​29 July 2021
Make it Known
Psalm 30:4-5
Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones!
    Praise his holy name.
For his anger lasts only a moment,
    but his favor lasts a lifetime!

My husband has been teaching through the Book of Revelation on Wednesday nights, and going through chapter 15 last night, he reminded us that right before the bowls of wrath are poured out we have this great reminder of God’s character as sung by the “victorious” Believers...
Great and marvelous are your works, O Lord God, the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous deeds have been revealed. (Revelation 15:3-4)

People with a view of an angry God are mistaken. His wrath is certain but also measured, short, and once. However, his mercy and love have been going on for thousands of years. Let’s wrap our brains around that! We don’t need to explain God’s coming wrath for him, like it’s a flaw in his character. Rather, we should be making his merciful character known to everyone in the meantime. 

Psalm 103:8-11
The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
    slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
    nor remain angry forever.
He does not punish us for all our sins;
    he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
    is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.

Dear God,
Thank you for your kindness and mercy that has drawn me to you. Thank you for making it available to everyone right now. I pray for my unbelieving friends and family who seem indifferent or mistaken about your character at this time. May their hearts be tugging at them right now even as I pray for them. I am so grateful for your character; help me make it known in Jesus name, amen.

28 July 2021
Only Jesus all the Time
Genesis 8:1
But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede. 

The only ones who survived the Flood are the ones who wholly trusted God & added nothing else to their obedience. Everyone in the world with an alternate opinion perished in the Flood.

In no way does it mean Noah and his family were sinless. They’re human like everyone else. And God addresses the state of all human hearts 20 verses later.  I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. (Genesis 8:21) 

But they also have free will like everyone else. And using our free will to trust in God and obey him gives all of us, with a heart bent toward evil from childhood, options.

Everyone with an alternate opinion perished in the flood. Similarly, going along to get a long is serving world group-thought that is only bent towards evil. Only Jesus gives us options. Even those saved by believing in him (see Romans 3:22) continue to have options. We can confidently NOT do what everyone else is doing just because there’s so many people doing it. His ways prevent our destruction – not just eternally but right now in my parenting, my marriage, all my relationships, my job, my finances & everything.

The only way to be delivered by only evil all the time is only looking to Jesus every day all the time.

Hebrews 12:1-2
Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.

Dear God,
It is easier and easier to see these days what only evil all the time will look like. Thank you for preserving, protecting, teaching & equipping the ones who trust in your Son, in whose name I pray, amen.

​27 July 2021
30 Years and Counting...
Hebrews 11:7
It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.

It wasn’t Noah’s idea to build a boat; it was God’s. Noah simply believed and obeyed. The fact that God allowed the ark to be built over a very long period of time is proof that Noah was not the only man on earth God was seeking out. There were plenty of witnesses, plenty of time & plenty of room on the ark for more than just Noah and his family. But Noah is the only person out of all mankind to listen & obey.

What is even more interesting to me is Noah’s sons. Did they too obey God, or were they obeying their dad? Either way they were rescued and saved from destruction by obeying their parents just as God’s Word prescribes. 

Genesis 7:5-7
So Noah did everything as the Lord commanded him. Noah was 600 years old when the flood covered the earth. He went on board the boat to escape the flood—he and his wife and his sons and their wives.

Children are a blessing from the Lord (see Psalm 127), AND children can receive blessing from the Lord (see Ephesians 6) . Obeying our parents (the ones in authority over us) is how we learn to obey the One with ALL authority. It turned out well for Noah’s kids.

Ephesians 6 has instructions for children in the home (6:1) and grown children (6:2) and the promise that follows (6:3). Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do.  “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise:  If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.” Ephesians 6:1-3

I’d like to mention specifically today, July 27, 2021 – our 30th wedding anniversary, that I have never regretted my husband’s leadership in our marriage requiring that we honor our parents, and it began even before our wedding day. My dad asked Rob to make sure I finished my degree, and my amazing husband worked his butt of in several jobs over the first two year of our marriage till I completed my bachelor's & teaching credential program. I’m thinking there were much better ways we could have used that time, energy and money in those early days, but my husband simply did what my dad asked him to do even though it was hard. Really hard. It was the product of a lifetime of practice obeying his own dad that lead him to honor mine. And there is only one outcome: God has richly blessed our marriage for 30 years. We have a beautiful family & home, jobs that pay the bills, health, ministry, cars that work, and dinner together every night. And those student loans literally were miraculously paid off with tv game show money. That just doesn’t happen. But GOD made sure it happened because he takes care of those he loves, those who trust him, those who obey him, those who don’t do what everyone else in the world is doing, those who know God’s Word and apply it to their lives. 

