Heart To Heart

Have you ever gone an extended amount of time and all of the sudden realized, "I've been holding my breath all morning!" (Or - all day, or all month, or...all year.) That's hard on a body to do, and sometimes we don't even realize we are doing it. I've been praying in an unique way this week, for those He's given me to care for (specifically) in His Kingdom. I hear myself praying, "Please let them breath in You. Let them take DEEP breaths of Your presence and Your love and Your provision and Your joy. Help them to let go of what holds them fearful or anxious - and breath." You don't have to GO somewhere to get a breather. LOOK UP! Look up and listen for His voice - His words, His love, His song. Take time to look around - the mountains around us, the sky above us, the flowers growing, the smile of a child - even a child you don't know - can give a breather to your heart. Let Him renew your strength today - don't forget to breat...

It's Monday again! Let me begin by saying that when I call myself a 'dork' it is an affectionate term, ok? It is such a laugh-out-loud dork morning for me. We have these 4 grandkids - everyone knows that by now. Our house is prepared for any of those grandkids to come and visit at any time. (Remember the 2 moving boxes of Geotrax that I bought on Craigslist???) Anyway, one of the grandboys loves the cars from the movie 'Cars' - so we have a few. There's a little guy named Guido (I think) who helps repair cars in the movie, and we own one of those. The little drill came off the little guy so I needed to glue it back on....with superglue. Tiny little toy, tinier little drill, superglue + ....me trying to fix it. Got the picture? Of course, the superglue runs down the tiny toy and down 3 of my fingers. With superglue you really shouldn't try to wipe it off with the other hand, because it's SUPERGLUE. (As I'm trying to unstick my superglued fi...

Today is Monday. My brain really needs to WORK on Mondays and that's not always the case. But, my heart worked today and I'm pretty excited about that. I needed to accomplish some stuff having to do with my parents. Insurance stuff, communication regarding what looks like an upcoming surgery for my father. STUFF. In my devotions this morning I simply asked that I would be aware of My Heavenly Father's favor today. I'm of the strong opinion that God does things for us all the time, but we don't 'get it'. We don't see it. It just doesn't register as from Him. So, Lord, please let Your blessings REGISTER with me. One of my errands (after being with my folks) was to talk to someone at U.S. Cellular about my smart phone. (sigh) My smart phone is really smart - I can rarely get an answer to my challenges with it. But, today...while I was waiting...one of the employees started asking (in a very loud voice) - "WHO HAS THE BLACK HONDA CIVIC?...

Thoughts and conversations that I've had this week... ~Supposedly my ears and my nose will continue to grow until I die. Not that happy about the thought. ~When the woman who colors my hair warns me that the color will be 'richer' this time, it means that it's going to be darker enough that people will comment on my new hair color. ~When did the holes in my earlobes stretch????? Looks like I've been prepping for a plug look. Really? My earlobes are stretching out and going south? Really? ~I tried to medically advocate for my elderly mom this week in a very challenging environment - to the point that I started crying. I dislike my gift of tears. The whole experience made me sad. It's hard to see your parents decline and not be able to fix things for them. ~I missed our grandson's 3rd birthday party today because of our schedule - couldn't fit in 6 hours of driving today. He'll have a blast. I am sad at missing his moment. One thing I love a...

Yesterday I was wearing one of my favorite necklaces. It's a funky chain with a key hanging from it. It caught on something and the chain just pulled apart. I tried to put the links back together with my teeth but...it doesn't look so good. It was a cheap buy, that I really liked. It didn't withstand pressure. I felt like I heard His voice - "Learn from this. It's costume jewelry. It's not quality, it's not tried by fire - it was inexpensive for a reason." My response - "But, I really, really liked it!" His response - "You got what you paid for." Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-3 Please hear that God sees your faithfulness and obedience in the face of difficulties. What the fire of your circumstance is doing...

"Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and no not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." Romans 12:12