth.

Time for the sowing to give way to growing. Time for the seed to take root. Time for the shoot to break through. Friday had to happen to give Sunday its power. But the wait in between was necessary for the work to be done and His will to be seen. Death had to occur for life to break through. Darkness had to have its fight in order to be defeated by the light!

He may have been buried on that day, but He did not stay that way. Three days later, the stone was rolled away. What He had done had taken root, making a heavenly route to a Holy God.

Sunday’s comin’, and our wait today is not in vain. The silence of Saturday speaks a message that’s loud and clear. It’s time to trust. Time to pray. A way is being made. Just wait. Take heart. Resurrection, Redemption, and Reconciliation are on the other side of the silence, and it’s about to get LOUD!

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What's So Good About Good Friday?

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What's So Good About Good Friday?

I’ve always been confused by the name given to this day — GOOD Friday. Really?

What’s so good about the devastating, unfair, cruel act we remember on this day? Jesus was mocked and scorned, beaten beyond recognition, and crucified as a criminal when the only thing He was guilty of was loving those who hated him and forgiving those who hurt him.

Why then do we call it GOOD? Well, the longer I walk with Jesus, the more I’m seeing the GOOD in this day. And to sum up several years of searching scripture and a plethora of journal pages of processing through it all...

There can be no resurrection without death. There can be no victory without a battle. There can be no growth without growing pains. GOOD is made better on the other side of the bad.

GOOD Friday set the stage for the GOOD News that was coming. Jesus said, “It is finished,” and breathed his last human breath (John 19:30). Many that day thought those final words and that final breath would be the final act, and the curtain would close.

Three days later, however, that curtain would re-open, because, literally, the curtain of the temple had been torn in two at the very moment of Jesus’ death (Mark 15:38). And when that curtain re-opened, it was a “curtain call” that moved all of Heaven and earth to applause as it revealed the BEST version of GOOD we will ever experience — death defeated that we might have life! Jesus lived, died, and rose again so that we might live abundantly and eternally with Him!

And that’s the very best kind of GOOD there could ever be if you ask me!

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Release to Receive

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Release to Receive

“I want this one...no, this one...can I have both of them? Oh, wait, I really like this one, too!”

Have you ever been shopping with an excited, yet indecisive child? You know the one. Whether an average trip to the store, a special trip to spend money they’ve saved, or a visit to a souvenir shop the last day of vacation, wherever it may be, they hold up the works by wanting everything they see! They grab one thing and tuck it under their arm, freeing their hands for another item. They use the other hand to pick up something else, and pause to give consideration to each attention grabbing “thing” that they’ve grabbed to filled their hands.

Maybe a better question is this – How many times have we been like that indecisive child — desperately hold onto things, grasping them so tightly with our white knuckled fist, that we lose sight of the first thing that caught our eye, the other things we've not yet discovered, or forgotten what we truly desired in the first place? Sometimes we can want something so badly, we don’t even grasp the motivation behind the wanting?

God gives us each passions and desires He wants us to wholeheartedly pursue. However, we find ourselves in trouble when those desires become idols, and we elevate them to a status higher than the desires God wants for our lives.

We must release the things we want in order to receive the things He wants to give us.

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Sound the Alarm. Remove from Harm. Equip and Arm.

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Sound the Alarm. Remove from Harm. Equip and Arm.

Three things God dropped in my heart this morning as I spent time in His Word. As stern as they seem, they’re three things I believe every Christian must learn to do and teach others to do, too. They encouraged and challenged me. If you are a Christ follower, I pray they do the same for you...

  1. Sound the alarm. Don’t grow weary or be silent. Stay alert and on guard.

  2. Remove from harm. We are not saviors, but we can be harbingers.

  3. Equip and arm. (Ephesians 6:10-20) God equips us with His whole armor. Each piece plays an important role in the battle plan. It is not enough to just know about it. We cannot live without it. Armor up, and teach others to do the same.

