Hey, friends. Thank you for stopping by. My writing journey has been a long one, and I'm thankful I stayed on the path where God has taken me. If you are a reader, thank you so much. As an author, I appreciate you more than I can say. If you're a writer and you've been penning words a long time or just a little while, trust God with your journey. He knows what's ahead.
James 3:17-18
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all
pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and
good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow
in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.
Let's make common sense more common.
When our dog, Rosie May, was a puppy, we took her
for training. She learned to sit, lay down, stay off (well, kind of) and shake.
She still doesn't get the concept of stay, but at least she sits when she needs
to. The good thing about dogs is they have great instincts. She knows when I
don't feel well, and she wants to comfort me. Rosie May loves kids and wants to
friend them. She senses when someone is outside and goes to the windows to see
if she needs to protect us. Dogs listen to their gut. They hear things we don't
and respond accordingly. In their own way, dogs have an internal wisdom.
When I think of wisdom, I also consider common
sense. The innate instinct to do the right thing. I love how James shares his
understanding of wisdom. Wisdom comes from God and loves peace. It's
considerate (thinks of others) submissive to God's guidance, merciful, filled
with the fruit of the Spirit, fair and discerning, and sincere and truthful. If
there is any doubt as to whether something is a wise choice, measure the wisdom
against James 3:17. The wisdom of a believer comes from the Holy Spirit. When I
make decisions, I want to check my judgement against the wisdom that comes from
God.
While Rosie May has instincts, I have the Holy
Spirit to guide me in decisions. His voice speaks to my heart to be a
peace-loving person who is kind to others, submissive to God, and considerate
of situations.
Seek God's wisdom and use His common sense as you navigate life.
Daniel 6:25-27
Then
King Darius wrote to all the nations and peoples of every language in all
the earth: May you prosper greatly! I issue a decree that in every part of my
kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
“For he is the living God
and he endures forever;
his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end.
He rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.”
I felt like I could touch the hand of God.
Pretty Place is a place where the reverence of God overwhelms me with peace and hope.
I’ve only visited the stone chapel twice, and both times I
felt the same. I wish I could start my day there every day, but I live in Ohio.
Instead, I seek God through scripture reading, devotions, and prayer. We visit
the woods and sit beside the lake when we can. No matter where I am though, God
is with me. He’s here in my living room, on walks with our dog, in the city,
the country, no matter where I am He travels with me. And He’s with you, too.
Seek God where you are. He loves you.
Psalm 28:7
The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him,
and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
Cincinnati has several bridges that cross over the Ohio
River and connect the city to northern Kentucky. The Roebling bridge was built
in 1866 and at that time was the longest suspension bridge. The bridge itself
is a beautiful structure with the arched trusses and light blue paint. Although
the bridge has been under repair from time to time, thousands of folks have driven
back and forth into downtown Cincy or Covington.
The people who travel across the bridge, John A. Roebling designed and built, trust the structure to carry them across and keep them safe. Much like any bridge or highway, we believe the engineers did their job and created a safe means of transportation.
I remember crossing a causeway in Georgia when I drove down
to visit my brother on St. Simon’s Island. Being from Ohio, I’d not encountered
such a structure. As it rose into the air, even though it was not as high as I
imagined, my anxiety rose a bit too. But I had to trust it to take us to the
island.
I tend to trust whatever works consistently. So why is it so
hard sometimes to trust the One being who is always the same? God never
changes. He’s present in my every day life and has never given me a reason to
doubt Him. As I’ve grown older and hopefully wiser, I tend to place my life in
His hands more and more. As the psalmist says, “my heart trusts Him.” I’m so
thankful God remains the same no matter the circumstances and He helps me as I
navigate life. I praise Him for His ongoing presence and reliability.
Trust God with everything. He has our best interest at
heart.
Proverbs 24:3-4
By wisdom a house is built,
and through understanding it is established;
through knowledge its rooms are filled
with rare and beautiful treasures.
I’ve lived in 14 different homes in my lifetime.
When I was young, my parents sometimes took us for a Sunday drive to look at houses. We rolled along rural roads and through small towns. From that experience, I learned to appreciate the architecture of older homes. Some with fancy ginger breading and others with simple porches attracted my attention. To this day, I enjoy seeing some of the interesting houses in our travels.
