Let Love Guide

Our oldest son, Noah, is a Senior in High School. I remember holding him on his third day of life, singing this lullaby And I'll love you forever, forever my baby you'll be And I'll love you forever. Forever and ever my baby you'll be. Sweet, right? {but then, the 2nd verse ...} I want you to know, wherever you go, should life find us miles apart. I'll always care and always be there, 'cause Mama's love lives in the heart. Wait, WHAT? Someday this baby, whom I love with ALL I am, is going to LEAVE? I immediately started bawling and my mother, who was in town helping us adjust to parenthood, began crying, as well, saying,  "That's what happens. You love your child so much and then they grow up and leave." It was a scene, to say the least. I remember laughing through tears, telling Mom she couldn't cry and breakdown - she was supposed to be the strong one in the midst of my postpartum craziness. I thought, for a moment, we might n...

His sovereign rule lasts and lasts, H is kingdom never declines and falls. Life on this earth doesn’t add up to much,  but God’s heavenly army keeps everything going. No one can interrupt His work,  no one can call His rule into question. Daniel 4:35 {MSG} I work at a church and at our Tuesday meeting our worship leader, Ric, shared a devotion based on this scripture. His observation - we are accounted as nothing, and yet, created in God's image. How can these two ideas be reconciled? In his devotion, he offered as we grow in God's image - as we lean into HIS image - we grow in His compassion, love and grace. By allowing our self to diminish - God becomes greater. There's a higher calling to this life - and it involves maturity, seeking, prayer, growth and worship. The beauty of our God is that He gave us free will {which is also the super hard part of this life}. Every step of our growth in God requires making the right choice. There can be no true worship unle...

My husband, Scott, and I are leading a new marriage study by Francis Chan that is literally rocking me to my core {it's SO GOOD!!!} You and Me Forever: Marriage in Light of Eternity is a marriage study, but it begins with an examination of your relationship with God. I've read the first chapter at least three times, trying to soak in all the truth. "... the best is yet to come. I'm sure of it. Even now, I am working to make sure my family is set up for the future. When most people make that statement, they are talking about financial security for their last few years on earth. When I say it, I'm referring to the millions of years that come after that ... I have imagined what it will be like when Lisa comes face to face with God. The Bible guarantees that will actually happen. One day, my wife will stand before the Creator and Judge of all things. What a staggering moment that will be! I can't imagine any of us being ready for the shock of that day, yet Scr...

I don't know about you, but I'm loving 2015. I was so glad to bid 2014 a heartfelt "GOODBYE!" I spent the first months of 2014 in a depression that would not lift. It was really more like what I can only describe as Holy isolation. God took me {claimed me!} and was selfish in demanding my focus be on Him and Him alone. Ideally, this sounds lovely and beautiful, but for someone whose love language is Quality Time, being alone with God {and God, alone} was both hard {and beautiful}. At the time I couldn't understand why God would demand so much of me and I felt drained. I missed my friends, my relationships with the outside world. But God would have none of it. He was jealous for me {and now, standing on the other side, I'm so grateful}. I feel like 2015 is the Year of the Lord! In my last post I shared how God was healing me of my migraines {while I've had a bit of a setback I'm still claiming healing!} In addition to healing my migraines God i...

I took this photo on a drive with my family. I was praying to see God, to feel Him and then I saw this in the sky and this scripture came to mind, "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Thankful for a God who pursues us.[/caption] "I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps." Psalms 40:1-2 Are you in a hard place? A season of your life where you wonder if anyone sees you {if they truly KNOW you} ... your friends, your family {even God} I know Christmas has come. A time of GREAT joy. But maybe that wasn't in your heart this year. Maybe you're stretched to the point of exhaustion. I understand. I've been in that space of struggle and weariness the past four months. My mi...

Nerd alert - I LOVE Harry Potter >>and Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, etc.<< You get the picture. Hence the nod to one of my favorite Dumbledore quotes from Harry Potter. I get daily emails from A.W. Tozer >>well, from someone who's keeping his writing and thoughts alive<< and there was one last week that floored me. The verse is from Ecclesiastes 3:11. The first part is one we've all heard, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." But the "b" part of this verse. " Also, He has put eternity in their hearts." Added as almost an aside, and yet this is possibly the most profound teaching I've gleaned from the Bible. God loves us SO much, He has shared his everlastingness - put it in our heart. When I was five years old, I became aware of the concept of eternity >>and it REALLY freaked me out<< I spent nights and days thinking, "forever, and forever, and forever, a...

"Fear. His modus operandi is to manipulate you with the mysterious, to taunt you with the unknown. Fear of death, fear of failure, fear of God, fear of tomorrow - his arsenal is vast. His goal? To create cowardly, joyless Christians. He doesn't want you to make that journey to the mountain. He figures if he can rattle you enough, you will take your eyes off the peaks and settle for a dull existence in the flat lands." Max Lucado Have you ever been in a flat land? I recently visited there and I can tell you, it's nowhere you want to be. The thing is, I didn't KNOW I was in a flat land until Monday afternoon, when a dear friend of mine spoke truth over me - she noted I sometimes live life as if my glass was half-empty, rather than half full. At the time I bristled at her observation. I PRIDE myself on being happy, the go-to-girl, the one everyone can count on. Disabled? No big deal! Migraines? Life goes on! I would hardly classify myself as a "glass-half-e...