I had the privilege to present a session of Jennifer’s Morning Motivation webinar this morning. — and what a fun time it was for me! I hear the “Go to Meeting” commercials on the radio and the process has sounded great, but I’ve never “attended” an online meeting or webinar before! So, I’m really glad I got to do it today! I have sooo missed sharing messages or teachings at meetings and retreats and so to have had this opportunity today was a real blessing for me. I’m always thinking of things I’d like to share with sisters… things the…
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“She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” proverbs 31.26 As we have “spell-check” to alert us to misspelled words – or a grammar-check to alert us of grammar mistakes, this verse serves a divine speech-check — except that we never get a second chance to say the right thing first. This verse then would be our speech-filter verse. The word spoken is spoken – no highlight, delete, re-speak… what’s said is said. We might tend to say the first thing that comes to our mind — and may not stop and…
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Do you occasionally emerge from a situation — a conversation, a class, a conference… an experience — and say or think: Well, that was sure a waste of time or that was a wasted opportunity or that was a waste of money. We do say or think those things, from time to time, don’t we? What keeps us from saying that was a waste — or — what would keep up from saying or feeling that was a waste? As I’ve shared with you many times, I write a lot… I write in journals, I write on scraps of paper,…
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Browsing through a bunch of papers and stuff… a slip of paper… the quote: “It is in the quiet crucible of your personal private sufferings that your noblest dreams are born and Gods greatest gifts are given in compensation for what you’ve been through. –Wintley Phipps The paper is yellowed, the ink is smudged. I mull the quote over in my mind – having done so many times before, I reflect on what it’s meant to me – what it means to me today. I know it’d be real easy to just think on the first part… the crucible part…
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Thirty three and a quarter years ago today, Wes and I were married in SanFrancisco. The glow we had that 4th day of February truly was the glow of love, but it was also the glow of a high fever — a fever that led us to go to the doctor for meds and a fever that led to us to cancel our honeymoon plans to go to Hawaii — to Maui. We’ve often commented over the years that we knew the Lord was in control of those plans — those cancellations — and had a better plan for us…
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Living long. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently. I’ve been wondering to my self: what would I be doing today if I had been living long for the last thirty-some-odd years? What would I have accomplished or done differently had I been living long all these years of marriage and motherhood? This train of thought is the sort of along the same track of thinking as the question: How would God have used me (or my life) had my whole life been yielded to Him? Where would I be today if my whole life had been yielded to…
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The lacy green leaves are slowly appearing and daffodils are beginning to bloom around the old willow tree. Isn’t it an awesome wonder: Every year, every passing season, has its marvelous reminders of the lavish mercy and everlasting kindness of the Lord. May I never take this for granted nor think it not majestic. Passing through many seasons in thirty-three years of marriage, I so hope I never again take for granted my husband’s care and thoughtful gestures. You know, it’s something we all do — take for granted things that are or have been long present with us. …
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Can you believe we’re living in these days? That in the history of the world — His-story — we’re alive in these days! Remarkable! Truly remarkable! These thoughts and more came to me while reading in 2 Thessalonians 2 and elsewhere today. All over the world there are great surges of sensational events — and they truly are worldwide; the world is in chaos. And the catastrophes are piling up! The multifaceted cataclysmic tragedy in Japan seems to me to be a great picture of these days — especially within the church. And a subtle, but similar rumbling is afoot…
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So many times — so many times over the years I’ve asked the Lord to help me learn… Lord, help me learn from this expensive lesson. Lord, I know the situation I’m in is from You… help me learn. Lord, if You have handed me this experience… then help me learn. Lord, even if I say to You, I cannot do this, please do not leave me to myself… please help me learn. These have been the pleas of my heart many, many times through the years. There have been many “monuments of trust” or markers of faith in my…
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A mother hands a child a coat as he prepares to head out the door. You’re going to need this, she says, it’s cold outside. Another time, she hands the child an umbrella. You’re going to need this, she says, it’s raining out and you’ll get wet if you don’t open it as you step off the porch. The child might dutifully accept the coat or the umbrella; he might also be trusting her judgment; in addition, he might be reflecting and acting on past experience. Whatever the case — obedience or experience — in the coat or umbrella scenarios…