Grateful in Quarantine

As I sit here at my desk on day 13 of our quarantine, listening to the rain hitting the roof and the birds singing outside my window, I have an overwhelming feeling of gratefulness. Now, don’t get me wrong, these past two weeks have been challenging – to say the least. Endless streams of media constantly bombarding me with all the latest “news”, and the emails that have been pouring in from every business to whom I have ever given my email address. And, there have been a few days where I have given in to that need for more information, and the latest counts – just hoping to get one nugget of something that I can use to help me wrap my brain around everything that’s happening in our world.

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Without God, we are all helpless

Helpless on our own

Yesterday was a bit rough around our house. It started as a great day. Brad was off due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and we had fun things planned – a birthday lunch, some errands, and just spending time together, (imagine ~ a conversation without kids…). It was going to be so wonderful and relaxing!

But first, the driveway needed to be shoveled.

I heard him call my name from outside. Instantly, alarm bells went off in my head. I ‘ran’ as fast as I could to the door and looked out to see him lying at the bottom of our sloped driveway.

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Who determines this answer - The World or God?

I should be…

Should?

So many times I think I would like to be the creative type. You know this person. The one who can MacGyver a piece of twine, a few berries, and a candle into the most beautiful holiday tablescape you can imagine. Sometimes I can pull something off, but let’s just say I’ll never have my own Etsy shop…

Yet, every time I see a post about someone’s craft store or a new little creation that somebody made, I feel this pull. Like, I should be able to do that, right? Or, maybe if I worked a lot harder I could get that skill?

When I was younger, I would have said, ‘Absolutely!’ But, now that I am a little older, (and hopefully a bit wiser), I now realize that I don’t think that’s how God made me.

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Silence Resolved

Silence

For more months than I would like to admit, that’s what God heard from me. Not complete silence, but compared to how I had been communicating with Him before, I’m thinking He noticed. I know I did.

In the beginning of December, I had back surgery. It was one of those things that was inevitable at some point. And, I had tried every single conservative option – at least once. So, when I was offered the date of December 8th, I figured I could hide my very fashionable back brace (a requirement until March 8 – but who’s counting?) under sweaters, I took it.

If you look back at the posts on this blog, you’ll notice that the last time I posted was on The Birthday of our Baptism. Yep. That was in October. It has been 85 days since I wrote anything. 85 days!

Granted, over the last month I have been recovering from a pretty major surgery – and, celebrating one of the best Christmases I have EVER had – but that still leaves about 55.  And even that is a big number.  I’m having a hard time getting past it…

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Baptism

The Birthday of our Baptism

Today makes one year.

One year following the conclusion of my preliminary studies of the Bible.  You know — the ones that made me realize I had a lot more studying to do.

12 months since I wrote my letter to God – telling Him why I wanted to be baptized.

365 days since I publicly declared, “Jesus is Lord.”

Today is Brad’s and my Spiritual Birthday – or Birthday of our Baptism…

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