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It’s Not You, It’s Timing – How to Keep Hope When Nothing’s Working

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Is it just me? Sometimes disappointment, frustration, or fatigue keep banging on the door. You’ve got a project, dream, plan, but it’s stuck. You wonder: Is it me? My skills or vision? Do I lack proper education or experience? Is my heart really in it?

I read about some fisherman who may have thought the same. They worked all night with nothing to show.

Were they unskilled?
No. They were “Fisherman.”

Was the net broken?
Nope. Strong and ready.

Were they in the wrong place?
Absolutely not.

Continue reading “It’s Not You, It’s Timing – How to Keep Hope When Nothing’s Working”

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Humble Rebels: 5 Ways to Have a Mary & Joseph Spirit this Christmas

It’s Christmas time, and while skies darken, lights get brighter and more numerous. The year is closing fast.

This week my children’s school did a “Herdertjestocht,” (“Sheperd’s trail”) throughout the neighborhood, where live-action posts were setup and the kids performed different parts of the Christmas story in the night. Continue reading “Humble Rebels: 5 Ways to Have a Mary & Joseph Spirit this Christmas”

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Goodness Trumps Greatness Every Time + Two Other Life Hacks

God can use anything to get our attention, from a song on the radio, to a kids movie. As a recovering Pharisee (aka, avoid-anything-not-blatantly-God), this was hard for me to accept, but Disney’s Frozen blew my mind (5 Lessons from Frozen I didn’t see coming here).

I recently saw “Oz, the Great and Powerful ” (2013, with James Franco), and it was chock full of heart lessons. Here are three that touched me, and I hope you too. (Warning, Spoilers!):

Continue reading “Goodness Trumps Greatness Every Time + Two Other Life Hacks”

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3 Examples of God’s Gentleness to Help Break Our God Hate

Some people associate God with Might and limitless Power. I heard one Pastor say, ‘we don’t need a God of Love, we need a God to be feared.’ #Wt?

But God’s gentleness is easy to miss if you only experience angry voices hating with a bible in the hand. You can catch this in some politics, at some funerals, and even in some churches.

The world can easily question God’s Heart, and rightly so.

But glimpse these 3 examples of *His #Gentleness and repair the breach: Continue reading “3 Examples of God’s Gentleness to Help Break Our God Hate”

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Dance… Shake it Off!

This is a “5 Minute Friday” Prompt…shout out to Kate at Heading Home for hosting!
Objective: Free write for 5 minutes and stop. Simple. Ready to rock? 3…2…1…..Go!

D-Don’t stop. Nobody cares and Nobody’s opinion matters….when it’s all said and done there is only One Whose opinion counts, Who truly “gets” you, and Who understands your moves and totally, absolutely Adores them. (granted, a loving, doting father and mother might catch a glimpse too…)

A-Always feel free. Your church may not let you. Your husband may not join you. But I bet your kids will jump right in. Shake it off. You were born to fly. You were born to be free. Always remember…there’s more to Life than this life. Continue reading “Dance… Shake it Off!”

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The Ax at the Root… Why I Cut Down my Grapevine

Day 13 in the “Wild Kids, Wild God- 31 Days Looking into God’s Heart”.

Four years ago we moved into our current home and it was the first time we had a garden. Some may find it small, but it’s a treasure to us and I’ve learned a lot from the plants, especially my Grapevine.

The first year it produced a few (maybe two?) small grape clusters. The second year I tried to encourage more growth by actively pruning. There were more grapes, but also more disease, and the grapes never ripened. (Hmmm. Is God trying to tell me something?) The third year the vine produced nothing at all and I watched with frustration as it withered from rot.

Continue reading “The Ax at the Root… Why I Cut Down my Grapevine”

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Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart–Do I Love Because I Must, or I Want to?

Day 12 in the “Wild Kids, Wild God- 31 Days Looking into God’s Heart” Series.

Whether you’re religious, Christian, Jewish, atheist… you’ve probably heard of Moses, renegade prince turned humble shepherd. His story is written in the book of Exodus  (Bible and Torah), and portrayed in many movies. In addition to receiving the 10 commandments (don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie…)* he was chosen to lead the Jewish nation out of slavery and oppression in Egypt into freedom.

The Jews still celebrate the amazing events that took place those thousands of years ago today (Passover) .

The story is pretty straightforward, but one passage often troubled me:moses parting sea

God tells Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart. This results in Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people go free, and brings unrighteousness and greater trouble, which I normally don’t associate with God.

Also the simple statement that God will intervene on a man’s heart–call me naive but I only know God as One Who knocks on the “door” (our hearts) though He made it and holds the key. (Revelation 3:20). Continue reading “Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart–Do I Love Because I Must, or I Want to?”

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Anything for the Kids….why I didn’t buy that nice jacket

Day 5 of the “Wild Kids, Wild God – 31 Days looking at God’s Heart” Series.

No amount of books can prepare you for becoming a parent. You can read about missed sleep, missed showers, missed meals, missed mind… but you can’t prepare for how that actually feels.

Continue reading “Anything for the Kids….why I didn’t buy that nice jacket”

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Forgiveness and Forgetting–BFF

This is Day 3 of the “Wild Kids, Wild God – 31 Days looking at God’s Heart“ Series.
Check the Introduction to the series here.

Forgiveness involves forgetting.

When I had my first child I was a bit paranoid and controlling about almost everything…what he ate, drank, saw, what gifts he got…is that organic? Does this have phthalates in it? Are you smoking..? Even before a friend wanted to hold my baby one time I asked, did you wash your hands? (Phew! So glad to be delivered from all that bondage!) Continue reading “Forgiveness and Forgetting–BFF”

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Pearl and Mother of Pearl – You are God’s Magnum Opus

Pearl formation is a mysterious process, and despite our scientific advances we’ve yet to create one outside the “womb” of an oyster.* Reflecting on this and our relationship with God (with the hope of not sounding blasphemous on one side, or religious on the other) here are some thoughts:

On the surface, God, like the Oyster, may seem Hard: rigid rules, drastic consequences… a distant and frightening God. But cut the oyster open and you discover something Soft—God’s Heart is more tender than we dared to dream… Continue reading “Pearl and Mother of Pearl – You are God’s Magnum Opus”

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The Stars are always Shining, Even if you Don’t See Them

Today is a grey, rainy day. My home is a bit chilly and everyone is sleepy. In our spirits, we can  experience “grey days”–and that may be putting it mildly. We can feel dark clouds of gloom, hopes dashed, spirits crushed, lonely in a deep pit. But like the grey day, somewhere in the sky there is the sun… Continue reading “The Stars are always Shining, Even if you Don’t See Them”

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Keep Moving Forward–Grace and Choices

If you’ve ever been on a bike you know that slowing down too much can cause you to fall. You have to keep moving in order to keep steady. I think life can be like this–we keep moving forward, or we start to fall… Continue reading “Keep Moving Forward–Grace and Choices”

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Waiting for change? 3 things to Consider

In life we can experience seasons–physical, emotional and even spiritual. Sometimes we find ourselves in what feels like a ‘spiritual desert’ and can struggle and wonder when our change will come.

When I found out I was pregnant with my fourth child, Continue reading “Waiting for change? 3 things to Consider”

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When you can’t see around the corner–taking Steps in the Dark

Why do we like to know everything? Ever since the garden of Eden we got the clue that mankind likes to be in the loop. After all, wasn’t that what the “apple” was supposed to give us? Continue reading “When you can’t see around the corner–taking Steps in the Dark”