- A Men’s Tee From Wal-Mart Stopped Me In My Tracks
I bought a t-shirt in the men’s section at Wal-Mart last week. A t-shirt for me. Not something I normally do. But as I cut through the men’s section on my way to the other side of the store, I passed a rack of t-shirts with scriptures on them. The shirt hanging…
Read more: A Men’s Tee From Wal-Mart Stopped Me In My Tracks
- Give Not Get
We are not meant to get the glory. We are meant to give the glory. For those who do and work and give and need a pat on the back now and then that’s a tough one. Our human nature seeks acceptance and a thank you now and then doesn’t it? And…
Read more: Give Not Get
- Give God Your Yes
This is a post I started right after our 2022 Grateful Girl Gathering Women’s Conference but never posted. It’s exactly what I talk about in this post from last year….wondering if I post my thoughts if someone will be judging me and my intention. After writing this post I didn’t say Yes…
Read more: Give God Your Yes
- Don’t Pass Us By: The Asbury College Revival
What began with 15 college students in their normal daily chapel time, has grown to, as I write this, over 130 hours non-stop, and hundreds of people from all across the country and even one person from Singapore, traveling to Wilmore Kentucky ( a town of 6,000 people) to just be in the room where God is moving.
- Let It Rain!
Even on grey rainy days when we wake up and go “Ugh!”…. God reminds us that He will pour out His spirit on us (and our children and grandchildren) and comfort us.
- Turn
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace.
- Judgey Much?
There are a few people I know that are devout Sunday School goers in their church. One I can think of even pastors a church. And they aren’t nice people. There I said it. But you know what? They aren’t. Some of them are even leaders in our community and their boardroom…
Read more: Judgey Much?
- Hide or Seek?
I think most of us can say we have had times in our lives when we have felt down and out. Discouraged. Like we were carrying the weight of world on our shoulders. Sometimes it seems easier to hide at home. Sometimes when hard days come it seems like running away and avoiding is the best answer. The safest answer.
- Fear Not
As we see the news cycles of the invasion of Ukraine, it may be easy to turn away. It’s so far away and we may not completely understand all that is happening across the world from us. But just one look at the mothers and fathers trying to get their children to…
Read more: Fear Not
- I’ll Trade You
Some days it seems like we just can’t focus on what we are grateful for and instead our focus is on what we are worried about. At least it is that way for me. Some days my worry overshadows my gratitude. It can quickly overcome most of my thoughts. There are so…
Read more: I’ll Trade You
- But Did This Happen At Your Wedding?
Thirty four. 34 years with this guy. And what a 34 years it has been! We have walked through times of good, bad and also some ugly. I look back now over these years and all that we have learned and are still learning and I see the grace and mercy of…
Read more: But Did This Happen At Your Wedding?
- 7 Gratitude Journal Prompts You Can Use Every Day
Do you have a gratitude journal? Or maybe a journal your write in every day? Here are 7 journal prompts to put into words some of the things and people you are grateful for. Being grateful helps remind us of all that we do have to be thankful for. Even if you…
Read more: 7 Gratitude Journal Prompts You Can Use Every Day
- What does a friend need to hear?
I know I am not always a good friend. Sometimes I feel myself pulling away from interactions and wanting to just be in my own bubble in my free time. It’s safe there. Sometimes it is because I’m feeling down, sometimes I’m just busy. A lot of the time I am distracted.…
Read more: What does a friend need to hear?
- Drinking Coffee From Your Saucer
My father sometimes drank his coffee like this! I thought it was because it was too hot.Do you remember older generations drinking from their saucer? Then today I came across this poem that made me feel there was symbolism to the coffee ritual. Drinking from My Saucerby John Paul Moore I’ve never…
Read more: Drinking Coffee From Your Saucer
- Unfiltered
Our little part of western North Carolina has truly been amazing this Fall. This is the look outside my front door. The sun was hitting the trees as I walked out the door in the morning and I had to grab my phone and capture it. Even our dog Gunner looked too…
Read more: Unfiltered
- Lead Me To the Rock
“From the ends of the earth I call to You, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2. These are crazy times for sure. And in the midst of the craziness our lives go on. And we will have hurts and…
Read more: Lead Me To the Rock
- We Don’t Have to Stay in Darkness
“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46 Instagram isn’t real ya know. Nor Facebook. Nor many of our every day lives as we walk around behind masks to hide our hurts. Life is hard. And there…
Read more: We Don’t Have to Stay in Darkness
- Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.
