You know that little ache in your heart? It doesn’t need to stay there. You know that tear drop (or tear bucket) that has landed on your cheek? It can be wiped away. You know that anxiety that grips your soul like a vise? It can loosen. It is OK to let God take care of the little hurts AND the big hurts. It is OK to let go. I know. Sometimes we believe that if we stop worrying and stop struggling with the tough issues, we’re abandoning those people we care about…those people experiencing the pain and struggles. But you Continue Reading
Purple Hot Pants
School Carnival. Climax, Minnesota. 1973. It was an annual event where a king and queen were crowned, teachers got soaked in the dunk-‘em booth, cheap game prizes were won in the gym, and the cake walk was celebrated in the cafeteria. Much fun was had by all. I wore a purple hot pants outfit. With a purple headband. And purple tights. The outfit was…purple. Good grief. Whatever was I thinking. Back then, I felt like royalty. The look made me feel beautiful…even a little trim. Now, it’s one of those memories that make Continue Reading
Living the “So What?”
Living through the “So what?” of Easter… When the road seems too long, with not enough rest stops… When it’s been a long time since we’ve taken a trip out of the valley… When it just doesn’t seem practical to keep the joy… How about if we take our eyes off the situation and laser-focus them on the Risen Christ? We have sung the majestic hymns. We have jubilantly exclaimed, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” We have acknowledged Him as King of Kings. Now let’s live it. Let’s live it because we actually believe it. It Continue Reading
Child-Gated No More
From the pen of my friend and former classmate at Bethany College of Missions, James Nickel (shared with permission)… My fourteen month-old grandson has just learned to use his legs. With unsteady steps and a few falls, he has learned to explore the rooms of our home. After experiencing this freedom, he shakes his head indicating an emphatic “no” when placed in a room where the doorways are “child gated.” This afternoon, I led him outdoors to our gate-free front yard. I opened the door of my office. Then, the screen door. With Continue Reading
The Big Hand and the Little Hand
The hands of the clock move… Ohhhh…so very slowly. The seconds seem like minutes…minutes seem like hours. And it takes forever to make it one time around the face. Time all but stands still while you wait. Wait for time - this season - to pass. …A job that is unfulfilling and unbearable. …A home filled with tension and angry words. …A sadness so deep it makes your heart raw. …A life transition that just never seems to end. You watch the clock… Wishing the big hand and the little hand would spin furiously rather than Continue Reading
Permission Granted. Stop Worrying.
OK. So I got a big wake-up reminder this morning from Oswald Chambers. (My Utmost for His Highest is one of my favorite devotionals.) Chambers is writing about Matthew 6:25... “Do not worry about your life.” What a simple statement / command. Right? Not too hard to misunderstand what Jesus is telling us here. “Beware of allowing the thought that this statement is made by One Who does not understand our particular circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and he says we must not think about these Continue Reading
My Worry Prayers
“Hip replacement that includes a hiking schedule” The billboard words convinced me that if I ever need a new hip (I don’t), that’s the medical facility and doctors I’d want to do the surgery. Why? They give me hope. They don’t just tell me the surgery would go well… They tell me that good things will happen after the surgery. They paint a picture of how much better my life could be if I turn my pain and suffering over to them. Here's what surprised me about my "sign-me-up-now" reaction if I ever have hip problems... I Continue Reading
The End of the Story
Saturday mornings at Betty Amundson’s house in Shelly, MN. One of my favorite times of the week. “Good News Club.” Betty Amundson told the best stories. A bunch of us little kids would squirm and elbow and squeeze into her living room so we could hear her tell us stories of “Good News.” Bible stories that taught us about God, his miracles, and ordinary people who did some really cool things. (Just think about this for a minute…as a child, hearing a story about a shepherd boy named David who liked to play the harp who killed a Continue Reading
“…just give me enough.”
