Hearts in Service

My stomach has been in knots lately.  Every time I turn on the news or open my Facebook page there is nothing but conflict, anger and aggressiveness. And all because some football players are making a statement about racism and inequality in this country.   Before I go any further let me say, "I love my country."  I am thankful that I live in a country where I have the freedom to state my opinion.  That's what makes us free, and yet, I think many people forget that. I also need to say that my family and our opinion about race in America has been shaped.  Shaped by our experiences.  All of my children have been extremely upset by the words coming out of the mouths of people.  They hurt for their friends. My children grew up in the inner city.  Their friends were African-American, Latino and Muslim.  In fact, they were the only white children in their church, their school and their playgrounds.  Nathan was 7 years old when he ...

It's been a long while since I've done a giveaway on the blog and I thought it was time.  One of the things that I've been doing this year on Facebook is coming up with one thankful thing each day.  I've gone through 267 of them and it helps to keep me focused on what God is doing in my life.   So in order to enter this giveaway, you need to comment either here or on Facebook under this post and tell me ONE thing you are thankful for as you comment.  See how easy that is?  The winner will receive one of my books of YOUR choice from my sidebar, as well as some autumn goodies! Leave a comment between now and Saturday, September 30 and I will draw a name and announce it on Monday, October 2nd.   Have a wonderful day!

I'm finding it a bit of an adjustment to be in this new stage of my life.  It's different without a house full and everything seems just a little bit strange.  It's not bad, just different.  I miss my children, but they are doing well and happy. I have been doing is a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  As long as I have activities to occupy my mind and hands then I'm good.  I've had people over for lunch a couple of times this week.  I've gone for walks.  I've done some baking and I've done some sewing. I've poured a lot of time into a retreat that's coming up next weekend, and I've also been doing some writing. I've been working on some strengthening exercises for my knee and I've been creating some new dishes to try out on Dan and Nathan. My days are busy and full.  I fall into bed each night to read and without fail can't make it past a few pages.  There is a rhythm to my days and t...

I picked up the glass from the table for about the millionth time.  Sometimes, it's left on the table and other times on the freezer top which is near the door.  Still other times it's on the coffee table or end table.  It's never left on the counter by the sink, where it belongs. I felt irritation rising in me because really, how difficult is it to just walk a few feet further, and place it where the dirty dishes go?  My husband downs a glass of water or juice each morning and wherever he drinks it, is where the empty glass sits. But just as quickly as that irritation rose up, I thought about the fact that some day there may not be a dirty glass to pick up.  There may not be water splashes to wipe all over the bathroom counter because he is no longer there. And suddenly, those little, silly quirks will be missed.  As I thought about that this morning, the irritation melted away.  The very fact that I have to walk an extra 2 steps to p...

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ~ "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Do you feel weak today? Do you feel like giving up? Have you worked at changing attitudes, patterns of behaviors, family situations, dieting or something else for a long time, and it feels like a never ending task that isn't working? God gives us what we need. No matter what we face, He is enough. In our weakness His power is manifested. The last part of verse 10 seems like a contradiction - "when I am weak, then I am strong". However, it's when we are at our weakest that we cry out to the Lord. We have nothing to rely on but God and it's then that His power is so prevalent in us. If y...

Psalm 18:1-3 ~ How I love you, Lord! You are my defender. The Lord is my protector; he is my strong fortress. My God is my protection, and with him I am safe. He protects me like a shield; he defends me and keeps me safe. I call to the Lord, and he saves me from my enemies. Praise the Lord!  When people hurt me, I want to lash out.  I want to defend myself and set them straight.  At the very least I want to state my side of the situation and at the very worst of times, I want to hurt  them back.  And I definitely want to share with the world how I've been wounded. But all that does is keep the fires stoked and burning.  It keeps the hurtful words churning in my mind and the pain alive in my heart. I feel like crawling up in a ball when these things happen, especially when they are unprovoked. But then I remind myself that God is my defender.  He sees the situation and he knows my heart, just as he knows the heart of my critic.  H...

Psalm 37:3-6 (HCSB) ~ Trust in the Lord and do what is good; dwell in the land and live securely. Take delight in the Lord , and He will give you your heart’s desires. Commit your way to the Lord ; trust in Him, and He will act, making your righteousness shine like the dawn, your justice like the noonday. This is a different kind of Frugal Friday post.  God absolutely amazes me sometimes in His willingness to bless me, especially when least expected.  I had shared a few weeks ago that I had to give up my plans for both the class I was going to take, and consecration through our denomination because of the need to take care of Stephen's school bill, as well as Emily's.  The problem I have is that I am the director of a women's ministry for our district and that takes up a lot of my time.  It's an elected position and is a four year term. I love doing it and it brings me great joy in my life, but because of the time commitment it makes it difficu...