Grateful. Thankful. Blessed. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I fall short of God’s grace. I get swallowed up with my worries, disappointments and sadness. Some days are just hard. Heck, some weeks and years are hard. But God has been so good to me. Yes, there have been really tough…
Read more: Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.
- You Are My Portion
“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” Psalm 16:5-6 I was reading a Lysa Terkeurst devotional this week where she wrote about God helping us to put boundaries in…
Read more: You Are My Portion
- she believed He could, so He did
she believed He could, so He did. In January my New Year’s resolution was to let this be His year. To do my best to listen to what God was calling me to do and to take steps each day to fulfill that calling.
- Is Your Ship Still in the Harbor?
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.- John Shedd I have been reading lately about Esther in the Bible and thinking of the characteristics of courage. We see so many people in our daily lives who are courageous. In big ways but also in…
Read more: Is Your Ship Still in the Harbor?
- Words Matter.
On any day, any hour, you can get on social media and find someone hurling negative words, attacking a person, an opinion, a group of people, an idea. Just name it.
- Dreams Do Come True.
“If you can dream it, you can do it”- Walt Disney “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.”- Proverbs 16:3 Have you ever had a dream that you kept hidden? I know some of us have big dreams and some of us have little dreams.…
Read more: Dreams Do Come True.
- Tested
Have you ever heard someone say “You’re testing me”. “You’re testing my nerves.” “The devil is testing me.”? I have heard it all my life…and probably said it a few times too. Isn’t it just the way when you commit yourself to reading your Bible more, serving more, praying more…the devil jumps…
Read more: Tested
- Be to Me.
Be to me. Three simple words that capture what my heart longs for when I reach for God’s hand in my life these days.
- Craving Connection
Craving Connection. Quaratine. Stay at Home. Isolate.
Could you have ever imagined we would see these days? They are crazy times for sure. And scary. And sad. Our world has turned into something we don’t recognize. And if you are like me, even after six weeks of this, I don’t think I have it figured out.
- Hurry Up and Wait
But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones. Isaiah 30:18 (MSG) I am not a “be early” for everything person. But then…
Read more: Hurry Up and Wait
- Love Like That
“Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” Ephesians 5:2 (MSG) Today’s is Valentine’s Day and the world around us is celebrating love with flowers and chocolate…
Read more: Love Like That
- Marking Time
Marking Time
- Releasing Control
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline. 2 Timothy1:7 NIV I have a control problem. My guess is that anyone that knows me would agree. Although for years I thought my “strong trait” was a strength. I could look at…
Read more: Releasing Control
- The Gifts of Christmas: Forgiveness & Reunion
Christmas 2019 is now in the past and we are 1 day away from a new decade. Gosh, a new decade. Can you remember when you were in high school and even trying to imagine living in the 2000s was hard? I do! We imagined ourselves SO OLD when we reached these…
Read more: The Gifts of Christmas: Forgiveness & Reunion
- Going Home
I haven’t been home in a long time. I grew up 5 hours away from where I have made my home for the last 28 years. And since I left in 1991 I have maybe returned three times before this. Once when my father died. Once for a class reunion. Once for…
Read more: Going Home
- The Big Picture
Isn’t that the truth? Whether it is focusing on my appearance, weight, worrying about my children, how I manage my household, the house I “wish” I had, what others think of me, the Christian I ought to be….I can get so distracted and broken down by what I perceive as being…
Read more: The Big Picture
- What makes us think we’d be happy with more?
Be Thankful Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire, If you did, what would there be to look forward to? Be thankful when you don’t know something For it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow. Be thankful for…
Read more: What makes us think we’d be happy with more?
- Grief and Gratitude
I’m having a hard time finding gratitude in my grief. After a very long three year battle with Stage 4 breast cancer, my best friend closed her eyes on October 1st and laid down her battle. She had warriored. And I mean warriored. Her battle was brutal and painful and long. But…
Read more: Grief and Gratitude
- What is Grace?
I Discovered my Favorite Bible Verse in a Bathroom. @GirlfriendsIn God posted this photo recently and since it is one of my favorites, I had to share. This verse became such a soft place to land when we were in Seattle for Jack’s bone marrow transplant for leukemia. There I was, 2,000…
Read more: What is Grace?
