Monday, January 29, 2018

The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

It was a busy week so on this particular Friday night we just hung out together at home. We didn't want to watch TV or a movie (again), so I went to my everything cupboard (every mom has one of these, don't they?) and pulled out an unopened Star Wars puzzle. As I looked at this 300 piece puzzle, I pondered how I came to be in possession of this brain teaser as we are not Star Wars fans. But here we were. We were going to put this puzzle together. We started on Friday night; I ran out of steam after four pieces but the Little One had a method for solving puzzles, so she stuck it out a bit longer.

Saturday was a full day for me. As I left the house I looked at that incomplete puzzle and wondered if and when it would be completed. When I came home Saturday afternoon, the puzzle had taken shape - the border was completed, and the empty spaces inside were being filled in. It was more than fifty percent done and I was impressed. It turns out, that the puzzle drew the other family members in so that they felt compelled


Thursday, January 25, 2018

How To Respond to the Unkind Person in Your Life

Hurt happens. It happens to all of us, often when we do not anticipate it. It happens in families, it happens in friendships, it happens with co-workers, and we even hurt ourselves. The most confusing kind of hurt, though, is the hurt that happens for seemingly no reason.

Maybe for you, it's the customer service person who's supposed to be helping you out but keeps making everything more difficult with their attitude. This scenario rubs you the wrong way every time. You assume that kindness is a part of their job description without considering why they may be behaving rudely in the moment.


Monday, January 22, 2018

An Invitation to Participate in the Divine

Have you ever cried so much it felt like you couldn't cry another tear? I have. Has your heart been so broken you thought it would never heal? I have. Have the rifts in your family taken such a toll on you that you wonder if fellowship will ever be restored? I have ached for broken family relationships. Has the deep hurt of a child made you feel so helpless that all you do is cry? I have.

There are circumstances in life that are so unexplainable that force you to your knees with desperate cries to the One up above. "Why Lord, why?" "How Lord, how?" "Make a way Lord, make a way." "Heal Lord, heal." "Restore Lord, restore."



Thursday, January 18, 2018

The Best Exemplar

Source
As women, sometimes we struggle with housekeeping don't we, especially when we have a growing family. Recognizing that there's a place for neatness we try to keep everything neat all the time and this is where our unrealistic expectations begin to get the best of us. Maybe secretly we do believe that neatness is next to godliness.

We want our living rooms to be works of arts instead of actually being lived in; we want our kitchens and our bedrooms to be Pinterest worthy and there should be no toys or clothing on any of the floors. The only place that might be allowed to be messy is the laundry room - and even there we drive ourselves crazy: we should have bins for each person and each color; washed laundry should be folded into neat stacks so that family members can easily spot their clothes. In other words, even the laundry area must be neat! Who can stay sane? We set unrealistic examples for those around us while perhaps driving them and ourselves crazy.


Monday, January 15, 2018

Write it Down

God has left a deposit in my spirit at the beginning of this new year and it is that I should write my thoughts down. I do some of that via this blog, but honestly, I had gotten lazy with capturing God's thoughts as He speaks to me.

These thoughts can show up anywhere and anytime but they usually show up when I'm still, when I'm listening or when I'm at church. This can be three separate instances or they can occur simultaneously. I cultivated the habit


Thursday, January 11, 2018

Book Review - She's Still There: Rescuing the Girl In You by Chrystal Evans Hurst

There was a time for all of us before life became complicated where we reveled in the innocence of childhood. For some, this might have been a brief moment in time for others it's a time that sits clearly in a favored space in the brain.

She's Still There: Rescuing the Girl in You by Chrystal Evan Hurst is a form of encouragement geared to women with the Bible as its foundation. It encourages each of us to take the time to search out what God is trying to tell us about our purpose. That little girl is part of who you are, so don't become discouraged with where you are in life but instead, as the author says, keep persevering. This book provides biblical principles on how to do so.

It is written in a very relatable manner yet in a way that captures your attention. As many of us struggle to find our purpose, Chapter 15 (my favorite chapter) says it like this: "Your job is not to find the answer that leads to a master plan or purpose.  Your job


Monday, January 8, 2018

You Can Always Begin Again

Kidstock/Getty Images
I either learned this song - Poor Old Michael Finnegan, as a child or when I had children and I sang songs to amuse and quiet them; I'm going with the latter. Here is the first of many verses:

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan,
He grew whiskers on his chin-negan,
The wind came down and blew them off again,
Poor old Michael Finnegan, Begin Again.