Yesterday, while in my front yard, I noticed one of my new flowering plants was opening several of its buds and beginning to bloom more fully than the others. I was delighted because, although I was raised around those who are very good with plants, gardening is not my expertise. I had planted four of these particular flowers in a ...

I am out of routine, and I don’t like it. (Great way to start a blog, huh?) But seriously I am, by nature, a routine-kind-of-girl. And when my routine is out of sync I try to evaluate my weaknesses in this area and look for ways to be stretched and improved. But this isn’t always fun or easy. For example, ...

“I have held many things in my hands and lost them all. But whatever I’ve placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.” –Martin Luther (1483-1546) Sometimes you don’t need many words to express a great truth. When I stumbled upon this quote, it said so much more to my heart than what could be read with my eyes alone. Dreams, hopes, and ...

I love prepositions! Sounds silly, I know. (Especially when you discover I wasn’t a big fan of English class while in school.) But think about the power of a preposition: If I say, “I was IN my house.” You immediately have a mental image of that even if you’ve never been to my house. Just imagine a stick figure with a roof ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 We’ve been talking about forgiveness. Concerning this, the apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). They were as human as we are when it comes to needing help in the area of forgiving others. But Jesus spoke of forgiving quite often, indicating it was a key to walking in ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” –Author Unknown Sadly, our society is in an epidemic of disease. Everywhere you turn, someone is battling cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or something similar, either personally or in their family. The Bible says,“Look after each other so ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 In the last post, I said, “Forgiveness isn’t a feeling. It’s an act of faith.” In response to an instruction by Jesus to forgive often, the apostles said, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). This gets where we live. Most Christians are like the apostles in the sense that they desire to increase ...

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 Jesus said in the last days offenses would increase. This means our opportunity to forgive will increase as well. But actually, in the scope of humanity, the need to forgive is not new. In fact, concerning this very thing, the apostles said, “Increase our faith” (Luke 17:5). That certainly ...

If we’ll listen, the Holy Spirit has all kinds of ways of speaking to us. And probably one of the most powerful is a song. I remember standing in the dim room, the only light peeking over the top of the curtains. My two youngest children were asleep on pallets on the hotel floor. It was a Monday– a day on which I always ...

I had a hunch God was about to do something different– about to take me in a new direction. Many years ago, while my husband Tod was finishing Bible school, I joined Mary Kay Cosmetics. I wanted to have another baby, while also desiring to be a stay-at-home mom. Their business plan was intriguing, and right away God confirmed this ...

Purpose, destiny, whatever you want to call it, we all have one. But what most people don’t realize is that we play a bigger role in that than we realize. Psalm 119:109 says, “My life is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget Your law.” Other translations read: “I always take my life into my own hands, but I ...

One of the sweetest things I’ve ever learned about the Lord is that He heard every silent whisper of my heart, long before I had the courage to say anything out loud. Specifically, He heard my sorries. I so desperately wanted to please Him, and I had always been a person that wanted the approval of others, so every time I ...

I was given a new Bible translation by a sweet lady at a women’s conference this past year. It’s called The Voice and it’s published by Thomas Nelson. I’ve decided it’s going to be my go-to in the new year to pull out different aspects of scripture and help me think deeper. And today, I already found one I want ...

I’m a curious kind of person, meaning I want to know how things tick. This can be a good quality unless I’m picking apart myself, which I’ve been guilty of on many occasions. For example, I’ve questioned my own faith at times because of comparison to others who seem to have more faith than I do. But here’s what I’ve ...

Christmas is here! We’ve shopped, listened to our merry playlists (some of us long before December), and celebrated with friends and family. It truly is a beautiful time of the year. But in the poetic words of Howard Thurman: When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are ...

It can be super chilly here in West Texas– but with no moisture, so no snow or ice, just very cold temperatures. As I left my house yesterday, my car in the garage said the temperature was 44 degrees (which I knew was not the outdoor temp). As I drove the 3 or 4 miles to one of our campuses ...

Recently at church, during our meet & greet time, one of our members introduced me to someone she had brought with her. The lady was very sweet but laughed as she told me she was made to come! She then added that she was glad too. I commented back that sometimes we have to literally pick people up and not give them a ...

Has someone ever said to you, “I know what you’re thinking…” Husbands and wives do this all the time. And to some extent, they’re telling the truth. They’ve lived together so long, they have a pretty good idea what’s running through the other’s head. Twins are said to have a similar connection also. They can finish each other’s sentences, or ...