Hearts in Service

I spent my weekend at a retreat center on the mountaintop where I grew up. I had been invited to come as the main Bible teacher for the weekend and was speaking on the Epistle of James.  It was a wonderful weekend of connecting with new women from all different denominations, but it was also wonderful to minister alongside my sister and niece. They helped me lead worship for the weekend, but my sister also organizes and manages all of the retreats plus does all of the baking for events. I think my main take-away from the weekend was a confirmation from the Lord that I'm doing exactly what He has called me to do. I've been working hard the past few months to wean out those things that are distractions from my main task. It's not always easy because I love to do so many different things, but I also know that when I stay focused, I see God move in amazing ways. The women this weekend were engaged and responsive to the material and that was encouraging. It was wonderful to have

This week is going to be a busy one as I prepare for a weekend retreat in which I'm the main speaker. I'm putting the finishing touches on 4 sessions which also include breakout times. It was a bit irritating to me when I woke up at 3:30 a.m. and was unable to get back to sleep. But I guess I should view it as a jump start on the day! :-) I'm thankful for many things today. 💗 Pulling the last bit of beauty from my flower gardens and bringing it indoors.  💗 A wonderful worship service yesterday. 💗 Safety traveling this past weekend. 💗 Exciting times ahead.    💗 Cuteness on nature walks. 💗 Continued weight loss and learning new ways to cook. 💗 Coffee with a friend. 💗 Challenging conversations which stretch me.  💗 Getting back in the sewing room.  💗 My thanksgiving cactus is beginning to bloom. I'm thankful for this reminder of my mother each year as we are coming up on the 3rd anniversary of her passing. This plant was in her house and was not doing very well. I

Psalm 5:3 ~ In the morning,  Lord , you hear my voice;      in the morning I lay my requests before you      and wait expectantly. At times I go to bed and start replaying the day in my head. The problem with that for someone with my personality is I start beating myself up about all the ways I think I messed up or should have done this or could have said or done something differently. I spend precious hours on would haves, could haves, and should haves. It is such a waste of mental and emotional energy. When the last thoughts going through my head is where I have failed or was lacking in some way I end up with bad dreams and restless sleep. Then I wake up in a discouraged and anxious mood. I am working on going to sleep by praying and turning those would haves, could haves and should haves into a prayer of thanksgiving and asking the Lord to help me change some of that the next day.  But on those nights when I forget to do that and do wake up in a mood, I'm thankful for the consis

“The seasons change and you change, but the Lord abides evermore the same, and the streams of His love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever.”  ~ Charles H. Spurgeon   Change and chaos is all around on a daily basis. The world is in chaos and at times, our circumstances are in chaos. But I'm thankful for the abiding, never-ending consistency of the Lord. There is beauty and comfort in His constant presence. No matter what is going on around you, You can be at peace because He is the solid rock who is never shaken. When you start looking at our circumstances or what is happening all around you, it is easy to start getting worked up. When you keep your eyes planted firmly on the Lord you will experience a calmness that you wouldn't have operating in your own strength. May you experience the deep and constant presence of the Lord today.  

I haven't blogged a Frugal Friday post in a long time and thought perhaps I was due for one. Dan and I believe in tithing at least 10% of our income if not more and have always done that regardless of the amount of money we make - be it little or a lot. That isn't always easy because money is tight sometimes, and it would be easy to just use it to pay a bill. Yet, we want to give back to God what He has given to us. I find that when we step out in faith we are still able to pay our bills so that is a huge blessing. And we are not lacking what we need. I want to preface these posts by mentioning that I believe it's important to tithe no matter what. So my frugalness does not extend to that. Our biggest thing we are trying to do is to pay off debt. I'm thankful that due to an unexpected gift I was able to pay off a credit card and take a sizeable chunk off another bill.  Some specific ways I've saved the past few weeks are as follows: $ A woman at church taught some o

My life was so busy this past month and I realized yesterday that I didn't do my monthly recap of my weight loss journey. I was quite certain that after being away for a week and out of my normal environment that I would have stayed the same or at least, gained a pound or two. However, I got on the scale yesterday morning and have lost another 6 lbs. for a total of 36 since the beginning of July. I don't really notice it so much, but someone took this picture of me at church last night and I can really see the difference in my face.  My clothes are fitting looser and I feel so much better. My doctor told me I no longer need the blood pressure medicine which is amazing and makes me very happy. I think a challenge this winter is going to be continuing to move and exercise. Right now the only thing I'm doing is walking and hiking and the winters here are not conducive to that. Also as I continue to lose weight, I know I need to start doing some toning exercises to tighten up t

Romans 8:26-28 ~ Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Wordless groanings is an accurate expression of many of my prayers. I usually have so many words to say and yet, in prayer, I find my words do not adequately express what is in my heart. At times it's because I'm full of joy and other times, full of sorrow. Yet, the Lord hears and meets me where I am. He understands and listens to the heart behind the inadequate expressions of speech. My words may be garbled, but the Spirit understands. God met me in my need this past week and I'm thankful. He sh