As I was reading in James 4 this morning, I was reminded that as believers, we cannot be “friends” with the world. To be a friend with the world is to be an enemy of God. It’s adultery. I’m not being hyperbolic. That’s what the Word says. (James 4:4) We can love our neighbors (Mark 12:31) and even love our enemies (Matt 5:44) without getting into bed with them. As Christians, we are to be set apart. To be set apart is to be different from the world. The ways of the world and the ways of the Word are not the same. We must live by God’s standard, lest we be enamored by the world’s glamor. We cannot be Christians in name only. We must bear fruit (Matt 6:17).

We are either following God and living by His Word (walking with Him) or we are chasing things of this world (turning our back on Him). We cannot do both.

As I read the Word this morning (James 4 and Ephesians 6 specifically), I couldn’t help but think of a time years ago when God illustrated these truths for me through a real life experience. When our oldest son was young, maybe 2 or 3, we had just returned home from somewhere that he had gotten a balloon. If you’re a mom, I’m sure you remember those days well, or maybe you’re living them now. We had on street parking at our house in town, so we were teaching him to get out of the car on the side of the sidewalk and house as opposed to getting out on the side of the street. We had gotten him out of the car and he was standing on the sidewalk with his ballon, when suddenly, he let go of this prized possession. Instead of taking off into the air, the balloon hovered low to the ground and danced down the sidewalk and out into the street. Like most toddlers would, Joshua naturally just chased after the balloon. And this is where the split second scary situation transitions to the slo-mo “Chariots of Fire” pace as my husband raced to the rescue shouting, “Stop!” He saw a car coming down the street straight toward this oblivious little boy enamored by his runaway balloon, and this father did everything in his power to...

Sound the alarm. (Shout.) Remove from harm. (Pick him up and carry him to safety.) And equip and arm. (Talk to him about future dangerous situations.)

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A Heavy Holy Week. The Weight of the Wait.

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A Heavy Holy Week. The Weight of the Wait.

Can you feel it? The weight of sin weighing more and more heavily on this world we live in. What used to seem subtle feels more and more palpable. Pure evil is on display in blatantly obvious ways. It can be discouraging and disheartening, and it can feel so incredibly weighty.


But take heart, heaviness leads to holiness. The weight of the wait during Holy Week leads to the weight of Glory when our joy will be made complete. Jesus waited through the last week of His earthly life with the weight of His Father’s plan so heavy on His heart because it was all in His hands.


We reflect on this story year after year — Jesus’s final days. His cruel journey to the cross. His passionate plea with his final breath, “Father, forgive them.” His temporary time in the tomb before His resurrection and triumph over it all, once and for all, to deliver us all from sin, forgiving us for what had been harshly put on Him, reconciling us to the Father once again.


A story so heavy. A story so Holy. A story our finite minds will never fully comprehend, and yet our heavy hearts experience again and again. It’s a weighty wait, but we can be certain of our fate, if we embrace the price He paid to lift that weight off you and me. He set us free if we believe.


Same story. Same outcome. Same power. Same HOPE. A story that was foretold, fulfilled, retold, and revealed — giving NEW LIFE & HOPE to all who believe and are set free sin — a disease far more dangerous and deadly than any other disease we’ll ever face.


Heavy and Holy. A wait in which we feel the weight of our sin give way to the weight of Glory.

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From Contradictory to Complementary. The Beauty of Harmony.

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From Contradictory to Complementary. The Beauty of Harmony.

I’m a little more graced based. His convictions are rooted in truth. I’m a feeler and follow my heart. He wants the facts so he can lead with his head.

Truth and Grace. Facts and Feelings. Head and Heart.

Seemingly opposite, but beautifully blended by the love that binds us, not blinds us.

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." ~ Colossians 3:14 ESV

Notice the word used in this translation: "harmony," not necessarily “unity” (although “unity” is used in some translations, the original greek word in the text is “sundeo” which means “to bind together” — to make complete or perfect, but not to make equal or the same). Harmony in music is multi-tonal, richer and fuller, whereas unity or unison, while still beautiful on its own, is monotone, a rather lonely tone, lacking dimension and depth.

