Hearts in Service Blog

Today is Mother's Day and as I reflect on my own life, there have been a few women in my life whom stand out to me.... Each Sunday, my father would pick us up and take us to our grandmother's for Sunday dinner.  I remember each week she would prepare a huge meal down to the pies and cakes for her large brood.  The women would clean up the kitchen after the meal while the men were in various stages of talking or napping around the house. We children would run around the farm, climbing trees and generally getting into trouble.  My grandmother was a sweet, soft-spoken woman who willingly served her family this way. My mother worked long, long hours as a single mom but I do remember her always making a large Saturday morning breakfast.  Apple fritters were at the top of the list.  I also recall numerous Halloween costumes being sewn for me as a child. She read to us and instilled a desire for education in me. She taught us to be responsible and to follow through on ...

I've spent the past two days in this room, painting it from an ugly flourescent green to this camel color and looking out on this little garden area. My son-in-law and daughter purchased their first home and I'm visiting for a few days to help out with the painting. But as I'm painting, I'm also praying. Praying that God would bless them in their new space. That they would recognize His hand in their daily lives. That their marriage would be blessed and that any future children they have would grow up feeling loved and safe. I love to paint, but after doing it for long hard hours, there comes a moment of feeling completely overwhelmed and wanting to throw in the towel. But I pressed on, got mutiple second winds throughout the day and the finished result is beautiful.  That's a lot like parenting or anything hard and yet, worthwhile in life, isn't it? It's long difficult work. It's exhausting at times and exhilirating at others. There are ugly moments whe...

  I received a text this week from a woman from a local agency who works with those who are in need. She said they had a client who was looking for a church connection and could use some mentoring. She wanted to know if this was something I would be interested in. Of course, I said, "Yes!" and to be honest, was thinking that it was neat that she thought I would be a good mentor to this young lady. But then she said something that made me laugh out loud. She said, "She really could use a mother figure in her life." So my so-called mentoring  skills  were really more about me having a mom-vibe! 😀 I admit it. I do exude "mom" probably to all I meet. In fact, my sister-in-law said I'm like Kanga in Winnie the Pooh. I know I'm happy when I'm caring for others. In fact, I recently did a personality/work assessment that said one of my natural gifts is coming alongside others and helping them accomplish what they need to get done.  Anyway, I've de...

I began the month of June by traveling across the state for a speaking engagement in the area where I grew up. I'm going to end the month in the same church again.  When I go on these trips I do like to find new places to explore and hike. Yesterday's adventure took me here. It was a little treasure through the woods, down a gorge and to a waterfall. After looking at the trail going down into the gorge I decided against it. After all, I'm not totally out of my head! :-) As I was looking back over my goals for the year, I realized that I hadn't done one of them which was to take a day for personal retreat, prayer, thinking and reading each month. So my very sweet husband told me to take an extra day to do that. I am so thankful for him.  I spent the afternoon walking, praying, meditating on God's word and then came back to the hotel. I'm up early this morning to do more of the same. Then I'm stopping to visit with friends before heading home. I even love my t...

This week was about family. It was a good week which ended with a 50th birthday celebration for my brother-in-law. That was followed by a very nice Mother's Day. I gave the message at church and then later in the day my husband and children took me out to dinner and showered me with flowers and cards. Today is the day I normally go back over the previous week and find the many ways I've seen God's hand and list my thankful things.  The main thing I'm thankful for is the family God has given me. And it's so very easy to paint a picture that seems as if everything is perfect.  My life is NOT perfect; not even close. I am a work in progress as are all of the people in my life. My family struggles often. We get irritated with one another and sometimes angry. But at the end of the day, we love one another. We say "I'm sorry."  One of the reasons Mother's Day is a hard day for many is that you can look at someone else's family and only see the lackin...

Yesterday was the day when mothers everywhere either had a wonderful day or a disappointing day. It was a day when you were showered with love and attention or a day when your family failed you. For others it was a heartbreaking day of reminders of loss or inability to have children of your own. It was a day that you hoped would be over as soon as possible. While I had a very good day yesterday, and my family did a great job showing me their love, as I've gotten older one of the things that has helped me enjoy Mother's Day is to begin to stop expecting my family to turn into a Hallmark movie. 😀 On Mother's Day they are the same people I loved on Saturday and yet, so often throughout the years, I expected some miraculous presentations of love. Often times they truly did shine. But then there were years when I was left feeling dejected.  That is until I began to lower the unrealistic expectations that not even Jesus could fulfill! My family is who they are, warts and all, an...

