The Plan I Have For You

Happy Anniversary, Troy!  May 25, 1996, we stood in front of our family and friends and made a commitment to a lifetime together.  Love, 17 years ago, meant you treated me like a lady. Love, 17 years ago, meant you listened to what I had to say. Love, 17 years ago, meant you held my hand, and took me to dinner. Love, 17 years ago, meant the excitement of buying a house together. Love grows, and love changes.  As we grow together love deepens and takes on a whole new meaning. Love, today, means the fulfillment of the vows we made that day...for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health. Love means making the tough decisions together with prayerful consideration. Love means often giving up our time to pour into preparing two children for a great big world. Love means saying I'm sorry, a lot. Love means needing to say I'm sorry more than what we do. Love means compromise. Love is the admiration of watching you grow in your Christ-lead role of father and...

Proverbs 31: 10-30  The Wife of Noble Character A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm all the days of her life. She selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night;  she provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. She considers a field and buys it;  out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously;  her arms are strong for her tasks. She sees that her trading is profitable, and her lamp does not go out at night. In her hand she holds the distaff and grasps the spindle with her fingers. She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy. When it snows, she has no fear for her household; for all of them are clothed in scarlet. She makes coverings for...

My 10-year-old son, just like his mom, loves to fix things.  It's a great skill to have.  He's perfected the art of identifying there is a problem, taking an item apart...then not being quite sure how to put it back together.  We have two weed eaters in the garage he worked on last week that are still torn up, and the parts of both are sitting together. Not only do we get to figure out how to fix each one, we first must determine which parts belong to which unit.  What a mess! My desire to fix things and solve problems extends beyond sinks and weed eaters.  It goes into the everyday decisions of my life.  I have this need to be a problem solver, and I often go about the job of handling my own crises, then handing God a pile of tools and parts to help me sort out the mess when I FINALLY admit I can't do it by myself.  What conviction he has placed upon me about this! A lesson from Deuteronomy 8 was a reminder in a week I have been strug...

     Boys, they have no fear.  When my son was smaller, his greatest joy was for his Daddy to throw him into the air and to catch him.  He would scream with delight, “Higher, Daddy!”.  Even now I watch him race down the hills at warp speed in front of our house on a scooter, jump the three huge steps off the porch in a single bound, play tackle football with kids twice his size.       Somewhere along the way into adulthood we lose that invincible feeling.  I remember going roller skating not to long ago.  As the kids whizzed past me, I teetered along, praying I didn’t take a spill.  When one of the youngsters bobbled, I felt my motherly instincts kick in as I fought the urge to put both hands out to break their fall.   There once was a time when I too made some pretty hasty tracks around a rink.  What changed?      Fear.  A four-letter word that changes lives. ...

Psalm 37:4 Take delight in the Lord , and he will give you the desires of your heart. My radio alarm sounded this morning with a song of praise, and immediately God spoke Psalm 37:4 through my dull, throbbing ear directly to my heart.  God is so good to provide for our needs, and I know that very well.  He's provided again and again and again.  But I have always had a bit of guilt about asking for my desires.  I've posted before about the challenges I've faced trying to sing since my first ear surgery.  A few weeks ago a bad inner ear infection really took a toll on my hearing overall.  Its been difficult because I felt I had just gotten comfortable with my new normal, only to lose the footing again.  I've been quite disheartened about it.  I went yesterday for a hearing test and another round of surgery.  This morning through the dull, muffled sounds I knew to expect, there is hint of the return of a certain range of sound ...

"And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter went out, and wept bitterly." (Luke 22:61, 62) The Easter sermon contained the message I've been needing to hear.  It was the story of Peter. We all know Peter as the one who denied Christ three times.  One of Christ's chosen ones...and he openly denied his relationship at a critical time, after giving his word to Jesus he would never do so. I know Peter had tremendous guilt, and he wept bitterly over his mistake.  I needed to be reminded he went on to lead thousands to Christ after this memorable event.  Take a look at the eloquent message from Acts 2. A couple of weeks ago, a conversation included "I thought you were a better person than that" and some other words that made me feel pretty low.  Whether it was truth or not is beside the point.  It hurt because not only did ...

I apologize for the delay in blogging.  I've had a sinus infection that has just zapped the life out of me.  There hasn't been a moment that I've had free the last week and a half that I didn't want to crawl into the bed and sleep.  God has kept this passage on my heart for the time when I was ready to sit down and share it with you. Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Prayer.  What an awesome tool.  I can't imagine going through life without that communication line to my heavenly father. I know each of us have seen amazing things happen because of prayer, I certainly have.  This week in all that down time I've taken, I've been thinking about the greater things we miss out on because of a prayer life that's not as full as it should...