Hearts in Service

I spent the weekend away at a woman's conference that I've spent the past 6 months planning and organizing. It was a wonderful event despite the fact I forgot an entire segment in the afternoon session on Saturday. I remembered after we were finished. However, I wasn't too sad because it was fine without it and that also just meant I was able to stay in the moment instead of constantly thinking about what was next during the speaker's message. As I reflected on everything both yesterday and this morning I was thankful for the opportunity to lead in our district this way. My primary role is to connect women for Kingdom impact.  I connect them to our international workers overseas by sharing prayer concerns and needs our workers have. So for example, when one of our workers are coming home and need a car or their college age children here in the states need a place to stay or there is any need at all, I'm always thrilled when I make a connection and their need is prov...

I purchased this for an event I'm planning. It's called "the thinker," but I the main reason I bought it was because it reminded me of the masks we all wear. We keep our mask on to hide our true self from others. Our mask protects us from being hurt. If we become transparent and vulnerable and reveal our true self then we open ourselves to rejection. There are times when we let down our masks and immediately may sense judgement or criticism. That may be an actual fact or it's a perception we have. We may feel like people think we are too transparent, too vulnerable, too real, too _____________________ (fill in the blank). So we put the mask back on because it's safer and less hurtful than rejection. When our mask is on than no one will know how deep our wounds are or how much their words, or often, their silence cuts to the quick. But I know I don't like my mask because when I wear it I feel fake and like I don't belong anywhere. I'm not experienci...

  Matthew 6:5-21 (NIV) ~ “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing  in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.   But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father,  who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.     And when you pray, do not keep on babbling  like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.     Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need  before you ask him. “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father  in heaven, hallowed be your name,   your kingdom  come, your will be done,      on earth as it is in heaven.   Give us today our daily bread.   And forgive us our debts,      as we also have forgiven our debtors.   And lead us not into t...

Giant snapping turtle under the water. We've had a lot of rain this month and many of the trails at the Audubon Center where I walk run through wetlands. Last Saturday Dan and I went for a walk there only to discover one of the bridges we use was under water. We made it through this little patch, but then as we went further on the trail we found that the entire section of forest was flooded. This is the first time since we've moved here that the outer trail has been under water. After looking for a way through we ended up turning around and going back the way we came. When we came to a cross-trail we continued on our walk. As the week went on the flooding has gotten worse. So I've had to readjust my walking. There is just no way through the water without getting soaked. I'm not wading through knee- deep water, especially with snapping turtles, snakes and who knows what else lurking in the depths! I find the same to be true when facing obstacles in my path in life. I...

One of my favorite places to walk is our local Audubon center. I like it because it's only about 12 minutes from my house, it affords me the opportunity to get out in nature by myself while exercising, and it's safe place to walk. The way I connect and hear from the Lord best is as I'm out in His creation so I try to do that as much as possible. I've also been trying to disconnect from the "noise" of social media. I stayed off of it for much of the time this weekend. When I do that I find I feel much more peaceful and I'm able to focus and hear from the Lord. I notice when I'm tethered to social media that I have such a difficult time focusing on anything. While it can be a tool to connect to others, it also can make it difficult to stay in the moment of what's going on right in front of me.  The other problem with social media is the feeling of discontent it can create. I start to compare my life to others and when I do that I always come up lacki...

  As I read this verse in Philemon I see three things: 1. Faith is active and not passive. We participate in our faith through actively spending time in God's word and prayer, by ministering to others, and through seeking to become more like Christ through surrendering our will and being sanctified.  Are you participating? 2. Our faith becomes effective as we understand who God is. As we come to understand our position in Christ and the attributes and characteristics of God, our faith grows and deepen. Our faith is effective when we reflect those same characteristics because every good characteristic is in us as children of God. Effective faith is the opposite of a stagnant faith.  Are you growing? 3. And our lives are to bring glory to Christ. Everything we do should be pointing to Him. If people can see Jesus through us than our faith is effective. If they can't then we need to evaluate ourselves.   Are you glorifying Jesus? That sure is a lot of meat in one little...

Not my photo I admit it. I'm a bit of a control freak and it brings me comfort to make sure I can have all my ducks in a row. But the reality is none of us can control anything that happens in our life. Monday we had a total solar eclipse and it was such an awesome experience. It had been a cloudy day here in Western New York, but the clouds parted for much of the beginning of the event.  We put on our special glasses we had purchased and oohed and aahed at the sight.  But sure enough in typical lake-effect fashion the clouds rolled right back over the spectacle in time for totality.  But it truly was a very cool experience to have total darkness come over the area at 3:20 p.m. It went dark, the birds that had been merrily singing suddenly stopped  and within a few minutes it was light again. Very surreal. We did get a glimpse of the event for a couple of seconds when the clouds parted a bit. But I wasn't really disappointed because it really was a wonderful experien...

This past weekend was our church's annual missions conference. It was busy and chaotic, but such a wonderful time. I'm so thankful that we made the decision to have the missionary stay with us. It was nice to have another woman around to connect with and she was a delight to host!  As I listened to her talk about her ministry overseas, it was a wonderful reminder to me of God's call on my own life. In fact, she kept trying to recruit Dan and I to come over to their country to work with her and her husband. She said, "we would love to have you and your energy!" 😀 I had many little reminders this weekend of the need to stay attentive to the ministry God has given me and use the spiritual gifts He has also blessed me with. Throughout my life, I have seen the following gifts at work in my life and these have been confirmed by others. Administration - I am happiest when I have something to organize. And this weekend as we orchestrated travel arrangements, putting tog...

I've been busy the past few weeks as I worked on the release of my new book, Simple & Nutritious: 52 Plant-Based, Whole Foods Recipes. You can find that on Amazon and I have published it on all the Amazon channels so my friends in the UK can find it.  But I haven't just been busy with the book release. I was working on a new website and blog to talk about all things related to being frugal, as well as healthy, and sharing tips and tricks on how to save money. You can find that information by clicking on The Frugal Connection link above or by clicking here.   My goal is to also make some short videos, featuring different aspects of my new recipe book, as well as other tips from time to time. So I tiptoed into YouTube and started a YouTube channel. The first video on there was from my very old cell phone and the angle is not great, but it's a start. You can find that link here . I will still continue to regularly do blog posts here on the ways God is speaking to me throu...

I experienced a bit of a let-down this past week and it took me a few days to pinpoint why I had such a disgruntled attitude. Most of it was because my expectations didn't meet reality. And that was disheartening to me. The core issue is my ambitious spirit. I have very strict expectations and ambitions for my life and when I don't achieve what I set out to accomplish it is frustrating. When the results don't match my expectations it seems as if there is no purpose to any of the things I accomplish. If they aren't changing the world, then what's the point? But God keeps reminding me that I don't need to change the world. I just need to change and grow. The most important ambition I need to have is to allow the Holy Spirit to work change within my heart.  One of my goals this year was to connect more and at the top of the list was connect to the Lord. And I remind myself of that daily because my restless heart keeps wanting to DO something grand and big and yet,...