- Girlfriends
A group of local friends just recently started a “women’s group”. It’s more of a “girls getting together group”. We call it Exhale. It’s made up of a group of women, most empty nesters or soon to be. Some of us knew each other, others didn’t. And it has been an answered…
Read more: Girlfriends
- Being Grateful is Tough Some Days
Sometimes being grateful is just tough to do. I have to be honest, I actually forget sometimes to be grateful. So many days I get up out of my warm bed, get into my hot shower, put on my clean clothes, eat a hot breakfast, drive to work in a car I…
Read more: Being Grateful is Tough Some Days
I bought a t-shirt in the men’s section at Wal-Mart last week. A t-shirt for me. Not something I normally do. But as I cut through the men’s section on my way to the other side of the store, I passed a rack of t-shirts with scriptures on them. The shirt hanging… Read more: A Men’s Tee From Wal-Mart Stopped Me In My Tracks
We are not meant to get the glory. We are meant to give the glory. For those who do and work and give and need a pat on the back now and then that’s a tough one. Our human nature seeks acceptance and a thank you now and then doesn’t it? And… Read more: Give Not Get
This is a post I started right after our 2022 Grateful Girl Gathering Women’s Conference but never posted. It’s exactly what I talk about in this post from last year….wondering if I post my thoughts if someone will be judging me and my intention. After writing this post I didn’t say Yes… Read more: Give God Your Yes
What began with 15 college students in their normal daily chapel time, has grown to, as I write this, over 130 hours non-stop, and hundreds of people from all across the country and even one person from Singapore, traveling to Wilmore Kentucky ( a town of 6,000 people) to just be in the room where God is moving.
Even on grey rainy days when we wake up and go “Ugh!”…. God reminds us that He will pour out His spirit on us (and our children and grandchildren) and comfort us.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.
There are a few people I know that are devout Sunday School goers in their church. One I can think of even pastors a church. And they aren’t nice people. There I said it. But you know what? They aren’t. Some of them are even leaders in our community and their boardroom… Read more: Judgey Much?
I think most of us can say we have had times in our lives when we have felt down and out. Discouraged. Like we were carrying the weight of world on our shoulders. Sometimes it seems easier to hide at home. Sometimes when hard days come it seems like running away and avoiding is the best answer. The safest answer.
As we see the news cycles of the invasion of Ukraine, it may be easy to turn away. It’s so far away and we may not completely understand all that is happening across the world from us. But just one look at the mothers and fathers trying to get their children to… Read more: Fear Not
Some days it seems like we just can’t focus on what we are grateful for and instead our focus is on what we are worried about. At least it is that way for me. Some days my worry overshadows my gratitude. It can quickly overcome most of my thoughts. There are so… Read more: I’ll Trade You
Thirty four. 34 years with this guy. And what a 34 years it has been! We have walked through times of good, bad and also some ugly. I look back now over these years and all that we have learned and are still learning and I see the grace and mercy of… Read more: But Did This Happen At Your Wedding?
Do you have a gratitude journal? Or maybe a journal your write in every day? Here are 7 journal prompts to put into words some of the things and people you are grateful for. Being grateful helps remind us of all that we do have to be thankful for. Even if you… Read more: 7 Gratitude Journal Prompts You Can Use Every Day
I know I am not always a good friend. Sometimes I feel myself pulling away from interactions and wanting to just be in my own bubble in my free time. It’s safe there. Sometimes it is because I’m feeling down, sometimes I’m just busy. A lot of the time I am distracted.… Read more: What does a friend need to hear?
My father sometimes drank his coffee like this! I thought it was because it was too hot.Do you remember older generations drinking from their saucer? Then today I came across this poem that made me feel there was symbolism to the coffee ritual. Drinking from My Saucerby John Paul Moore I’ve never… Read more: Drinking Coffee From Your Saucer
Our little part of western North Carolina has truly been amazing this Fall. This is the look outside my front door. The sun was hitting the trees as I walked out the door in the morning and I had to grab my phone and capture it. Even our dog Gunner looked too… Read more: Unfiltered
“From the ends of the earth I call to You, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2. These are crazy times for sure. And in the midst of the craziness our lives go on. And we will have hurts and… Read more: Lead Me To the Rock
“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46 Instagram isn’t real ya know. Nor Facebook. Nor many of our every day lives as we walk around behind masks to hide our hurts. Life is hard. And there… Read more: We Don’t Have to Stay in Darkness
Grateful. Thankful. Blessed. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I fall short of God’s grace. I get swallowed up with my worries, disappointments and sadness. Some days are just hard. Heck, some weeks and years are hard. But God has been so good to me. Yes, there have been really tough… Read more: Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.
“Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” Psalm 16:5-6 I was reading a Lysa Terkeurst devotional this week where she wrote about God helping us to put boundaries in… Read more: You Are My Portion
she believed He could, so He did. In January my New Year’s resolution was to let this be His year. To do my best to listen to what God was calling me to do and to take steps each day to fulfill that calling.
“A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.- John Shedd I have been reading lately about Esther in the Bible and thinking of the characteristics of courage. We see so many people in our daily lives who are courageous. In big ways but also in… Read more: Is Your Ship Still in the Harbor?
On any day, any hour, you can get on social media and find someone hurling negative words, attacking a person, an opinion, a group of people, an idea. Just name it.
“If you can dream it, you can do it”- Walt Disney “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.”- Proverbs 16:3 Have you ever had a dream that you kept hidden? I know some of us have big dreams and some of us have little dreams.… Read more: Dreams Do Come True.
Have you ever heard someone say “You’re testing me”. “You’re testing my nerves.” “The devil is testing me.”? I have heard it all my life…and probably said it a few times too. Isn’t it just the way when you commit yourself to reading your Bible more, serving more, praying more…the devil jumps… Read more: Tested
Be to me. Three simple words that capture what my heart longs for when I reach for God’s hand in my life these days.
Craving Connection. Quaratine. Stay at Home. Isolate. Could you have ever imagined we would see these days? They are crazy times for sure. And scary. And sad. Our world has turned into something we don’t recognize. And if you are like me, even after six weeks of this, I don’t think I have it figured out.
But God’s not finished. He’s waiting around to be gracious to you. He’s gathering strength to show mercy to you. God takes the time to do everything right—everything. Those who wait around for him are the lucky ones. Isaiah 30:18 (MSG) I am not a “be early” for everything person. But then… Read more: Hurry Up and Wait
“Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” Ephesians 5:2 (MSG) Today’s is Valentine’s Day and the world around us is celebrating love with flowers and chocolate… Read more: Love Like That
Marking Time
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline. 2 Timothy1:7 NIV I have a control problem. My guess is that anyone that knows me would agree. Although for years I thought my “strong trait” was a strength. I could look at… Read more: Releasing Control
Christmas 2019 is now in the past and we are 1 day away from a new decade. Gosh, a new decade. Can you remember when you were in high school and even trying to imagine living in the 2000s was hard? I do! We imagined ourselves SO OLD when we reached these… Read more: The Gifts of Christmas: Forgiveness & Reunion
I haven’t been home in a long time. I grew up 5 hours away from where I have made my home for the last 28 years. And since I left in 1991 I have maybe returned three times before this. Once when my father died. Once for a class reunion. Once for… Read more: Going Home
Isn’t that the truth? Whether it is focusing on my appearance, weight, worrying about my children, how I manage my household, the house I “wish” I had, what others think of me, the Christian I ought to be….I can get so distracted and broken down by what I perceive as being… Read more: The Big Picture
Be Thankful Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire, If you did, what would there be to look forward to? Be thankful when you don’t know something For it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow. Be thankful for… Read more: What makes us think we’d be happy with more?
I’m having a hard time finding gratitude in my grief. After a very long three year battle with Stage 4 breast cancer, my best friend closed her eyes on October 1st and laid down her battle. She had warriored. And I mean warriored. Her battle was brutal and painful and long. But… Read more: Grief and Gratitude
I Discovered my Favorite Bible Verse in a Bathroom. @GirlfriendsIn God posted this photo recently and since it is one of my favorites, I had to share. This verse became such a soft place to land when we were in Seattle for Jack’s bone marrow transplant for leukemia. There I was, 2,000… Read more: What is Grace?
A group of local friends just recently started a “women’s group”. It’s more of a “girls getting together group”. We call it Exhale. It’s made up of a group of women, most empty nesters or soon to be. Some of us knew each other, others didn’t. And it has been an answered… Read more: Girlfriends
Sometimes being grateful is just tough to do. I have to be honest, I actually forget sometimes to be grateful. So many days I get up out of my warm bed, get into my hot shower, put on my clean clothes, eat a hot breakfast, drive to work in a car I… Read more: Being Grateful is Tough Some Days