Genuine in the Journey

  Life is surprising.  So is God.  God is Patient.  I am not.  My view is limited, God is expansive.  My story is mine.  I am His.   What was my focus in life? Where did I find security? My focus in life as a teen was wrapped up in my talents.  My identity was the soprano with no ego.  HAHA.  In college I struggled to find a sense of identity but leaned heavily on the reassurance that God walked with me and would hold me up.  I tried to be thinner, and once that was achieved found validation in that because someone finally wanted to date me.  I found validation in him.  I took care of him, had his children, and filled my time helping others, loving others, and raising both my kids and my husband.  Validation was few and far between, but I always waited for those  words of affirmation.  I leaned on the LORD, finding protection and strength and resolve to be faithful in worship and mommying. How did ...

  May the joy of the season envelop your hearts and minds this holiday and may the love of Christ be evident in your lives, as we set out to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ.  This sounds like an incantation that I would have heard at the beginning of the Christmas season in church growing up.  I’m sure many still hear something very similar.  This year, however, though moments can be peaceful, and joy can be present at times, the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas was characterized by somber moments and questions as we watched my husband’s father slip away towards eternity with Jesus.   Having put him to rest on a Monday, we now seek to settle our hearts and minds towards the God that is love on a Christmas Eve Wednesday. It is important to recognize that in the midst of a season characterized by joy many of us still deal with things that keep us from shifting our perspective towards the Lord.  It can take a focused moment and a bit of...

  Refining By Fire: It has been said many times that “God doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle.”  In my younger days I used to carry this idea around like a banner over me.  “Since God Loves me, He won’t give me anything I can’t handle.”    But these days, I think that idea is a load of poo.  There are plenty of moments, and painful experiences in life where I’ve often thought, “Lord, I can’t do this, I CAN’T handle it.”  I begin to feel as though the walls are caving in around me and there is no way to see my way through.  We are absolutely given that which we really can’t handle.   I shared my thoughts with hubby, as I often do, and I put forth this idea that we’ve all heard.  He agreed with me when I said that there are plenty of things we go through in life that it really feels like we can’t handle…BUT for the grace of God. With God we can travel through the impossible.  In his husbandly wisdom he added that it isn’t G...