Last year, I brought home a jewelry box that belonged to my mother. I had always admired it and when my sister and I were cleaning out her things I asked if I could have it.  This morning as I was rummaging around in one of the little drawers, trying to pick out a pair of earrings, I caught a faint whiff of the perfume my mother wore. I immediately had tears in my eyes, a lump in my throat and felt a tightening of my stomach as grief hit me.  It's been a year and a half since cancer took my mother. The first year was tough for me as I worked through the emotions of grief. The past six months have been better and I'm not dreaming about her, nor am I walking around with tears just beneath the surface. But that perfume scent transported me right back to her final days. I loved my mom though she and I had a tumultuous relationship at times. She was my biggest supporter, but she was also my biggest critic. My mom had been physically, sexually and emotionally abused as a child and t...

I am going to turn 60 years old next week and it's a bit of a jolt to realize that the amount of life I have left to live is shorter than the amount of life I've already lived. Yikes! I'm thankful for the things that I've experienced in my life. They have made me into the woman I am today and God has used all of them to mold me and He has allowed me to be effective in the ministry I have.  It's been a good life. Years ago, I made the decision to quit my full-time job and stay home with my children. I endured many people who thought it was foolish and I struggled at times with my decision as well, but I am thankful I did that. I wanted something different for my children than what I had.  Much of my adult life was spent in care of my family. For many years I taught my children at home, made ends meet on one income, and ministered alongside Dan in church ministry. It was hard at times, but my schedule was my own, I was available not only for my own family, but for my ...

  Mother's Day To those who had mother’s who were full of love and comfort, Praise God for a mom who helped to heal every hurt.   To those who had mothers who were broken and flawed, God can mend and repair and help you move forward.   To those who have lost their mom’s and you need a healing balm, God sees those tears and brings peace and calm.   To those without children and this day pricks the hole that you feel. Remember God is sufficient and will meet every need.   To those who are single or choose to remain childless, Ask God to help you shine His light to the motherless.   No matter the circumstance, Whether one of joy or of pain. God is with you, and His love will always sustain.   Happy Mother’s Day to All!

Honesty is not easy at times when dealing with a problem that has a stigma attached to it. Yet, I feel the need to be honest even though honesty opens myself up to be hurt or judged. I know many struggle with these things, and I'm a writer and want to use this blog to encourage so I'm going to write about it today. I'm not sharing everything because the personal details are not mine to share, but I will share from the perspective of a family member who walks alongside my loved one every day. And I don't share it just for the sake of sharing, but to show that even in the middle of very difficult times, God still wants us to trust and hope in Him. I'm not in despair, but reality is, there are hard days and I want to help others going through similar circumstances. There is a weight on my shoulders and sadness and tension have pervaded our home many days over the past couple of years. It's the weight of dealing with an adult child who struggles with depression ...

I find that no matter how much I may wish for things to slow down that time just keeps marching on. This is especially true in my role of motherhood. I loved having babies, toddlers, preschoolers and young children. However, no matter how much you want them to stay little, children grow up and change. And I really don't want to perpetually stay in the baby stage anyway. I'm actually enjoying this new stage of having young adults. Once I got past the "still treating them like children" part of motherhood, I find that I like having young adults that I can talk to on the same level. They make me think, cause me to laugh and yes, send me to my knees in prayer often too. Every now and then I slip back into "mothering" and "correcting" mode and that causes a bit of friction, but those fireworks are getting less and less. I've been learning to take an interest in some of the things they are interested in. For example, Stephen loves all things s...

In an attempt to make today less crazy I started making bread yesterday for this afternoon's market. As I was standing in the kitchen and kneading the dough, Emily was watching me for a few minutes. She said, "I like when you do these things because you are so cute." "Cute?," was my response. "Yes, it's old-fashioned!" lol She went on to say, "This is never going to be 'my thing!'" My response to her was that it wasn't my thing either when I was her age. It was only after I got married and had children that I developed an interest in any of these domestic pursuits. This conversation got my mind wandering down a line of thought about passing things on to our children. I think so much of what they learn comes through watching us throughout the years more than what we intentionally try to teach them. My hope is that my children have learned some good character traits by seeing us live them out year after year. On t...

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends and family! For some this is a fun day and for others it brings up painful memories. Others just hope to get through the day and seeing all the Facebook posts stirs up loss and hurt. There are times when it's easy to compare yourself and your family to another person's and feel like you are lacking something. Maybe your mother was missing from your life or she wasn't the mom you wanted or needed. Perhaps your children are estranged or just plain thoughtless. Maybe you've been unable to have children of your own. No matter what your reality is you are loved, valued, and wanted by the Lord. He took time and effort in lovingly creating you into the woman He wanted. You are enough. You are special in HIs eyes. You are His child.  So don't place your value in a man-made holiday. Place your value in the fact that God loves you more than you can even imagine! And rather than just climb into bed and pull the covers up over y...