I can't keep it quiet! It is impossible for me to sit back, experience the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God for myself, and not share that experience with others. Seriously! All it takes is just one sentence , just one verse , just one chapter , just one encounter , just one morning spent with him , just one touch , just one whisper of His voice . When we're lonely, it just takes his comfort. When we're afraid, it just takes his protection. When we're broken, it just takes his presence.  Whether we're having a great day, and an encounter with Him makes things much sweeter, or we're horribly lost and confused, and the gentle whisper of His love for us is enough to jump-start our weary hearts again. The Word of God is that POWERFUL. It is that TRANSFORMATIONAL. It is that SATISFYING. Scripture tells us about a woman with a bleeding disease that left her broken, hurting, and cast out for twelve years. Still, at the mention of the name of Jesus

As I sat down to prepare for sharing my heart with our Sisterhood group in our student ministry, I found myself preaching to myself. Does that ever happen to you? The words you use to encourage or exhort others with, ends up speaking just as much to you as they do to them? Oh, you too? OK, good!   My heart sinks every time I talk to a teenage girl about how poorly she sees herself. How doubtful she is about her place in God's heart. I've had enough! I've officially set out to kick Satan in the teeth on this one! Enough is enough! We are daughters of the Most High King! Jesus overcame the enemy's plan once and for all when he laid his life down on that cross. I will for the rest of my life seek to tell as many women-young and old-and men too-how they are ENOUGH! How the Creator of all loves and adores us.   While pouring all of this out for my sweet girls of Sisterhood, I realized that many women my age and even older continue to struggle with this. We continue to

I first heard these words from Christine Caine, whom I so admire. "Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not snap." Just a couple days from October, and I think back on this last year and wonder where the time has gone. I think about how busy  our lives have been this year. Not the over-glorified  kind of busy, though that is something I think we all can fall into if we're not careful. No, this past year has been FULL -that's probably a better word. How much more fitting then, are the words charging us to be flexible  so that we don't snap . I can still picture the student ministry leadership meeting where I spoke the words I felt God stirring in me from Isaiah 54. It was in January of this year, when I felt the Lord was beginning to grow us, stretch us  even. "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare; Lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you shall expand to the right and to t

Many of you know how much I've loved re-doing cheap furniture finds this last year. A sweet friend in Canada introduced me to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint right before we moved back to the states, and I'm hooked. It has seriously become a hobby for me--painting and creating something new is like therapy for me. Many a nap time has turned into painting out in our back yard while Judah sleeps! Thought I would post several of my projects here. I've just recently stepped into reupholstering chairs..although very daunting at first, I found it was a piece of cake! I have wingback chair that I want to eventually get the nerve to re-do. Hope you enjoy!                                       

    You've probably heard the saying, "wrong place, wrong time" before. Well, that thought got me thinking about other scenarios of that saying and how it relates to seasons in our life.  It had me reflecting on the different seasons in my life, and how in each one of them God was trying to teach me something.  I can think of several examples of times in my life where I've been in the "wrong place, wrong time", right place at the wrong time, and of course at the right place, at the right time.  But then, I think to a degree, we are all at the right place at the right time. Even as I sit here to write these words, a quote I've written on a bright, pink note card stares me in the face. It reads, "A woman who walks in PURPOSE doesn't have to chase PEOPLE or OPPORTUNITIES. Her LIGHT causes PEOPLE and OPPORTUNITIES to PURSUE her." What a beautiful thought for a control-freak woman like me!      I can without a doubt testify that when I have let

Are you appalled by the title of this post? Ha! I figured it would turn up a few eyebrows. Seriously though. Are we behaving like stupid Christians? We probably all have at some point, and from time to time, may still forget the simplicity of our relationship with Christ. Hebrews 5:11-14 should snap us out of this state! " 11  There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.   12  You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. [ c ]  You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.   13  For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right.   14  Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong." Prayer and the Word go hand-in-hand.  Too many

This past weekend our family met another milestone. Our princess, Olivia Grace, turned 8! The weekend officially started on Friday when I brought a special birthday lunch to Olivia's school to enjoy with her. The rest of the weekend was spent celebrating our sweet girl with lots of fun that included getting her ears pierced (yikes! how is she already enough for that?), birthday breakfast with her Mimi & Papa, manicures, a special birthday tea party, lots and lots of sweet treats and gifts, birthday dinner out with family, and so many other fun things! It really was a great weekend! I was so excited about how her party turned out and the beautiful photos that came from it that I wanted to post some of them here, and also give my recommendation to  Butter Blossoms Shortbread Shoppe & Tea Party Room  for their amazing hostessing of my girl's tea party. I'm sure they would love to hear that I recommended you to them! On top of the beautiful space though, these mother/

This morning I clicked on day 2 of a 31-day devotional I'm doing from Pastor Brian Houston of Hillsong Church. Thinking it would be like every other Sunday morning where I'd wake up to find Scott already at church, crawl out of bed to get the kids and myself ready for church, throw some sort of convenience breakfast food at them on the way out to the car (yes, guilty there) and threaten them more times than should be needed to get in their seats so that we could go. Sounds like a sitcom, but I can promise it's never that enjoyable on this end! As I read through the scriptures I found myself nodding along with all the words I was reading. Two of the verses were from Psalm 112:2 and Proverbs 13:22. Both urged me to recognize the importance of my influence to those around me, specifically my children.  The Word says that if I follow The Lord's commandments that I would be blessed, my children would be blessed, and their children would be blessed.  I was reminded by the v