January 13, 2019  by

30 Day Goals Are Better Than New Year Resolutions

Chances are that if you made a New Year’s resolution, it’s already been compromised. Let’s face it, New Year’s resolutions don’t work for the vast majority of us.

Case in point, remember last month when everyone was smiling and cheerful and generous? And then New Year’s came and coasting on all those good holiday feelings, we made resolutions to lose 10,000 pounds and get out of debt, start exercising, stop being snarky and stay in touch with friends and family better … and then … we didn’t do any of it. 

Girlfriend, I’ll be honest, I run out of rockets fast. Setting goals for an entire year overwhelms me.

This year I’m trying something different. I’m setting 30 day goals. I can manage, tolerate or endure almost anything if I know it’s only for 30 days. Can’t you?

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December 23, 2018  by

Would You Settle For Less Than God’s Best?


I met a woman I’ll call Regina at an event where I was teaching women how to know they are worthy of great love and why they should never settle for less than God’s very best for them. 

Regina told me she’d come out of a life of drugs, alcohol and abuse. For a long time she didn’t love herself – couldn’t love herself. 

You know the voices. Too late. Too much baggage. Too much damage. 

As a result, she tried to find love from men who took advantage of her. When that didn’t work, she covered the pain of rejection and abuse with drugs and alcohol. Substance abuse made her more vulnerable to being used by men which made her feel worse, so she used more drugs and the cycle perpetuated itself. 

Finally, she got sober, found Jesus and cleaned her life up. But without anyone to teach her or disciple her, her desire to be good led her to settle into a compliant obedience instead of a becoming a fervent follower of Jesus. 

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December 16, 2018  by

Is God Your King or Your Body Guard?

 

 

A couple weeks ago, I was speaking at a retreat and I told the story of when I was saved by Jesus. 

My boyfriend had taken me to a Christmas program when I received the good news that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who died to pay for my sins and rose from the dead after 3 days in the grave. That because he was raised from the dead, I could be, too.  

That was good news! So I took out a get out of hell insurance policy and got saved.

I was saved ……… but I wasn’t surrendered. I wanted a Savior, but I didn’t want a King. I wanted to rule my own life.

I proceeded to treat God as a body guard. God was to stay out of my way unless my life was in imminent peril, then he had my permission to toss around a lightening bolt or two to save my life.

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December 2, 2018  by

Do You Fall For This Lie?

Do you find yourself isolated because you believe the lie that you’re not worthy of help? 

A woman I’ll call Milly went through a season of utter yuck. As a woman of faith, she dutifully went to church but didn’t want to bother anyone with her troubles. (sound familiar?) Thinking that she could will her way back to wholeness, she ended up isolating herself.

When asked how she was doing, she said she was fine.But without anyone to speak life into her, she sank deeper and deeper into loneliness and despair.

Then she heard me talk at a retreat about how the enemy needed her to stay on the fringe of community so he would be the only voice in her head. About how trying to do life on your own is not the way God intended us to live.

It was like a light bulb went off in her head.

She realized that she’d been schnookered into believing that she was an imposition. A burden. Unworthy.

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November 4, 2018  by

Do You Need the Bible to Get to Heaven?

 

I was speaking at an event recently and this question came up, Do you need the Bible to get to Heaven? 

I said no. 

Don’t get me wrong. I love God’s Word. It’s full of directives and suggestions to make my life work. It’s packed with comforting verses and encouraging words. There are hundreds of miraculous accounts to inspire and encourage.

I’ve read the Bible cover to cover multiple times and have actively studied the Word of God for decades.

I once drove ahead of a tornado to rescue my Bible from destruction because a lifetime of wisdom is written in the margins of that book! It’s one of my greatest treasures, but I don’t worship it. God is not comprised of Father, Son and Holy Bible. 

I believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God, but we don’t need the Bible to get to heaven. The thief on the cross didn’t have a Bible. Millions of Chinese believers have no Bible. I don’t need a Bible to get to heaven.  I need Jesus to get to heaven.

The Bible can’t save me!

When we read the Bible, it’s not so much that we gain knowledge, it’s so that we meet the Author. We don’t need to know the letter of the law as much as we need to understand God’s great love for us. When we put more emphasis on the Bible than the author, we can run into trouble. Holy Spirit’s will tell us all the things that Jesus wants us to know. (John 14:26)

The Bible teaches me all about Jesus’ coming, birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension. It recounts the way or through whom I access heaven, but the book itself doesn’t save me.

It’s the author who saves me.

I love God’s Word because I love God. I read it and study it so I know God more intimately and understand his character. I love God’s Word, but it only point me to Jesus. Only by trusting and following the Author and Perfecter of my faith am I saved. 

