Category: faith


Jan
2024

[2024]

categories: change, faith, oneword365, purposeful

Blogging for me has taken a hiatus for a few years. I haven’t really been able to make it what I wanted it to be. I’m a perfectionist by nature and if I can’t do something to my expectations then I tend to not do anything. So here I am picking up the “pen” to try again.

Life looks different now with 3 adult children and we have settled into the life of empty nesters, although one is still at home after just graduating from college. I also made a huge career change this year that has taken me out of my comfort zone but in a really good way.

I don’t have many expectations or resolutions for 2024 but I did settle on my word for this year.

Peace

Gotquestions.org says that the primary word for peace in the Old Testament is shalom and “refers to relationships between people, nations and God with men.”

It goes on to say that the primary Greek word for “peace” in the New Testament is eirene. It refers to rest and tranquility. That is my prayer and hope for this year. I know that that hope comes only from my relationship with Jesus.

I am starting the year off heading to West Africa for a missions trip. I will share more on that when I return but for now I am ready to see what God has in store for me and the team as well as the people we are going to visit and serve.


Feb
2021

[once]

categories: faith, five minute fridays, grace

The first thing that came to mind with this week’s prompt was “I once was lost but not I’m found, was blind but now I see.”

My salvation in Jesus Christ didn’t come with a bolt of lightning and it didn’t find me at the bottom of a pit because I had hit rock bottom with no where to go but up. I love hearing testimonies from people who can name the time and place they received Jesus as their Savior, and how they so vividly knew that they were saved, but that’s not my story.  

I had a wonderful childhood and believed in God and Jesus and all the tenets of the faith, but I was once lost. I didn’t understand relationship versus religion. I never heard about relationship until my early twenties. I knew religion was a bunch of do’s and don’ts and as long as I didn’t commit any “big” sins I was good. I later learned that religion wasn’t going to get me to Heaven. 

My road to salvation was more of a journey, asking questions, wanting more spiritually than I had, surrounding myself with people who knew truth and were willing to share it with me and finally surrendering to the one true Savior that I knew about, but had now come to know. 

I was once lost, but then I was found. 

Photo Credit


Feb
2021

[sunrise]

categories: faith, five minute fridays, steady

There is something so soothing, peaceful and beautiful about sunrises. Whether it’s coming over the mountains, the ocean or the trees in my backyard, it is constant and steady. No matter what is going on in the world or our little world, the sun comes up. Every.Single.Day.

And that is a constant reminder to me about God…He is faithful, He is steady and He will be there every time we look for Him, just like the sunrise. This gives me peace and rest in my soul. My breaths become deeper and softer and I feel the release of stress and tension if just for a little while each day.

Easter Sunrise Service a few years ago

Jan
2021

[fix]

categories: change, faith, five minute fridays, steady

My goal this year is to participate in Five Minute Fridays as many weeks as I can.  Of course my go to is perfection, but I know that’s not possible.  So here I am, for the second week in a row, posting at the last minute before the link closes.

This week’s prompt was difficult for me.  I honestly don’t know what words to share that encompass fix.  The first thought I had was fixing things.  I am not a “fixer” by nature, especially when it comes to relationships outside my people in my home.  It’s just easier sometimes to let acquaintances and “friends” wither away over time than to have hard conversations and “fix” what is usually a miscommunication.

So I decided to look in the Bible and see what the original meaning of fix might be.  In my search, it took me to Psalm 108:1.  The ESV says, “My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being.”  Doesn’t seem to fit the topic of fix.  But then I did some more digging.  The KJV says “O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.

Fix in one version, steadfast in another.  If you read my first post of 2021, I chose my word for the year; wait for it…STEADY!

Chaim Bentorah says that in Psalm 108:1, David “calls out to God saying that his heart is fixed.  The word for fixed is kon which has the idea of being established or directed. Today we would say his heart was focused.”

