From My Heart

It always amazes me to see how God works things together, how He speaks the same things to different people, how He works to get His message out. I had planned to write this yesterday, but I procrastinated only to wake up this morning and find that one of the leadership team for my Online Bible Study had already written it.  In her post, she talks of all the dark articles regarding events happening in our world today. I agree with her that we need to be aware, but is this where our focus should lie? And what about that person on your news feed that uses Facebook as their rant forum? It's all so depressing if we don't balance it with hope. Lately, I have been trying to get back into my walking routine and was dismayed several days ago to discover shortly into my walk that I left my ear buds at home. Whatever was a girl to do? How about talking to Jesus?  It occurred to me that when God tells us to "Be still" in Psalm 46:10, He is not just telling us 'd...

I hadn't realized how long it has been since I wrote a post. Tonight I was reading stories from the tornado and flood ravaged areas and my heart breaks for the things I am seeing: a mom who lost her two little boys, homes absolutely leveled, people separated from their pets, catastrophic injuries. It's all so tragic. Then I picked up my Bible to do my reading for the day and my New Testament passage was John 1:1-28. I have decided to try and read through the gospel of John aloud and ask God to show me words or phrases that I need to dwell on. Tonight He gave me chapter 1, verse 16, "From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another . (NIV)" The ESV says we have received "grace upon grace".  As I looked around me and thought of those going through so much pain tonight, I felt He was telling me to remember what I have to be thankful for...letting me know I need to be more thankful. I remember reading a quote one time that ...

And He said to all, "If any would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Luke 9:23 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:20 - 21 I have only known in my life one person that truly personified those verses. In 2009, one of our youngest, most energetic ministers was taken to the hospital emergency room with chest pain. He was healthy and athletic. He taught PE at our local high school. This trip to the hospital began a journey that would last the next three years and affect more lives than anyone could have ever anticipated. Mike Storter was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. Mike immediately began treatments for his disease and for a short period during these years was considered cancer-free. It was a ...

In my previous post , I told the story of my hip injury that interrupted our lives for approximately 2 years. I mentioned that there was more to the tale, so here is the rest of the story. In August of 1998, I married for the second time. My new husband and I knew that my two children would be living with us, but never suspected that any of his children might want to move away from their mother in another state. We had only been married a month when the first of his sons chose to make the move and within a few months his other son was also living with us. We were newly weds with four children between the ages of 14 and 18 living under what had become a very small roof. Our little home was so small that my husband and I had to give up the master bedroom to the three boys and we moved into one of the spare bedrooms. It was a trying time and there was no room to spare and no one ever had any privacy.   Of course, in the midst of this was when I suffered the hip injury I t...

Nineteen Ninety Nine was the year my life changed forever. Who knew that something that happens so fast could have such far reaching effects. But it can. Life can change in an instant. It wasn't the most catastrophic thing that could happen, but it was a major change, nonetheless. I was working as a facility nurse at a small assisted living facility. I had been to lunch and upon my return noticed one of the residents crossing the busy four lane road in front of the building alone. I knew her to have dementia and knew she was not safe - so I ran after her. What happened next has some comedic irony to it. I got in the middle of the road. I know it was the middle because I remember looking down and seeing the double yellow line painted on the asphalt. I got in the middle of the road and tripped. Anti climactic? Well... when I tripped my leg twisted and I could hear the characteristic "thunk" as my hip was wrenched out of the socket. I fell to the pavement and thought, ...

You sit in an office...staring at a computer...you feel like you are living "Groundhog Day" over and over and over... OR you are mindlessly watching the television night after night...barely comprehending what is passing before your eyes and into your ears... The monotony can be mind numbing and depressing. Then, God gives you a window. It seems like such a little thing - this window - but it opens up a whole new world. A world where the sun breaks through the trees and warms your face. A world where cardinals flit through the tree branches, woodpeckers search every little crevice of the big oak tree for food, and the odd egret or crane may come strolling by. Butterflies are endless. There are other visitors. The little stray tabby that always seems to have a belly full of kittens. The raccoons that have learned we feed the cats...  Some days there are no visitors because the rain is relentless. Pounding the glass. Thunder and lightening right on the other side ....

"Devote yourselves to prayer; stay alert in it with thanksgiving." Colossians 4:2 Prayer has never come naturally to me. I have always felt awkward in prayer for some reason. Over the past year, I have finally come to the conclusion that in all my years as a Christian, I have never really learned how to communicate with God properly. Not that I haven't made valiant efforts. I have had beautiful prayer journals. Sections for specific days and topics. I have written out my prayers (I still believe that helps me concentrate). I've used all the acronyms and prayer plans. But in the end, I look at it all and think, "If one of my friends communicated with me this way, I would toss them out the door." Some days I feel all I do is bring my wish list to God - admirable though it may be - and ask and ask and ask. For now, I'm done with asking. Color me ecstatic when I learned our little Bible study between online Bible studies was going to be on prayer! ...