Keep me from lying and being dishonest. And don’t make me either rich or poor; just give me enough… Proverbs 30:8 (NCV) One of my favorite bloggers, Heidi Kreider, shared a post a few days ago that caused me to pause. There are so many great Girlfriends out there sharing their hearts, God's heart, and encouraging mine. And last week, Heidi's words made me stop and take a deep breath. May I encourage you to just jump over to her site today by clicking here? Read her post, "enough..." She will remind you of the power in Continue Reading
In the Nighttime Hours
Do you wake up in the dark hours of the night, worrying? I do. And the darkness, the need for sleep, the weariness… They seem to make the worry even more…overwhelming and heavy. I’m often worrying about my Mom… Is she OK? Is she lonely? Has she fallen? Maybe your worries are… -- When I wake up in the morning, I’ll still have cancer. -- Is my daughter at college making the right choices? -- It’s late, and my husband isn’t home yet. -- Bills are due, and there’s no money in the bank. I’m learning to remember that God Continue Reading
Grace is in this
Hi! Just wanted to post an extra little bit of encouragement this week... From 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 (The Message) ... “Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time— pray that our God will make you fit for what he’s called you to be, pray that he’ll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Continue Reading
See Him Who is Invisible
The flipping of the calendar page reminds me that days have passed…new days are ahead. Celebrations, decisions, disappointments from the yesterdays… they are now part of what was. I am most interested in what will be. I wonder where we will travel, what we will do, as the calendar pages turn? It’s hard to ignore the reminders that tell us to make sure to plan, set goals, set our course. I find some good nuggets in that advice… And it makes me nuts. It’s way too easy for me to focus on the task, rather than on the Continue Reading
Let God Be God
When the challenges come, too often our natural inclination is to try and fix the problems ourselves. Right? I've learned that doesn't work. (It's a lesson I keep learning, and keep learning, and keep learning...) Taking my problems on as a "Do it yourself" project just prolongs the discomfort, anxiety, and poor results. Today I'm over at my friend, Teri Johnson's site -- Keeping It Personal. I'm sharing a bit more about what I've learned about getting out of the way... and Letting God Be God. Come join us! Continue Reading
December’s Three-Legged Stool
It feels like a 3-legged stool. This month of December. The first leg... I hear the life-changing Christmas story once again and celebrate the birth of this tiny baby boy who would become my Peace. My Joy. It is true – Perfect Love came down at Christmas time. This is what Christmas is about for me. Then there is the second leg of the stool… The fun and excitement of the gift giving. Spending time with friends and family. The laughter. The music. The shopping. The Hallmark Christmas stories that can both touch my heart and Continue Reading
Embracing the Good
Wanting desperately to be married. Wanting desperately not to be married. Desperate for a job. Desperate for a different job. Dreaming of a good night’s sleep. Dreaming of the ability to get out of bed. If we live in America, we have much to be thankful for. And…if we live in America, our individual needs and wants are unique. We live in two worlds. In one, we are (or should be) aware of the blessings showered on us every moment we take a breath. Our nights are not interrupted by the blinding lights of missiles hitting Continue Reading
Open Your Gift!
