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Showing posts with the label God's gifts

Mom: I Always Knew I’d Miss You . . .

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Mom, I guess I did know when I stood on this same porch all those years ago, and I took commemorative photos in the yard July 25, 1990, I would never live at this address or in the same town as you for the rest of my life.  I guess I had somehow thought I’d counted the cost of spreading my wings and taking flight. Your 23 plus years preceding that moment — of loving me, teaching me, chiding me, disciplining me, laughing with me, and guiding me had attempted to prepare me for whatever I’d face once I stepped off that porch as a full time resident of your home. I guess I thought I was ready for the many years of phone calls, cards you learned to make yourself, occasional surprise care packages, short visits to wherever I’d moved to next, and the ever-heart-in-my-throat moments with my bladder fairly bursting as I always made those last 100 or so miles to your house at breakneck speed, because I couldn't bear to make another potty stop when I knew the Louisville

NEW: hope*writers Challenge Day One

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New. Like new. Newborn. New again. Renew. All words and phrases tumbling around in my head as I try to wrap my brain around what the start of a new year has for me. As a youngster I found it a bit disappointing that though the fanfare of a new year was big, I woke up January 1 much the same as my December 31 self had gone to bed. Once deemed old enough, I joined in the fun of watching both Guy Lombardo’s New Year’s Eve special and the much cooler New Year’s Rocking Eve hosted by Dick Clark — with whom I was already acquainted from countless Saturday afternoons watching American Bandstand (the only acceptable segue from Saturday morning cartoons). As an adult, I am still a bit underwhelmed at the reality of awakening New Years Day with any significant change underway. The view from this side is slower to come into focus than I’d probably prefer. I wish I were better at switching gears. Unfortunately, the date on the calendar does NOT make everything I’d like to leave behind

We Can Be Perfectly Clothed

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Core Wounds. We all have them. No one escapes childhood without one or more of these core beliefs that shape and drive the way we approach and avoid throughout the rest of our entire lives. How do we go from eager, unassuming, adventurous toddlers to fearful, hesitant, sometimes paralyzed adults? I cannot unhear the things my parents unknowingly said that contributed to the haunting words and phrases still echoing in my mind more than 50 years later. It isn't their fault, and I cannot blame them for the enemy twisting their words to virtually strangle and suffocate me for decades. I cannot unsay those I said to contribute to the ones rattling around in the minds of my three adult children. It is not my fault or my responsibility to erase all the mistakes I made in the two-plus decades I've been a mama. I was not, nor am I able to heal the damage that's been done from my own mouth or the mouths of others with whom they've crossed paths in their steep clim

Thursday Thanks Tank

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( a time to intentionally redirect my gaze and give testimony to the ways God blesses me) A little technical difficulty with Chrome this morning, in addition to my own late start means a delayed Thursday Thanks Tank. I hope y'all are having a great Thursday so far! This was the key passage this morning in my devotion on  YouVersion . I found it timely and pertinent. One of the details of this short devotion stood out to me: "The mere act of being thankful can transform a grumpy heart into a joyful one." I have absolutely found that in my own life. I can start the day feeling three steps behind, awakening later than I would have liked, and begin beating myself up for all the ways my day is going to go down the tubes due to my bad choices. However, if I take a moment and refocus my attention on gratitude rather than on myself and my shortcomings . . . I find a salvageable day already filled with reasons to be thankful. Here are a few that came to m

By Name

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I can go days without hearing my name. Does that ever happen to you? You spend your entire day never hearing your name called by anyone. I have two names I routinely am called these days. Pam, of course, and Mama or Mom (used only by my son). Yet in the course of many of my days in this season, I am addressed as nothing.  Oh, I exchange words with my son, but he doesn't necessarily call me by name. He knows who I am, and we fall into conversations without addressing and using each other's given names. I share pleasantries with the people at ALDI, and while I use the names of those I know -- they are not obligated, nor do many of them know my given name. I can slip through my day without ever hearing my name aloud. A bit disconcerting now that I've allowed my mind to drift there. It doesn't change who I am or make me question my value as a person. It is . . . maybe just a reason for pause. Do I do the same thing with the Lord? Do I wake up and begin

