Everyday Imperfect

  You‘ve heard it’s the small foxes that spoil the vine - I’m here to tell you, it’s the small distractions that destroy the mind !    You see, we know what to do when we’re faced with something big - a fatal car wreck, a drug overdose of a loved one, the infidelity of a spouse, the hopeless diagnosis for your child…  We know what to do! We start a prayer chain ... we start fasting and seeking God ... we keep His word in us day in and day out to get through that.  But then the small things like laundry or dust bunnies or teenage kids happen, We have all these things pile up around us -  " Mom I need this"….." Mom, sign this for my teacher"… "Honey, did you make that appointment?"..."Sister, can you do this for me?"…."Mom, where’s my socks/backpack/belt?"… Oh, I need to get this posted...I need to call this person… This person isn’t doing her job....Can you believe what she said? … I need to do this...I need to... And we find ourse...

Look straight ahead and fix your eyes on what lies before you.  Mark out a straight path for your feet;  stay on the safe path.  Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil . - Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT Imagine taking your family to one of those old-timey circuses in the late 19th century. Money was hard to come by, and you had saved up for weeks to be able to take them to see the Ring Master introducing all the acrobatic and animal acts under the big top.   You'd walk down the path toward the circus tent, kids excitedly in tow, and as you were making your way to your goal, walking along with the crowd pressing in around you, you'd hear from the sides of the path loud carnies yelling out their headlines, trying to entice you to stop and see what you could only see right there in their tent!  Cries promising the viewing of the bearded woman, or a boy born with two heads, or a man who could swallow a sword and still live would ring out over the excited gi...

 Since we are nearing the next women's retreat, I thought it so appropriate to re-post this piece, especially since it deals with such a hard thing as losing a parent and the emotional turmoil wrapped up in that.  Praying for my friends who have lost so many so recently! This last weekend, I missed out on joining my team at a conference featuring none other than THE Rachel Hollis (author of Girl, Wash Your Face) and Nichole Walters (business coach extraordinaire - you need to check out her podcast!). I really missed being with my entrepreneur friends, but I got to go instead to another women's conference - Replenish 2019 - with my church group and about 1200 more women in south GA. It never fails - the times that I think I just don't have time for this conference, or that I should be doing something else - or just feel too drained to go to a conference like this ....those are the times that I get the most from the conference! You know, I don't know why that takes me by ...

  As a child, the only time I ever heard about fasting was when the preacher of our little baptist church happened to mention or preach on Jesus being tempted in the wilderness.  In my teen years, when my family started going to a Pentecostal church, I saw where some people made fasting and prayer a regular part of their devotion to the Lord.  This was a new concept to me, but I couldn't help but notice those who practiced periods of fasting and prayer had a lot more power and faith in their relationship with God.   I know there has to be others in my shoes from back then - wondering what the big deal is with fasting added to your prayers.  So I thought I'd jot down a few truths I've learned along the way (with the help of some awesome pastors I've had, as well as MY pastor and leader - my husband!).   Because this is the way my brain functions, it will be somewhat of a list format, but please feel free to ask questions for clarity's sake.  As I tell m...

Isn’t it interesting that as many times as you read or hear about a Bible story all your life (especially if you grew up in the church), all of a sudden one time you hear the same story and something remarkable jumps out at you that you never realized before?  That’s what happened to me a few weeks ago when I was doing a devotional on Lazarus - the guy Jesus raised from the dead.   I actually have been going through the Bible in a year, and I like to have my YouVersion app read it to me while I’m getting ready each morning.  This particular morning, I learned something that really shook me, to be honest.  Here’s a quick backstory— Jesus and his disciples were on their way, ministering and at some point came upon a village (which we now know was Bethany), where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. - this is where most of us first learn about Mary & Martha, who were Lazarus’ sisters.   Luke 10:38: 38  As Jesus and the disciples continued on their ...