I’m very thankful to my beautiful husband and our loving and gracious Heavenly Father for proving that his way is the best way.

Dear God,
I just can’t thank you enough for your blessings in our life together. Even the hard times have turned into blessings because we keep our eyes on Jesus who started this and keeps making it good until it is perfect. Thank you that your system is right and may our own children and their families and their family’s families honor you and follow you all the days of their lives. AMEN.

​26 July 2021
Faith is Evidence
Hebrews 11:1
Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.

The one major knock on Christianity over the centuries is that what we believe can’t be proven. But faith is evidence according to scripture AND everywhere else in life!

Physics, Thermodynamics, and Natural Order are so reliable and structured that scientists put the words “Laws of” in front of each of them. But the ones who labeled them did not create them, so who did? It takes a lot of faith to believe there is no one responsible for the intricate structure and order in the universe.

Faith involves hope & is used as evidence. Godless people don’t consider faith in God as evidence for his existence because HE is not what they hope for.

The godless hope God doesn’t exist, so their faith they use as evidence for what they believe is based on their hopes & how they want things to be. Ironically, their “facts” about how the world began can be dismantled simply by the idea of God’s existence. God’s existence can’t be dismantled by their evidence at all. Isn’t that interesting?

Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

We know how the world began because faith is evidence. And even the ungodly have to admit that because they use their faith as evidence it all the time.

Dear God,
Thank you for plaining telling us in your Word how the world began. Thank you that it is simple to understand and trustworthy & provides confident hope for me to trust in you in all things. I love you and pray in your Son’s name, according to your good will. Amen.

3 May 2021 The ME in the Equation
Galatians 2:20-21NLT
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless... 

My expectations need to go. I can’t let my heart rely on my health or my bank account or my relationships or the country going back to “normal” in order to have joy, contentment and fulfillment. I will only find those things by living life by trusting in God. I can prepare all I want, but I actually treat the grace of God as meaningless when I become a control freak over others or obsess about what I can’t control. 

Why would He ever say Give all your cares to me because I care about you OR Come to me with your burdens and I’ll exchange it for rest if simultaneously I’m supposed to hold on to my cares and burdens? (See 1 Peter 5:7 & Matthew 11:28-30.)

Yesterday at church, Rob said, “ Joy is related to us dropping our baggage and checklists and expectations and receiving God’s grace.”

God will give me what I need, and he will help me endure, he will fill my heart, he will provide for me. Not ME and God. Just God. The reason many Believers don’t know this truth is because they still have the ME in the equation. 

Dear God,
Help me have only YOU in all of my equations today. You are my constant and reliable, unfailing factor, and I appreciate you so much. Thank you for helping me be content and not undone by people, money, health, or circumstances. Help me live my life today by trusting in the One who loves me and gave HIS LIFE for ME! And I pray in his name according to your good will, amen.

​28 April 2021
1 Peter 5:14-17 Voluntary Hall Monitors
If you are insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name!

Rob was teaching from this passage on Sunday, and the last item on the list in verse 15 really caught my attention. “Prying into other people’s affairs” ranks with murder & stealing for things NOT to do. Interesting.

Perhaps that’s why our nation is so divided right now. Half the people want to be left alone and the other half wants to pry into our affairs. It really is a nuisance. 

The Word of God never changes with the times & one of the best verses for daily living is and always will be from 1 Thessalonians 4...
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. (v.11-12)

Imagine a society where we mind our own business. It’s a dying concept, especially with social media, which I am using right now to post this. (smiley face) But truly, as a Believer, I would like to allow others to be instructed by the Holy Spirit without butting in. It’s scary, especially when people I love, or people I see underthinking a situation, are not doing something how I would do it. But I don’t want to be like half the nation that meddles. Like Rob said on Sunday, “being a voluntary Hall Monitor is exhausting.”

And it’s exhausting because God gives no one the strength for that job because that job is already filled by the Holy Spirit. 

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. (Galatians 5:16) And apparently, our sinful nature is dying to tell others what to do and “pry into their affairs.”