God Winks

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GOD WINKS. What are they? A "God wink" is anything that comes your way out of the ordinary, or any unexplainable circumstance designed to delight and bring joy. We are His beloved, and He delights in giving us good gifts. I'm not exactly sure who coined the term, but I've been routinely using it to describe those treats in my days that I point right back to my Abba Father, who I am sure must wink just like my earthly Daddy does when he does something extra special or outlandishly sweet. In the photo to the left is an example of a God wink. Let me give you a little back story, my dearest friend on this earth, Mary Lou , is a jewelry designer for jBloom Designs . Each year she goes to their national conference. Recently she was there and waiting at the end of a long line to score some specials available only to designers. The item pictured was a pre-customized bracelet--isn't that amazing!?! She took one look at it and knew it needed to be mine. God wi

Strong Looks Like . . .

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I do NOT look strong. I am barely 5' tall even on my fluffiest hair day anymore. My image definitely ascribes to and lives out the following verse: "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is  wasting   away , our inner self is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthian 4:16 ESV However, the pictured verse is where I will choose to camp for a moment today: "I ask the Father in His great glory to give you the power to be strong INWARDLY through His Spirit." Ephesians 3:16 NCV  Though my outward appearance and my own perspective of myself may indicate I have no strength or power on my own, I can ask the Father for that power through His Spirit. I can ASK for it. Inward strength. I firmly believe our Father is delighted when we recognize we can't do it. We have no strength on our own. We finally lie down at His feet and seek Him and His power. We admit we can't do it. I know I can't. I am a veritable weakling in my own strengt

Perfectly Imperfect

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I've mentioned and featured this beautiful visitor a couple of times already. I am all about the tiny ways God chooses to bless me and try to find tangible, daily reminders of His care for me in the tiniest of ways.  I am always on the lookout for what I've termed "God winks". These are ways I feel like He  shows me how tenderly He seeks out ways to delight me with His goodness. On a couple of especially lonely days last week, He sent this beauty to hang around my front steps, clinging to the standing phlox my precious daughter planted there last summer. I spent at least 20 minutes with my phone poised and ready to capture the fluttering and dancing of my unexpected guest. I turned it on "live" mode and caught quite a few shots of her in action. I held the button down and sent "bursts" of her careening from petal to petal. She was in the midst of my amateurish photo shoot and had no clue.  She is pretty from all angles, but w

Eighteen Years

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Eighteen years. Yes, it takes 18 years for that newborn to officially be declared an "adult", but I'm referring to another group of years heavy on my heart today. For the past 18 years in a row I have joined the throngs of other mamas on the first day of school. My news feed today is loaded with smiling faces, new clothes, new backpacks, lunch boxes, and my absolute favorite -- a brand new box of crayons! School starts early here in my area, and though we are far, far away from a real seasonal "Fall"-- summer is effectively over for so many. Though it's been many, many more years since I participated in the back to school frenzy as a student, I cannot lie that I got butterflies in my stomach every single night before the first day of school for my three for the past 18 years. I sit here this morning in a very different place in almost two decades. I have no one starting school. I have no new backpack in front of my door waiting to be scooped u

Thursday Thanks Tank

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( a time to intentionally redirect my gaze and give testimony to the ways God blesses me) I spoke briefly last Thursday about the sacrifice of praise.  "Through him then let us continually  of fer up a  sacrifice of   praise  to God, that is, the fruit  of  lips that acknowledge his name." Hebrews 13:15 ESV I am keenly aware of the way I currently look on paper. How the numbers DO NOT add up. How my month is exceeding my wealth financially. I have gotten more "no's" than the one "yes" I have longed to hear. Yet in all this, I know that I know God is still Who He says He is. God can STILL do what He says He can do. I am still who He says I am. His Word is STILL alive and active in me, my life, and in that of those lives around me who believe in Him, too.  So, though at moments throughout ALL of the last few days, weeks, and yes, months now since I have been employed in a full time fashion, I have felt slayed, abandoned, is