So with that validation today of the word God laid on my heart for 2021 of being steady…maybe it’s more about steadiness in my relationships than the perfection of ensuring I write one post a week for 52 weeks.  Hmmm…


Jan
2021

[time]

categories: change, faith, five minute fridays

Time…there never seems to be enough of it. If 2020 taught us anything, it was that a pandemic can stop us in our tracks and make us slow down even when we don’t want to. I saw so many posts on social media that touted how 2021 was going to save us all from 2020. Folks couldn’t wait for 2020 to end and wished for 2021 to be the savior of all that is wrong in the world. As 2021 approached, it gave many hope that this too shall pass. Well, the first full week of 2021, particularly in Washington, DC, showed us something different.

There is no new year that can save us. There is no person (or president) on this earth who can save us. Only Jesus Christ has that power. For those of us who are followers of Jesus know that this earth is not our home. We live in a broken, messed up world filled with broken, messed up people. We can’t do this on our own.

So while time didn’t stop and everything didn’t magically get better when we flipped the page on a new year, it did allow us, or me anyway, to slow down and reflect on how I spend my time, to look at what’s really important, and maybe more importantly, what’s not.


Aug
2020

[a thing]

categories: change, faith, family, intentional, new normal

I did a thing a couple of weeks ago. If you had asked me ten years ago if I would ever get a tattoo the answer would have been a resounding no. But seasons change and a few years ago I started thinking about it and over the last year started thinking about it a lot.

I spent a lot of time figuring out what I wanted. I wanted it to mean something to me if I was going to place something on my body for the rest of my life.

I had decided what I wanted and with some good advice waited to make sure it was really what I wanted. But about 3 months ago I changed my mind. I had seen a quote from Jim Elliott that I hadn’t heard before.

If you don’t know who Jim Elliott is, click here. He, along with 4 other missionaries, were killed in the 1950’s by the people group they were trying to reach. While their deaths were tragic, through their deaths a people group who had never heard the Gospel did hear it. And they heard it from the families of those they killed. A movement of Jesus in that tribe was born.

When I started this blog a few years, I had grandiose ideas that it would take off and that I had something to say that others wanted to hear. Well, it really only serves for me to capture my thoughts in writing. The title “random thoughts of a wife and mom embracing this season of life” birthed from conversations I had with younger moms of littles who were overwhelmed and tired. My words to them were always to enjoy the season you are in because it goes by so quickly. When my kids were little I never wanted to wish away those years. Yes I was tired physically, but I knew they would one day be gone. And when I am emotionally tired with teenagers and young adults today, I don’t want to wish this season away either. It too will be gone one day.

So the quote “wherever you are, be all there” sums up my life motto. I don’t always get it right but it brings peace to my soul and a desire to trust God everyday that He has me right where He wants me.

“He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalms 1:3 CSB


Jan
2020

[one word 2020]

categories: change, faith, oneword365

I spent the better part of December thinking about what my oneword365 would be for 2020. I created a Note on my phone and as words came to me through people, articles I read or my Bible reading, I would add them to the list. As I spent time looking at the list I created, I realized that all of the words could be wrapped up in one of the those words in some way. My word for 2020 is transformation.

Merriam-Webster defines “transform” as change in composition or structure; to change the outward form or appearance or to change in character or condition. I searched my bible app for verses that relate to transformation and there are a few but two stood out to me…

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing and perfect will of God.” – Romans 12:2 CSB

I was struggling with choosing this word because it seems so large and well, big. It seems like some overnight change in my life that changes everything and others will notice right away and want to know what “get rich quick” scheme I used. This introvert really just wants to make small everyday changes that go pretty much unnoticed by others.

But I think that small, daily changes will bring about transformation over time. I’m not looking for a big wow factor, but a slow and steady change that will stick throughout 2020 and beyond. I’ve made many “resolutions” to eat better, lose weight, exercise more, share Jesus more, read my Bible more, but over time those “resolutions” fade for many reasons but mostly because I wanted the end result now without putting in the work necessary to achieve them.

So in 2020, I will be focusing on daily changes holding to God’s promise that because He is faithful, I will not perish. His mercies never end and they are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).