Read the Bible, but worship the Author. 

Prayer: Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit and and keep me focused on you as I study your Word. Teach me about you. Teach me how to live. Help me to know and trust and follow you to the end of my days. In Jesus Name. Amen

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October 21, 2018  by

Does God Give You More Than You Can Handle?

Has anyone told you that God won’t give you more than you can handle? I’ve heard it plenty! And there was a time when I believed that nonsense.

Then I buried 2 husbands and my mama in four years. God definitely allowed more than I could handle!

I’m sure you can relate! Haven’t there been seasons when the kids were little and you got no sleep and thought you were losing your mind? When someone you loved was addicted or abusive and your feared for your sanity and safety? Hasn’t there been a time of lack, sickness, or upheaval in your life that you thought would crush you?

Of course there has. That’s when God does his best work. It is in the times of upheaval that we run to him for the healing, rescue, answers, resolution or miracle that is way beyond our own control or ability.

If we could manage to manage everything in our lives on our own, why in the world would we need God?

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October 14, 2018  by

3 Keys to Avoid a Meltdown

What season are you in?
Busy but beautiful? Easy and comfortable? Stressed out and crazy?

It’s fall in the midwest and that means an explosion of colors outside the window and roaring fires inside. It’s the season of comfort food simmering on the stove and pumpkins lining porch steps.

Fall launches women’s ministry and my weekends are packed with great places to proclaim the Name of Jesus and teach the Bible. I meet lots of lovely women and we belly laugh, cry and pray together.

It’s the best!

Have you had a season like that, busy but beautiful? Has God moved or whispered or maybe you’ve had a break through? Secretly, you wonder if God must love you more than he did yesterday. That’s how it feels when your passion partners with God’s purpose for you.

But then comes the attack.

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September 2, 2018  by

Are You A Bathtub or Shower Girl?

There is something you probably don’t know about me. I haven’t taken a shower in years.

Shocked? Don’t be. I prefer my hygienic ablutions to include a bathtub of hot water to the pelting streams from a shower head.

There is something calming that happens in a bathtub that I can’t duplicate in the shower. A bath soaks away the day’s stresses and messes. It’s like a baptism every night. The day is washed away and I’m ready for the next.

Even when I’m in a hurry.  I can take a “skinny” bath and get the desired result – cleanliness – which is an imperative for every day. But I much prefer a deep, hot, relaxing soak. When I get out of the tub, I’m not just clean, I’m refreshed.

I often read in the tub. (You can’t do that in the shower!)

Like most of us, I read for work, research, and recreation.  My top two bathtub reads are Guideposts and Just Between Us. I read books and of course, and I read the Bible.

When it comes to Bible reading for recreation, I’m not an over-achiever. I won’t make it through in a year – or anything close.  I read one chapter a day and it takes me about three years to go from Table of Contents to maps.

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July 29, 2018  by

Want To Know A Big Secret Of Mine?

I’m not sure if I should brag about this or whisper it like the big secret it is.

I wore the same outfit everyday for the entire week! I wore it to the dentist on Mon., out to dinner with girlfriends on Wed., for a FB live on Thurs., to get my hair cut on Sat., to church on Sunday and around the house the rest of the week.

Same outfit every day!

It was so freeing not to have to think about it. And, no mountain of laundry at the end of the week!

There are other benefits, too. I don’t know about you, but I can get so bogged down with the smallest details that it that it keeps me from making real progress on anything!

The tiniest of decisions can hold my momentum hostage.

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July 22, 2018  by

3 Ways to Renew Your Contentment

Do you ever have what my friend Lauren calls a MOMENT?
You know what I mean?
Everything is just “fine” and then you get triggered.

Something hits you sideways and you have a MOMENT.

Maybe you had a Facebook moment when you saw that
you weren’t included in a party or conversation or outing.

Maybe you had a home improvement moment
as you watched all the options HGTV had to offer.

Maybe you had a Pinterest moment when you
tried your best to recreate the image on your computer screen
and it was an unrecognizable failure.

Maybe you had a travel moment when you had high expectations of
Swanky Suites but ended up at Bob’s Sleep Palace?

Maybe it was
your car, or
your house, or
your kids, or
your boss, or
your husband, or
your scale, or
your mirror …
and you just had a MOMENT!

The MOMENT dissolved your contentment.

My MOMENT came at the Tax Guy’s office.
I thought we had a great year, but Tax Guy suggested I find a “real job”.

My Contentment asked my Confidence for a date
and they took off for parts unknown.
The evil twins, Discouragement and Dissatisfaction,
moved in to take their place.

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