I have to admit, some reality TV fascinates me…or at least captures my attention for a while. Last night my youngest daughter and I watched part the show “True Beauty” in which several models are in competition to see who is the most beautiful, who can become the “face of Vegas.” What they don’t know is that judges are watching what happens behind the scenes and deciding the winner based on inner beauty: their character and not their looks. Continue reading
On Father’s Day, more than other days, I think of my dad and all He is and has been to me. I know there are many who don’t have dads at all or have dads that are detached from their lives or dads that hurt them in various ways. This makes me especially thankful for my daddy. I call Him Pops. Continue reading
Years ago during one of my brother’s visits we bought some modeling clay and, on the back porch, sitting at the fisher-price plastic picnic table, made little animals and creatures with my girls. It was a lot of fun. One reason being that the girls, who were really young at the time, were tickled with each little thing we made. My brother especially enjoyed making his little animals and dinosaurs detailed using toothpicks to draw smiles, poke pupils in eyes, add finishing touches. We must have played that way for a couple of hours, enjoying giggles and squishing the gooey colorful clay together. Continue reading
I’ve talked so much about Zumba class and how much I love it that my friends and family are probably tired of hearing it. Let me just say that God brought it to me when I needed an outlet, some fun, some community, and of course some exercise.
Right now one of the songs we dance/exercise to is Christina Aguilera’s song “Fighter.” We do some kickboxing during the chorus:
It makes me that much stronger
Makes me work a little bit harder
It makes me that much wiser
So thanks for making me a fighter
Made me learn a little bit faster
Made my skin a little bit thicker
Makes me that much smarter
So thanks for making me a fighter
She’s singing about someone who cheated on her and did her wrong, but I when I hear those words I usually think of something I’m struggling with (or friends and family are facing) like temptation, feeling down, disappointment, challenges, etc. Yesterday I was thinking about cancer. Continue reading
There have been lots of thoughts churning in my head the last few days – of course when are there NOT lots of thoughts churning in there? Anyway, here is a window into my crowded head if you’re so inclined to read on:
I think part of my feeling distant from God lately is that I’ve been angry with Him – angry that He hasn’t answered prayers the way I thought. I mean, did he even take into consideration the five point argument I shared with Him about why my way was good? And how about that time-table of His? Why do I think that if something doesn’t happen in a few weeks or even months that it means God isn’t there or doesn’t care? That is pretty silly. As much as I thought I was resisting the enemy, I had fallen prey again to his ploy of self-pity and forgetfulness.
Forgetfulness? About all God has done in my life and in the lives of those around me. What other proof do I need that He is there and active in our lives? That He really does care about each of us in love. There are a number of Bible verses that tell God’s people to recall the things God has done throughout their lives so they won’t lose hope, so they will stay on track, so they will be thankful. I’ve been forgetting to remember. Continue reading
It was 2:42 a.m. and I was getting up once again (third time) to see what my girls were up to. Kaitlin almost always goes to bed at a decent hour, that blessed child. Krissy was finally in bed but had fallen asleep with her lights on. I turned them off and closed her door. I was tempted to hug her while she lay there sleeping. If I can’t get hugs from her when she’s awake maybe I can steal some. I didn’t. Kimmi was finally home but was doing laundry and taking things to her car! Today, she and her sister are moving to their apartment for the summer. Why is it a mom can’t sleep unless she knows all the girls are settled and resting? It wears me out! I laid back down unable to go back to sleep, my mind racing through concerns, thoughts, questions, frustrations, more questions, and just plain exhaustion. Fatigue always intensifies emotion for me, too.
When I’m tired, the lying voice of the enemy is so much harder to ignore. My heart strained to hear God’s voice instead. I called out through quiet tears for some peace, some relief from hurt, a sense of His love. The room seemed completely empty. I felt empty, my stomach still tight in a knot. I laid on my side looking at the clock. 3:51 a.m. Continue reading
“One day long ago, God’s Word came to Jonah, Amittai’s son: ‘Up on your feet and on your way to the big city of Nineveh! Preach to them. They’re in a bad way and I can’t ignore it any longer.’ But Jonah got up and went the other direction…” Jonah 1:1-3 The Msg
When I think of the word “hero”, I don’t typically think of Jonah. The poor guy gets a bum rap, but he brought that on himself. He was human, like us, after all. He faced his share of disappointments, a number of which we can read about in the book named after him in the Bible.
When we first meet him, he has just heard a message from God, the Creator of everything that exists, the Almighty Father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. “Go to Nineveh and tell them they better turn from their wicked ways or it’s ‘hasta la vista baby’ to their entire existence.” Disappointment #1: Jonah is given a task he doesn’t like. Maybe he was hoping God would send him to minister in the luxurious coastal towns of good repute where the people were kind and pleasant. The Bible tells us that he immediately got up and started walking in the opposite direction from Nineveh. Continue reading
Have you never heard?
Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 NLT
I enjoy working out. Seriously! I don’t enjoy running so much, but I like weight training, walking, and most recently Zumba which is basically dancing your rear-end off with friends for an hour at a time to fun, bass pumping music. Over the years I’ve learned that strength is gained not only in jumping, running, or even necessarily repeating a motion over and over. Sometimes it’s gained by assuming a position and holding it for a long time, completely still. Well, almost completely still. Continue reading
The story of Joseph has been one of my favorites for a long time, but especially lately. If you are lacking faith or need encouragement about having to wait on God, dealing with the unfairness of life sometimes, trusting even when it seems God has left, even reconciling family relationships, you should read his story (Genesis 37-50).
I read his story again this morning and was moved several times to tears. As I read, I tried to imagine his emotions, the surroundings, the events and life that happened in between the lines of Genesis. Having heard the story so many times as I grew up, I read it in The Message version today. I really took my time to think as I followed him from being born to a joyful and relieved mother and father who had waited a long time for his arrival, to growing strong and handsome as the favored son, to being betrayed and disposed of by jealous brothers, to success then unjust imprisonment, to being forgotten and waiting years for change, to success again and eventually restoration of his relationship with his family.
Can you hear his voice yelling up to his brothers, who sat calmly by eating their dinner, as he yelled for them to pull him up out of the cistern? Continue reading
In Hebrews chapter 12 of the Bible, we read the description of an inspiring scene:
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:1-3 The Message)
Picture the race we’re running with Jesus. The narrow way is lined with all sorts of people who have already finished and cheer us on! They’re not just enthusiastic observers, they ran the race before we did and finished. They’ve been where we are and have persevered. They are role models for us, people who dealt with this frustrating battle with sinful nature, doubt, disappointment, fatigue and more. I like the way The Message puts it when talking about the chief role model, about learning from Jesus and how he ran the race, “study how he did it….go over that story again, item by item…” I think it also helps to remember the heroes of faith told about in the Bible and how they lived, as well. That’s why God wanted us to know about them in His word, right? There’s so much to be learned from the stories of their lives. I want to think about some of them in the next few posts and how they dealt with disappointment.
Everyone faces disappointment. I guess it can be a weight that slows us down in our race if we dwell on it, push it down inside, or let it pile up with other disappointments until they all blend together turning into bitterness and resentment.
Some disappointments from the past year or so, maybe longer, have begun to prick the inside of my heart, showing me that I haven’t really dealt with them or thrown them off so that I can run better. I’d much rather sprint lightly with airy freedom than slog along with heavy feet. Time to study up on some faith heroes. Care to join me? Stay tuned.
Along the Narrow Path 