{I could go into much more detail about how disparity is not a rarity because our humanity disrupts our unity, and I do actually in this blog post by the same title.}

Steve and I are well aware of our differences, and yet those differences are often the very thing that pulls us together, draws us closer, and allows us to learn, grow, and become richer and fuller, more complete as we complement each other, strengthening not only our marriage, but our faith, too.

We love each other better, because God loved us first and best. As Lent leads us closer to the cross, let's focus on that fact and the feelings surrounding it. Jesus, the son of God, gave His life for us, and in so doing, married seemingly different theological truths to add power and purpose to the trustworthy Good News!

Old Testament law. New Testament grace. The law fulfilled by grace, not replaced by grace. Fulfilled. Made richer and fuller. It took Jesus, fully God and fully man, to give us full access to God’s Amazing Grace. Sin separated. Sacrifice emancipated. The ultimate sacrifice that did not end in death but made a way for forgiveness. Forgiveness that forged new life, a richer and fuller life, earthly abundant now and heavenly eternal forever.

How do opposites like Steve and me find a way to love so beautifully? God's Love. Plain and simple. And yet extremely intricate and complex. Minds can’t always comprehend it, but hearts will always connect to it and through it.

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Battling The Terrible Toos by Telling the Truth

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Battling The Terrible Toos by Telling the Truth

“too” — a tiny word carrying a lot of weight. A superlative adverb of sorts indicating a higher degree, and excessive amount, a little more than before. Ironically, as a child, I always remembered how to spell this form of the word because it had an extra “o” — ya know, the overachiever of the homophone.

And just like that little word, I “too” can become an overachiever by doing too much too often, becoming too busy too fast, and before I know it, I “too” am wearing overachievement like it’s some badge of honor. I’m learning, though, if not worn properly, it really just covers up the deeper issues of pride and perfection.

I saw a post circulating on social media. You may have seen it, too. It was an image of a letterboard. On the letterboard was a prayer, but the only words that were recognizable were “Dear God,” at the beginning, and “Amen,” at the end. The middle of the prayer consisted of all the other letters just being spilled out and mixed together — all jumbled up. This image and the message it (ironically) so clearly communicates likely resonates with all of us at times, especially when we may be battling the terrible toos!

When I’m too busy, too stressed, too this, or too that, my natural response is initially to double down, which usually leads to meltdown, and eventually and inevitably leads to shutdown.

In my world, it can manifest as writer’s block, creative constipation that leads to verbal vomiting. No matter how you say it (or not say it if the words will not come to express it), it’s a frustrating feeling for a person who is rarely short on words.

And I want to do more than just whip words out, I want to wield them well. My words just get mixed up when they aren’t filtered through His Word, and they can’t be filtered through His Word, if I’m not spending time in His Word daily, because I can’t spend time in His Word daily when my daily schedule has me doing way too much!

Jumbled letters and mixed up words (for me) are indicators of a jumbled life and mixed up priorities. They scream at me like a bad case of the “terrible toos.”

The saying “too many irons in the fire” dates back to the 1600s when a blacksmith would keep irons in the fire while he worked shaping them into what they needed to be. If there were too many irons in the fire, the fire would get too hot and the blacksmith would be too busy to keep up with the work before the irons would melt and disintegrate in the intense heat. So, what once was well on its way to becoming something beautiful burns out and burns up before beauty is beheld.

I don’t know about you, but I can tell very quickly when I have too many irons in the fire. The overachieving makes me underproductive, and doubling down leads to meltdown.

Too many irons in the fire. Too many letters on a board. Too many or too much really equals too little and not enough. We are overloading our schedules, our lists, and our lives without undergirding any of it with prayer.

Just like a toddler with a bad case of the terrible twos needs correction, this momma with a bad case of the terrible “toos” needs to heed some correction, too!

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” ~ Psalms‬ ‭127:2‬

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