Jun
2019

[world]

categories: faith, five minute fridays

The world became a much bigger place for me when I went on my first international mission trip. It wasn’t to any exotic beach, island or some resort destination. It was to an area of the world where indoor plumbing and air conditioning are a luxury. Electricity would flicker throughout the day and the call to prayer could be heard everywhere at certain times of the day. There were sites and sounds of things I had never experienced. Language barriers made communication difficult but not impossible. I learned about cultures different from mine. I also learned that a smile and a hug is universal no matter the place.

But I was a foreigner in a “world” that was not my own. I learned that my world was not better and theirs was not worse, just different. I learned to embrace the customs of those I was visiting. I learned a hospitality I had never experienced before.

I came back to my “world” a much different person with a respect and compassion towards those in my own community who may feel like foreigners in mine.

I see the world much different today than I did those 9 years ago and I am grateful for the subsequent and future opportunities.


Jan
2019

[love]

categories: change, faith, family, oneword365

My oneword365 for 2019 is love. If I’m truly honest, I don’t love well. I am a pretty selfish person and my desires to do what I think God wants me to do in ministry and volunteer work may be getting in the way of me loving my family and friends well. In fact, I’m not sure I have been doing what God wants me to do for many years. I have let my calling of being a wife and mom take second stage. I’ve also let sharing Jesus with those who need to know Him fall behind doing things for Him. I’ve let doing things for the Lord become more important than my relationship with the Lord.

So in 2019, I plan to dive deep into Scripture and see just what it says about love and how I can love Jesus more and go deeper in the relationships that He’s set before me. I hope to share what God shows me here on these pages.

Photo credit

Sep
2018

[september]

categories: change, faith, family, oneword365, organization, reading

September is the new January for many moms with kids still in school. My two younger kids actually went back to school two weeks ago. My oldest headed back up to New York yesterday to start his second year with Word of Life Bible Institute. So we haven’t gotten into our new normal routine yet. Today I opened my calendar to a fresh month. Not a blank slate because life doesn’t ever stop, but a chance to look over my life for the next 30 days. I can’t look much past that right now.

My one Word for 2018 is “simplify.” What have I done over the last eight months that would reflect to others that I am simplifying my life. Probably not much…I’m still just as busy, maybe even busier than I want to be, my husband lost his job of 27 years, a child who has made some really bad decisions that, honestly, we don’t know the long term effects as of right now.

But I do know that God is in control and that I have to remain faithful and obedient. And I have to trust that He’s got this. He’s shown Himself in many ways. My husband has a new job which has turned out to be a much bigger blessing than we anticipated. We’ll have to wait a little longer for the outcome for my son, but I know that He is teaching us something through it and that no matter the outcome, God is still good.

Simplifying my heart has been difficult. I knew it would be. One of my goals was to read through the Bible chronologically this year. I am on track as of right now. I pray that as I read the Word it will declutter my heart. The bitterness is fading. My hope was for restoration or at least genuine reconciliation, but God hasn’t provided that yet. But the days of lingering in the sorrow of a lost relationship are becoming easier.

Simplying my home is always a work in progress. I had to clean this past weekend because we invited a family over for dinner and a movie. I love the joy I experience while we fellowship but even more the joy I feel in my heart when my home is still clean the next day, even if only for a day. I want to bottle up that feeling to remind me why I should work a little everyday to make my home a sanctuary. I have an awesome friend who encourages me in this area and we hold each other accountable to declutter something every week.

God has provided a second person to my little discipleship group. It has changed the dynamic of the group but the conversations are wonderful. It’s amazing to me how coffee with friends can also satisfy my heart as I continue to learn to open myself up a little more each time. He also provided me two new ladies to fellowship with through short devotions on my Bible app.

God has shown me this year more than ever that the little things are so important to this journey and that I need to reflect on them more than I do. Coffee with friends, dinner and a movie, devotions with friends, any time with my husband and kids…He is in all of these things.

So as September blows in with all of the items on my calendar in this “new year…” ladies Fall Bible study, a few training classes/ conferences, kids gearing up for a new youth group year, uncertainty in some situations, I first need to look to Him for direction and guidance and then everything else will fall into place.