June 2013

posted on June 24, 2013

One of my "life verses" is Proverbs 4:23: "Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flows the wellspring of life within you."

Above all else? Really? Wow. It still surprises me.

And it begs me to stop and ask myself the question, "Am I doing that today?" Are you?

The phrase "guard your heart" doesn't imply watching over some dangerous, wicked thing that needs constant monitoring lest it lead you down paths straight to Hell. No. It implies nurturing and caring for your heart because that is where all true life and goodness flow from. (And through!)

For me, to guard my heart means I must practice the spiritual disciplines...

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Change

posted on June 24, 2013

Many women feel like a failure as a woman. I know that oftentimes I do. A failure as a human being, really. It has underscored just about everything I have done and everything I have been kept from doing. But I am not a failure as a human being or as a woman. In some core place deep within, I know this. I fail, yes. But I am not a failure. I disappoint. But I am not a disappointment. Yet when I find myself struggling again – losing the battle for my beauty, my body, my heart – I can sure feel like a failure in every way. And isn’t that true for every woman? Don’t we all have secret places where we are not living in the victory we long for, and that colors how we see ourselves? Doesn’t it go on to become a barrier between...

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Hope

posted on June 24, 2013

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all...
(Emily Dickinson)

My spirit needs hope as badly as my body needs water. Blessedly, I can go to the sink whenever I want. Hope is not so easily found, though perhaps as readily available.

I wake, I work, I walk through my days, not alone but with God, and I know this to be true. But some days, some seasons, I wake, I work, I walk through my days without much hope. And without hope, I am not living. Not living. I'm not the me God dreamed of when he first and last and in between thinks of me. I'm not the me I...

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Everything

posted on June 14, 2013

If I had everything I ever wanted but didn't have Jesus, I would have nothing. If I have nothing but do have Jesus, I have everything.

The prayer of my heart today —no, more than just today is, "Jesus, I give you everything. I give you everyone. So that I may have you."

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Gold

posted on June 11, 2013

It’s 9:30pm and the horizon is glowing. From my deck I can see spots of red where homes are burning. I pray.

The fire that burned in our community a year ago destroyed over 340 homes. It stopped mere feet from our own. How well I remember, how well this entire community remembers, what it felt like. The smoke. The heat. The falling embers. The fear that threatened to devour much more than flames.

To evacuate. To see fire in the rearview mirror. To not know if our house stood or fell. To pray. To lay in bed and hold my husband, be held by my husband, and know that though the mountains shake and fall into the sea…I would remain held. Held by Love. Then to wake to the unknown…

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Miracles and Goodness

posted on June 03, 2013

On my walk this morning, I was remembering goodness. Remembering miracles, really. And thanking God. I'm surrounded by miracles. The truth is, I'm a walking miracle! (And I bet you are, too!) On my regular walk I pass by the Open Space at Blodgett Peak. Only it's not open, hasn't been since the Waldo Canyon fire last summer. That's the fire that shook our community to the core. The fire that burned down over 300 homes. The fire that was stopped fifteen feet from our own.

I am surrounded by miracles. But here's the one God reminded me of today.

Last Christmas Eve eve, I was driving to the store to buy stocking stuffers for our children. John called. Nothing unusual yet. But...

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