Dear God,
Thank you for your Holy Spirit helping me to lead a quiet life and mind my own business. I pray that you will protect me and my family from meddlers and help me not to fall into the trap of being one. Thank you for your instruction and your grace to all who love and trust you. Amen.

​27 April 2021
Wow! I’ve hardly posted at all this year!
I have no reason except for being overwhelmed and astonished at today’s ever fast paced changing culture that my head spins daily. Time to get back to business.

Titus 2:11-12 (NIV)
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age...

This verse is perfect for the fast pace changing culture that makes my head spin. The amount of people readily and mindlessly embracing Cancel Culture is truly astonishing and mesmerizing isn’t it? It’s because the culture rejects God, and God is full of grace, therefore the culture rejects grace. That’s crazy because who doesn’t love and appreciate GRACE?!

God has given his grace to everyone – even the ones who don’t recognize it or appreciate it. And His grace is our instructor. When we look back at all the stupid things we say and do, we value grace as offers opportunity to have a do-over, grow and change – learn self-control and be able to live “upright” lives. If there is no grace, these things can’t happen.

I remember watching a interview of George W. Bush before he was elected president, and the interviewer was trying to discount him because he used to be an alcoholic. It didn’t work. Bush simply owned his former behavior and since that interview took place pre-cancel-culture-era the topic didn’t affect his election at all. 

The idea of being held accountable as an adult for what you did decades ago is insane. And yet Cancel Culture now prevails against many politicians, athletes and businessmen. I prefer grace. I don’t want to be remembered for my mistakes; I can’t udo any of them and neither can anyone else.

No one can make up for their mistakes. That’s why Jesus came! That’s what grace is; it’s Jesus. He took the punishment for my guilt and shame – past, present & future – and every morning lets me live in newness. (Of course there are consequences people live in for their actions, but I’m not talking about that.) I’m talking about the war we are constantly in that Paul mentions...
And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Romans 7:18-25)
... And how the grace of Jesus is the solution for our behavior – NOT a society that drudges and shuns.

Dear God,
Thank you for you unending GRACE! Thank you for your Son. I pray for our god-forsaking mistaken society that does not embrace grace and forgiveness at all. I thank you that this culture nor any other can undo what you have done for me and for all who love and trust you and believe in your Son, in whose name I pray. Amen.

8 March 2021
Hebrews 3:8 The Ingredients
... don't harden your hearts... 

Having a “hard heart” is a common phrase in scripture, and Christians use this phrase a lot too. But does anyone know the definition of a hard heart or the ingredients for getting one? Many Believers assume a hard heart is just someone who is stubborn or angry or defiant. These are true and accurate adjectives of a hard heart. But how did that heart get that way?

1 John 1:9-10 has the answer. Here is the definition of a hard heart:  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

A person with no place in their heart for God’s Word has a hard heart, and God’s Word is that we are sinners, and the Good News of God’s Word is that Jesus came to forgive sinners!

A hard heart belongs to the person who doesn't confess sin (this is rooted in pride) and/or claims they don't sin at all (also rooted in pride).  We understand this from our own relationships. There is nothing more frustrating than dealing with a person who has clearly wronged you and claims they haven't. Or how a false apology (I'm sorry YOU were offended) is really not apology at all. These are actions by a person with a hard heart. A person who never admits fault has a hard heart. 

Jesus says it like this: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” (Mark 2:17)

So, if I want to NOT have a hard heart, then swallow my pride, confess my sin and seek forgiveness often, quickly and without stipulation. Jesus paid the price for every offense for all of time to free me from my self-entitled obligation to “collect.” This is actually very freeing and the ingredients I’m looking for – ingredients for a soft heart.

Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for giving me a new, clean, soft heart that is good. Help me confess my sin so pride will not settle into my heart. Thank you that I can freely forgive others because you have freely forgiven me. Thank you that I do not have the burden of collecting debts from people who’ve wronged me, for you paid that tab in full! Help my heart to be full of you today. I love you and thank you and pray in your name, amen.

3 March 2021
Hebrews 12:12 Get a Grip
So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees.

This is God’s definition of perseverance. Everyone understands what taking a “new grip” means. It means you haven’t opened that jar yet, try again.

It is easy to not persevere, especially now. I am very, very, very, very frustrated at the inconsistent and arbitrary response to disease lately. We are approaching one year of a very restrictive and unfriendly lifestyle based on the concept that what’s going around is contagious and we can’t all go to the hospital at once – then that turned into shut everything down until there’s a cure. What?