Of the 14 different houses I’ve lived in, some of my
favorites were the old farmhouses. They have so much character. I loved imagining
what stories they could tell. From the farm wife toting in eggs from the
chicken coop to the child sitting on her dad’s lap at the end of the day. Life
was breathed into the home. Love, laughter, dinner around the kitchen table,
cousins piling in, and the dog laying by the hearth. My mind weaves a tale of
joy. However, I also know some houses heard the rough voices of arguing and
anger. They felt the trembling of fear and sorrow. Those homes break my heart.
I also see the houses, who abandoned over time, have the
life sucked out of them. They look tired, run-down, weary, and sad. I wonder at
the stories they could tell.
As I compare a house or home to life lived, I see the same
thing. Many people are filled with joy, peace, and love. While others may be
angry or fearful or live a weary, sad life.
I could have been any of those three. We all could, but when I
accepted Jesus’ invitation to follow and love Him, my life found the joy, love,
and peace I longed for. Even in times of sadness and difficulty, Jesus’ love
carries me. I no longer live as a slave to fear, anger, sadness, and sorrow.
Instead, Jesus poured His love and grace into me and loves me more than I could
imagine.
I want my home to be a place of love and peace, reflected in
Jesus, just as I want my life to shine for the Lord.
Does your home reflect Jesus’ love? Does your life?
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and
petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace
of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts
and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Shopping for jeans raises my anxiety.
After a hot summer, I’m ready for the cool air of autumn.
With the change in temperature comes the need for new jeans, part of my
standard retirement uniform. I’ve worn out the ones I bought a few years ago, so
I gathered my courage (because I need that to try on pants) and went to the
store where I bought my last pair. The bins and racks oozed with denim, but
every pair I looked at either had pre-ripped holes (I’m too old for those) or
buttons instead of a zipper, again, too old. No classic jeans existed. As my
anxiety rose and my frustration with it, my daughter, who came to the store separate
from me, saw me and creeped up on me and scared the beejeebers out of me (of
course we laughed about it—later.)
The whole shopping experience made my anxiety go through the
ceiling. I vowed to wear my thread-bare jeans and forget shopping. Then Kohl’s
dinged my inbox with a 40% off coupon. Could I try one more time? Yes, I did,
and I came home with a pair of classic “mom” jeans and a cute Peanuts t-shirt. I’m
thankful that despite my anxiety, I tried one more time.
I laugh now about the ridiculousness of trying to find a
pair of jeans, but the anxiety I’ve dealt with throughout my life isn’t funny. The
truth is, being anxious leaves me exhausted. I’m so thankful Paul addresses it
in these verses. God understands. He reminds us to stop and pray, ponder on
thankfulness, and He’ll pour peace into our hearts and minds. Without doubt, I
know this to be true.
Full disclosure: I have a medical issue that causes anxiety
and with the help of medicine, I am much better. But I also know that without
God, I’d be in a heap of trouble. My go to is prayer, always. I’m so grateful I
can talk to God about everything, including a frustrating shopping trip. Philippians
4:6-7 is one of the verses I cling to—to get me through life.
Pray first, always.
Ephesians
4:22-24
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put
off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful
desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put
on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness.
God gives second chances.
I am
overwhelmed with gratitude every day because I have a God who gives grace and
forgiveness. Growing up in church I learned a lot about the rules. Do this,
don't do that. In the midst of those teachings, I heard of God's love for me, but being a shy, quiet, rule follower, my focus stayed on right and wrong. I
thought if I did everything right, I'd earn my way to heaven. Boy was I wrong.
As a human, I didn't have the capability to live a perfect life.
As I grew
older, I experienced life. Some good, some bad. The more I learned about Jesus,
the more I realized I couldn't go through life focusing on rules. At times Satan
tried to push me away from the whole "religion" thing, but God
brought me to my knees. Not to punish me, but to remind me of his beautiful,
perfect grace.
You see, He
loves me unconditionally. Regardless of poor choices, doubts, or frustration, He
continues to wrap His arms around me and show His mercy. Once I turned my life,
my decisions, my actions, my everything over to Him, I understood. Granted I
need to be obedient, I must seek His will, and I have to stop and listen. I'm
not in this alone, I'm in this life with the One who created me. And guess
what? God wants me to succeed. He has plans for me and a future.