What a gift today is! I think of the new day as a square box wrapped in crisp, white wrapping paper. A cobalt blue, silk bow is tied around the box. It’s easy to unwrap. My name is written in beautiful calligraphy on a small note card, attached with a thin silk thread. Inside the box are thousands of God’s promises and blessings just waiting to pop out and surprise me during the next 24 hours. Once the lid is removed, they spring out like millions of little jack-in-the-boxes. You can almost hear them squeal with delight as they Continue Reading
Your Needs…His Strength
What do you need today? Rest? Peace? Wisdom? Direction? All of the above? God will meet you where you need Him to be. He will provide EXACTLY what you need to get through today. Here’s the promise: “As thy days, so shall your strength be.” (Deuteronomy 33:25) On August 22, 1858, Rev. C.H. Spurgeon delivered an address around this verse, and included these words: “The same God who guides the stars in their courses, who directs the earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun, and keeps the stars Continue Reading
The Life I Planned
I have a new favorite book. Things Pondered: A Collection of Poetry and Vignettes by Beth Moore (2004). When I get a new favorite book, I create time and space to savor it. No starting to read it in the car on the way home from Barnes & Noble. No skimming. I want to create a moment in my favorite reading chair that lets me lose myself in the pages. No distractions. Only my book, my lap pillow, my notebook and pen, my highlighter, and my Diet Pepsi. This is a perfect moment. So getting back to my new favorite Continue Reading
Hello, God, it’s me
What a treat! Beth Kothe is a guest blogger today. She is also a contributing author to "God, Girlfriends, & Chocolate." I have a strange confession to make. I am jealous of Moses. You know, Mr. "Let My People Go," Pharaoh-intimidating plagues, 10 commandments, etc. Why am I jealous of a guy who's been dead for over 4,000 years? Because he talked with God directly. God told Moses in great detail how to do what He had put him on earth to do: get the Israelites out of Egypt, establish their new culture and holy days, build the Continue Reading
Do-overs
I love do-overs. If I don’t like what I’m writing, I hit the delete key and “do-over.” If my hair is having a bad day, my brush winds its way through and creates a “do-over.” If my chicken dish doesn’t turn out…well, that I just throw out. Wouldn’t it be freeing if we could “do-over” (or throw out!) some of those moments from our past? Stupid decisions we made. Comments shared. Hot pants worn. We can’t pretend those moments never happened. Yet…God makes it possible for us to remove them from our slate and start fresh. I Continue Reading
Thank you for the waiting time
This is one of the most beautiful prayers I’ve ever read… "You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, want us to wait for the right time in which to discover who we are, where we must go, who will be with us, and what we must do. So thank you…for the waiting time. You keep us loving. You, the God whose name is love, want us to be like you – To love the loveless and the unlovely and the unlovable; To love without jealousy, or design or threat; And, most difficult of all, to love ourselves. So thank you…for Continue Reading
Facebook and prayers
I've begun using Facebook as part of my daily prayers. A child is in ICU. A grandmother is living her final days. A cousin has been in a tragic accident. Whatever the need, I love seeing how others respond to the posting, “Will you pray?” “Yes...Praying.,..Done…Caring…Right now…” I pray for people I don’t even know…because a friend asked. My friend Jacki manages our church’s prayer list each week. It’s amazing when you think about it. A few dozen people committed to praying for each person on that list. It must make God Continue Reading
Consequences
We can’t hide anything from God. It’s easy to forget that, isn’t it? Every once in awhile I think that if I I mess up and don’t talk to God about it, He won’t find out. That’s just plain silly. Why do we do that? I guess it’s like a little kid who has taken a cookie when his mother said “No.” If he runs and hides behind his bunk bed to eat it, he assumes his mom won’t find out. And then everything will be OK. But God is God. Nothing gets past him. He knows everything. So here’s what I’ve learned… When I have sinned, I need to Continue Reading
Wow. And I thought I have bad days.
I just finished reading the Book of Job. Again…Wow. I whine and complain about a frustration with a client. Or a disappointing comment from a friend. Or a schedule that is interrupted by the unexpected—usually by people. And then I read about Job. “This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil…He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.” Job doesn’t sound like someone who needed to be taught a good lesson. But here is what he dealt with… His oxen and donkeys were attacked and killed by Continue Reading
God has called you by name
This has been a week of asking some pretty big questions! …How am I getting to know God better? …How am I standing in the gap for my Girlfriends and their needs? I am grateful for these questions that God has put on my heart, and… …when I start asking myself these questions, it is easy to feel discouraged. (“Sigh. Shouldn’t I be better / more ‘spiritual’ by now?”) Good grief. We’re always trying to measure up to a standard that “they” set, aren’t we? So today I’m finding encouragement in this verse: “Fear not, for I have Continue Reading