The Bible has a plan for everything, and the plan for illnesses is to quarantine the sick. (See Leviticus 13) We should persevere together and make sure people can earn a living, first graders learn how to read, and grandparents get their snuggles. Instead, we all are persevering alone. Today I am so frustrated that perfectly good twenty year olds can’t get jobs or dates or legitimate degrees. How many people feel like I do right now: What’s the point? Why did I bother waking up? Today is just as stupid as yesterday.

So take a new grip with your tired hands... Ok.

Have you never heard?
    Have you never understood?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows weak or weary.
    No one can measure the depths of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the weak
    and strength to the powerless.
30 Even youths will become weak and tired,
    and young men will fall in exhaustion.
31 But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
    They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
    They will walk and not faint.. (Isaiah 40:28-31)

I’m not waiting for a cure. I am waiting on the Lord.

Dear God,
Ok. I am persevering today with you. You give me strength and patience to deal with insane leaders and ridiculous experts. Thank you for being with me. I love you and thank you. Amen.

​1 February 2021
Temporary Residence
1 Peter 1:17
So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”  

When my husband and I got married, we signed a lease for 6 months at our first apartment. I was very excited to use all of our new appliances, dishes & towels – all the stuff we browsed through at The Broadway and registered for was now in our place! It was great. But I didn’t dig in and make that place ours. We didn’t hang pictures, keep junk we weren’t using, or even get too much furniture because that dwelling was temporary. You don’t want to hang a picture only to cover up the nail hole a few months later to get your cleaning deposit back. I even kept all the boxes the dishes and kitchen gadgets came in because I knew we’d be packing and moving soon. We were temporary residents. 

Now we’ve been in our current home for 23 years. I’m very comfortable here. Nothing is in storage; all our stuff is here. The walls have the paint we like, we’ve remodeled the kitchen, and there’s pictures and art work everywhere (lots of nail holes!). I like it. There’s no move out date, and we’ve raised 4 kids here. This house is full of memories. Our first place is not. In fact, I can barely remember it. 

Jesus has a real forever home for me. And this 23 year old dwelling is going to pale in comparison. Two decades is nothing in comparison to eternity. And get this... I already belong there! I won’t have to unpack, settle in, spruce up & fix things to make it feel like home. It is home already. I’m glad, I’m eager, I’m so thankful.

Just as I didn’t bother messing with making that 6 month lease place my own space, the space of my heart should not be filled with things that aren’t going to last. Pursuing whatever it is that seems so important at the time isn’t a wise use of time; it’s the same as storing up a bunch of junk and settling in making permanent holes in the walls of my heart. 

Jesus said this:
Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. (Luke 12:33-34)

What’s treasures in heaven? 
Things that are eternal.

The Holy Spirit is eternal. The house of my heart should be full of the evidence of his presence. (See Galatians 5:22-23) The Word of God is eternal. (See Psalm 119:89) The house of my heart should know it inside and out. And people. People are eternal. (See Ecclesiastes 12:7) If I only have time today to either clean my 23 year old house or disciple my 14 year old, I choose the 14 year old. I hope I choose taking a minute to talk to the person who strikes up a conversation in the line at the store instead of putting my head down hoping the checkout lady is fast. What if it’s an opportunity to share Jesus with someone? I hope it’s obvious that I’m a Child of God everywhere I go, so that it might give some unbeliever something to think about while they’re trying to go to sleep at night. What if they call out to the Lord? 

So shopping, cleaning, sculpted abs, getting ahead at work, too much phone time or me time, or a speedy checkout can’t occupy the most space in my heart; those things are not going to be with me in my forever home. But the Holy Spirt, the Word of God, and people sure will.

Dear God,
It feels like I’m in a hurry all the time; for why? It certainly isn’t from you. Help me not to fall into the trap of storing up a bunch of junk and settling in making permanent holes in the walls of my heart. I didn’t do that for a temporary lease, and I don’t want to live that way for a temporary life on earth. I am eager and excited and thankful for what you have in store for me for forever. I love you and thank you for being all I need. And I pray in Jesus’ name, amen.

Every home has a to-do list; here’s the one for my heart:
Read the Word.
Live today by being instructed by the Holy Spirit.
Encourage people.