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. "   Prayer is so important in the life of a believer, yet, so often it is the thing that we use as a last resort.  We'll talk to our spouse, our friends, our neighbors, or our therapists but we don't bring our concerns to the Lord!  He is the only one who can work in the midst of the situation, but we act as if He has no power at all.   There are roughly 400 references to the words, "prayer" or "pray" in the Bible so obviously it's  something of importance.  I love these verses in Philippians because as we pray, we will gain peace in the midst of the situation.  And it is a peace which is beyond understanding.  I don't know about you, but I love that peaceful feeling of ...

Dan is 54 years old and I am 55 years old, which doesn't seem very old to me.  In my mind I'm still as young as I ever was, but my body is starting to slow down a bit and doesn't always work the way it should.  We have both noticed that our energy level has slowed, but overall we feel young. I n the ministry world, we've noticed a shift.  Churches want to hire young pastors with young families. We are the older ones in many settings and it's strange!  In our own church, we've noticed that it's much more difficult to reach this community as a middle-aged couple with adult children than it would have been when they were little and we were active in school activities. So the connections we would have made when we were younger just aren't there.  Don't get me wrong, we have been able to get to know many wonderful people, but our ministry definitely isn't the same as it was ten years ago. I am also slowing down in ministry, and the things that I ...

I found the above quote and I like it.  Our choice years ago for me to stay home and be a full-time mom was a result of a value I had to create a different life for my children than I had growing up.  But that was a hard choice because I got a lot of push back from people in my life.  "You can't live on one income."  "Why would you do that?"  "We are working women which means we have to make sacrifices."  Well, I didn't want to sacrifice time with my children so I could work 12 hour days in a ministry (which is what I was doing at the time). As I look back on my life, that was the best decision I ever made.  It's been hard and it's forced me to find ways to make ends meet without relying on extra money to do that.  But it's been so worth it.  And the process of being frugal, has helped me to help others on this same path. Some ways I've saved this week: $ I am discovering the benefit to having only 3 of us at home. ...

Ever since I've been in ministry, my life seems to have been about programming.  Run this program, head up this outreach event, do this new thing.  And while I've loved doing all this, I'm not sure it's always been effective in the grand scheme of God's kingdom.. I have been in self-reflective mode the past few weeks as I'm entering in this new stage of my life.  Emily was home for the weekend and we take her back to college today and then won't see her again until sometime in October.  Stephen leaves tomorrow morning for his last semester.  It'll just be me, Dan and Nathan, and the house will seem different.   At times, it's goods to re-evaluate things and see what's working and what isn't.  To see what needs revamping and to shake out the chaff.  As I was having my devotions this morning I read the following passage. Philippians 1:9-11 ~ And I pray this: that your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of disc...

My culinary skills have come about because I was never afraid to try new things.  At times, my dishes have turned out wonderfully, and other times they were flops. I've made cheese, breads, spice mixes, and all manner of food.  I've had some dishes with some tweaking have become family favorites and others that have been so terrible that I'll never make them again.  Ask my children about the time I made a dish with tempeh or shoo-fly pie! lol I picked blackberries the other day and needed to do something with them.  It wasn't quite enough for a normal pie, so I decided to make a pie with just the bottom crust and some decorative leaves on top.  Yum! I tried my hand at homemade pasta.  I decided to make ravioli and looked at a couple of recipes and thought it looked simple.  One thing all of the recipes I saw neglected to say is how long it would take to need all the flour and egg mixture together to get it the right consistency. ...

Beautiful Peaches in a Row A Farmer's Market Haul Homemade Bierocks (Meat Buns) Challah Bread The Beautiful Scent of Lavender (Even the leaves smell gorgeous) I find such beauty in simplicity.  And I do think that is the key to actually enjoying being frugal.  I find great enjoyment in working to make our money stretch.  I like being able to use up what I have on hand to make delicious meals.  I take pleasure is the simple things in life.  So I very rarely feel dissatisfied with what we have.  And that is a good thing. I love sitting on my deck in the mornings as I read and pray and breathing in the aroma of lavender.  I enjoy seeing the fruit of my labor as I look at the rows of canning jars, filled with goodies.  I like the challenge of coming up with tasty meals from ingredients I have on hand. And I love getting a good deal at the market when I go. The past two weeks I've been able to save in the fo...