Thursday Thanks Tank

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Hey y'all! It's Thursday already or Thursday finally, depending on your perspective. Either way, it is Thursday, and you know what that means.  Let's take a moment for: ( a time to intentionally redirect my gaze and give testimony to the ways God blesses me)  Sometimes this practice flows right off the fingers and onto the screen. Other times it is a sacrifice of praise.  Whichever it is for you today, know He accepts it gladly and is glorified in it when you intentionally redirect your gaze to give testimony to what your friend, Jesus, is doing in your life. He gets the accolades, and we are all blessed in the process. So, how is God filling my tank this week? My friend Jennie . We have met through hope*writers , and I would have joined just to meet her. You can find her on Instagram @theweekleyconnection. You need to start following her, because she's got great wisdom to share and will encourage your heart. But that aside, she had a fa

Angels Among Us

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I've been painting angels lately. My mind and my paintbrush have been consumed with them. I'm not sure if the increase in my thoughts about angels has been in tandem with the recent loneliness I've felt, but I have certainly stepped up my study of them in Scripture. Angels are among us. Scripture confirms this over and over. Sometimes they are named. Sometimes they are part of a "heavenly host." God sent His messages through an angel multiple times throughout both the Old and New Testaments. My paintings and my studies are certainly not the end-all, be-all representation of what a biblical angel might be, but they are what I have been inspired to scrawl out on canvas. When it came time for God to make His most important announcement ever, to begin the story of redemption for all of us, He chose to send the angel, Gabriel, to Mary. Let's take a moment and step back into that scene: " And he came to her and said, 'Greetings, O favored o

Thursday Thanks Tank

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( a time to intentionally redirect my gaze and give testimony to the ways God blesses me) How is God filling my tank this week?  Providing in ways I can only attribute to Him. People are praying, and He is answering in His time and in His own fashion. Through creation. Being a part of the team at AR Workshop Rome is a joy and an outlet for leaving a trail of beauty each time I cross the threshold.  Being treated to a movie with my son. We had a great time at this one yesterday. Having time to explore some of my favorite things. I've been painting, sewing, and writing. All pursuits that bring me joy and set my soul at rest. My weighted blanket from Mosaic Weighted Blankets . I've had mine for about six months now, and it has made a world of difference in my sleep habits. Not only is mine pretty, but it provides me with a comfort level I had forgotten I could have during a night's sleep. I even drag it out to the sofa if I'm taking a nap. Relief f

He Lights Up the Sky for You

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Good morning, friends! Let's talk about God's visible presence today. Does anyone like storms? I adore lightning. The last thing I saw before bed last night was what I know as "heat" lightning. No actual rain or thunder accompanying the lights in the sky, but fascinating to watch, nonetheless. I am ceaselessly enraptured by the displays God puts on for me. Now my Heavenly Father works in my life all the time without visible results. His hand is moving without my provocation and He needn't consult me to enact His perfect will in my life.  Yet, oh, isn't it lovely and glorious when He gives us visible signs of His majesty, His power, and His creative work? I am stopped in my tracks at lightning in the sky.  This works better for all involved if I'm not behind the wheel of a car, but I do try to keep my eyes on the road if a light show is in progress.  The same goes for my rainbow chaser nature. I'm sure I regularly st

Thursday Thanks Tank

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( a time to intentionally redirect my gaze and give testimony to the ways God blesses me) How is God filling my tank this week?  I am serving at VBS for the first time in eight years, and it has been a true pleasure. My crafty heart is in its element amongst paint, glue, crayons, colored pasta, and pom poms. I've met some wonderful ladies who have served alongside me, and we have shared the message that no matter what comes their way -- at age 3, 4, or 5 -- God is good. The same is true for me. When life isn't fair . . . God is good! When life is scary . . . God is good! When life changes . . . God is good! When life is sad . . . God is good! When life is good . . . God is good! Life DOES get wild, and through it all . . . God is GOOD!  I am thankful to have friends who will vouch for me on a moment's notice. The depth of friendship is boundless, and I am blessed beyond measure in longevity and quality. Summer breezes. I am so thankful for the early morning