life. faithful.

 There's a ministry I'm thankful to be part of called Higher Ground. It's a weekend retreat geared entirely toward providing an opportunity for people to draw closer to God, with 6 weekends offered each year--3 for men and 3 for women. One small part I get to play involves putting the words, "In God's Love" onto handmade wooden crosses. If you don't know this about me, one skill I can say I mastered in pursuit of my master's degree was procrastination. As a result, yesterday morning was Friday and I still needed to do the lettering for Sunday. But as I said, it's the one skill I mastered, so it will be done on time (deadlines and I have a sort of...understanding). So I sent a text that said, "Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten the cross." It was a perfectly harmless statement about a simple piece of wood, but it got me to thinking. Don't you just hate it when that happens? Can I honestly say that I haven't fo...

  Isaiah 41 details how God will deal with the enemies of Israel. Right in the middle, there are a couple of verses that I love: " Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." (verse 10) "For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, 'Fear not, I will help you.'" (verse 13)  Look back at the specific wording there. Verse 10 says God is upholding you with His right hand, then verse 13 says He is holding your right hand. Can you picture that for a second? It's like when you were little, and your dad would sit you on his lap and let you "drive." You weren't really doing anything--he had ahold of the wheel, even though it was at the bottom where you couldn't see. He was completely in control, but it sure made you feel big, like you were accomplishing something amazing. These two verses together show God d...

There's been something that's bugged me for a long time but I've put off writing about it because I know I'm going to step on some toes. I know looks are a touchy subject for us. I'm not immune from the insecurities, let me tell you. When I look in the mirror, I see each and every flaw--every tiny thing I think is "wrong" with my looks or that I'm bugged by. I won't wear a shirt if it touches me in the wrong places. I'm definitely not a fan of being in a swimsuit, even though I love swimming and would live in the water every summer if I could. I gave up wearing my contacts--not because they bothered me, but because my little boy very innocently told me one day, "You look a lot younger when you wear your glasses, because then I can't see the wrinkles around your eyes." Boys. Good grief. But my goodness, ladies, can we please stop posting highly edited pictures on social media? You know the ones--beauty filters that erase every impe...