I'm
forgiven. Do I still mess up? Yep. But I hit my knees and ask for grace. I
praise God with thanksgiving for his Son who took my place and for the Holy
Spirit who guides me. I'm thankful for this precious second chance.
Psalm 27:1
The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?
A green light shone every six seconds.
Seventy-seven steps. The number of stairs a person would
need to climb to get to the top of Marblehead Lighthouse. Tim and I have
climbed those steps to the top, in the daytime, where we stood against the
railing and viewed Kelleys Island in Lake Erie. When we turned to face the
lighthouse, we peeked in on the magnificent LED lights that shine in the night.
We are drawn to the lighthouse at dusk, when the green light flashes every six seconds. There isn’t a beam, like a search light, instead there is a steady lamplight warning boats of the hazard of the nearby land and rocks.
Boats aren’t the only thing aware of the light at night.
Mayflies are drawn to it. They appear around May, June, and July on Lake Erie.
If there are a large number of the flying creatures, the lake is clean because
these insects choose a clean environment to lay eggs. On Kelleys Island, I
asked a young lady if they were bothered with mayflies. She told me they mostly
come out at night because they love the light.
In my everyday life, God is my lighthouse. He’s not shining
a search light, instead He’s a steady beam of light which draws me to Him out
of the darkness of our broken world. Like the boats, I need Him to warn me of
the dangers, and like the mayfly, I’m drawn to Him as my shelter.
David reminds me God is my stronghold and my shelter. I have
no need to fear, because He’s the light which draws me to Him and the salvation
for my soul.
When I keep my focus to God’s light, as I walk through this
dark world, hope wells up in me and I embrace His peace.
Seek God’s light and salvation.
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such
things there is no law.
The fruit of the Spirit isn’t fruits.
By the time you read this, I will have talked to a group of
moms and daughters at Woodland Lakes Christian Camp. A while back, Amy, the
director of Mother/Daughter camp asked me if I would put together a devotion to
share about the fruit of the Spirit.
As I’ve searched for the words and examples to share, I remembered
my realization that the “fruit” is not “fruits.” As a child I thought the word
was plural, like there were nine different fruits standing on their own. As an
adult, I realized I was wrong.
Now I see the fruit of the Spirit like an apple. When I
purchase an apple at the grocery store or orchard, I have one whole piece of
fruit in my hand. I bring it home and cut it into pieces. Is the apple multiple
fruits now? No it’s still one apple, just with several slices.
The fruit of the Spirit is like the apple, one fruit with
many pieces. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control are all part of the same fruit. As a follower of
Jesus, I need to nurture all aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. If I seek
peace and joy, without kindness, my fruit spoils. If I try to be good and
faithful, but lose my self-control, my fruit rots. God has given his children
this amazing gift through the Holy Spirit, and I long to embrace all the fruit
and make them a constant in my life.
God calls His children to live with all nine segments of
fruit. He knows the world needs all of these and as Christians we are the ones
to inject love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control into all aspects of our lives.
Take the challenge to actively live by the fruit of the
Spirit and share God’s gift with the world.
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of
him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
When I was a child, I was afraid of the dark.
My neighbors,
cousins, and I played outside and caught fireflies. We played hide and seek
while the adults chatted in their lawn chairs, and the light shined from the
porch. I felt safe as long as a glow shined over the yard, and the sound of
grown-up voices echoed through the air.
When the
cousins, aunts, uncles, and neighbors left for home, the dark overwhelmed me.
The porch light clicked off, and I made a bee line for the house. Even as a
young adult, I didn't like being outside by myself in the dark cover of night.
As I've
grown older, I've learned to appreciate the light of night, the stars overhead,
and the moon, for those lights shine through the darkness.
As a
believer and follower of Jesus, I'm called to God's light. He doesn't want me
to be afraid of the dark or stay in the shadows. The King of Kings has called
me to step out of the gloom and doom of the world and step into the beautiful,
wonderful light of grace. God calls his children his special possession, a
people he encourages, and loves. He guards our hearts and radiates His light as
a guide away from the dark corners of the world.
My family
experienced a great amount of loss the first three months of the year. Times
were dark and sad. We clung to each other and to God, and His light and love have
carried us through. Some days will still be rough, but peace comes from knowing
the One who created the sun and moon and calls us to His light.
Seek God's
light as He calls your name.
