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Invited In
Key Verse: “How happy is the one you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We wIll be satisfied with the goodness of your house, and the holiness of your temple.” Psalms 65:4 (CSB) I remember standing outside of the church that day all alone. Everyone else was inside eating their lunch. I stood outside eating mine. To a child, I didn’t understand but I followed the rule anyway. A rule my mom told me to obey. You don’t eat in the House of the Lord. It was for worship only. Even though the kitchen was in the basement, it was still part of the church in…
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Giving Others What I Need the Most
Key Verse: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.” Luke 10:30 NKJV This road called life is often a hard road to travel. People that walk along beside us can be hard to deal with, distant, and even downright mean at times. Often the very ones walking closest to us are the ones who have caused us the most pain. Others can beat us up with hurtful and judging words and then walk away and leave us with wounded bleeding hearts. The man portrayed in the familiar passage involving the…
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Don’t Play the Comparison Game…Again
Do you ever compare yourself to others playing the comparison game? Then let’s talk… I love sweet juicy blueberries. I put them in smoothies, in my oatmeal, and even love a delicious blueberry cobbler every now and then. I recently learned something new about blueberries. You can’t tell how sweet blueberry is going to taste by its size? No joke. I would have assumed that the big plumb blueberries would be super sweet. I was so convinced I bought two containers. After all, they spent more time soaking up all that sunshine and drinking in all that refreshing rain. Right? Wrong! Bigger does not mean juicer or sweeter. Bigger…
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A Covering Stitched with Love
Key Verse: “She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all in her household are doubly clothed. She makes her own bed coverings; her clothing is fine linen and purple.” Proverbs 31: 21-22 (CSB) My husband’s grandparents were small town farmers. Their income came mostly from selling cows and through a crop of tobacco each year. According to today’s standards, they would have probably been described as poor. There was no big fine house in a subdivision and no shiny new cars in the driveway. The clothes they wore were often hand me downs and his grandmother probably never owned one designer bag her entire lifetime. What…
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Finding True Meaning in the Meaningless
Key Verse: “Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.” Ecclesiastes 12:8 As I cleaned out the crisper drawer in my refrigerator, it reminded me how temporary and fleeting everything in life is. The fruit I placed in my refrigerator was crisp, firm, and full of flavor. Just a few days later it was wilted, brown, and no longer edible. A stark reminder that “everything is futile,” just as Solomon penned in Ecclesiastes 12:8. It also makes me stop to think how many things I have gotten so bent out of shape over things that didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Stuff I had worried about and stressed…
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When You Feel Stuck and Need Relief
Sometimes life is hard. Circumstances can leave you feeling stuck and feeling like things will never change. If your situation is like mine, it has left you aching for relief. I discovered 5 lessons we can glean from Jeremiah 37 that will encourage us until our circumstances change for the better. Earlier this week I will be honest, I just felt empty. For a girl that most days surrounds herself with several bible commentaries, devotions, and bible studies, I honestly just pushed all of it aside. But, on this particular morning, I needed something a little more personal. I felt stuck in a certain situation and just needed to find some…
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Waiting for Good
Key Verse: Isaiah 40:31 “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength: they shall mount up with wings of eagles; they shall run and not be weary: they shall walk and not faint.” Waiting in line. Waiting for my turn. Waiting to turn 18. Waiting to say “I do”. Waiting for the storm to pass. Waiting for the test results. Waiting till the leaves change. Waiting for my loved one to feel better. Waiting for my dad to take his last breath. Waits. Some are sad. Some are full of anticipation. Some we hope pass quickly. Some we hope they never end. No matter what your…
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Signs Matter
I did it again. I hung my All About Me sign on my door. It crookedly covered the letters on my ‘Everyone is Welcome’ sign. It wasn’t at all pretty. I’m not sure how long it had been hanging there, and it took someone else to remind me to take it down. As I pulled through the drive-thru, I smiled when the young cashier handed me my order and said there was no charge. The person in front of me had generously paid on my behalf. My mind was a whirl as I drove off. I thought how sweet they were for thinking of me. I thought about how much I…
