BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

     I feel like the title of this blog says it all. We live in a politically divided world, and not just in our own country. I think most of us are afraid to mention our political leanings for fear of being shamed or losing a friend. For me, I have very strong political ideas, but I don't share them because I don't want my message to be about politics. My message to the world is about Jesus. I don't want people to see my leanings and tune out what I am trying to say because they disagree. I want them to know they can come and listen to what I have to say and hopefully go away knowing more about Jesus and feel compelled to draw closer to Him.        Did you know that in Jesus' time, there was great political unrest too? This may be a shocker to you, but Jesus fanned the flames of politics with all of His "Kingdom" talks. If He wanted to stay away from pop culture and not ruffle feathers, He would have talked about the Christian world view with w...

  As the late great Marilyn Monroe once sang: "A kiss on the hand might be quite continental, but diamonds are a girls best friend. A kiss may be grand, but it won't pay the rental on your humble flat, Or help you at the automat. Men grow cold as girls grow old, and we all lose our charms in the end. But square cut or pear shaped, these rocks don't lose their shape, diamonds are a girls best friend! I am a huge Grace Kelly fan and I think my fascination with diamonds started while watching To Catch A Thief. Her in her beautiful white dress with a glistening diamond necklace adorning her neck. I'll never forget going to the jeweler for the first time with Greg to pick out my diamond engagement ring. It was a round cut with four little diamonds on each side in gold. I loved that ring until I accidentally threw it away one day. True story!! I still get so sad thinking about my gorgeous ring of love sitting in a nasty garbage dump somewhere in Phoenix. (sigh) I was talking...

Have you ever been around a family where there is a clear favorite? We always joke in my family that there is a "golden child", but the truth is, my parents would've done the most they could for each of us. My kids are always trying to be my favorite and I totally play along with them. I take the 'what have you done for me lately' approach😂 It keeps them on their toes and gives everyone a chance to be the favorite by spoiling mom. I feel like it's a win/win! Have you ever wondered about who would be God's favorite? Does He have favorites? Because let's be honest, there are some people that God seems to smile down on more than others. I was having breakfast with a friend recently and they were really struggling. They are walking through a super tough time in life. I have totally been there; that point in life where you think, "Life just can't get any better" and then it proves you right by falling down around your feet. This person sat...

ALIENS AND FINAL DESTINATIONS  On July 8, 1947, the US Air Force announced that it had found a flying disc, and that disc was then put into the possession of the US Army. It was found in Roswell New Mexico and shipped to Ohio for further inspection. It was said to be made out of a weird tin foil like substance that you could crinkle up in your hand, but it would bounce back like nothing had ever touched it; completely devoid of crinkles. Of course, then the official story changed to it was just a crashed weather balloon. And those who believed otherwise were quickly called crazy. The lovely name "conspiracy theorist" didn't come about until 1963 after JFK was murdered. If you didn't believe the Warren Report, they labeled you with that moniker. I'm not saying that I'm a conspiracy theorist, but I know who the first one was...His name was Noah. He preached redemption and righteousness to the people of his town for 120 years while building a boat. And once the r...

FROM BAD TO GOOD Have you ever had that well meaning person who just says the exact wrong thing to you? Someone with good intentions, who means to encourage but ends up making you feel worse? A few months after Greg died, I was at a function where a well meaning man was talking to me about my loss. I was sincerely answering his questions about how I was feeling, which already had me feeling somewhat vulnerable. Then he threw out the scripture that I so did not want to hear. He could have quoted anything, but he went to the one passage in the Bible that I have struggled with so much... Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose." I am one of those people who love to write in my Bible. I even use highlighters and different colors to show different perspectives of scripture like when God is directly speaking and when there are promises from Him. I even w...

WHAT'S IN A NAME? JEHOVAH (YAHWEH) Why do I love looking at the names of God? Because they represent who He is and His characteristics. The first name we looked at was Elohim, which describes God as The Creator. He can create something out of nothing. The second name of God that we are going to look at is the name Jehovah. Jehovah is one of the main names God uses for Himself. In fact, it is used as His name over 7,000 times in the scripture! The first time we see this name of God in scripture is in Genesis 2:4, "These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD (Jehovah) God (Elohim) made the earth and the heavens." There is actually another name here for God, Jehovah, in the Hebrew language that describes His names as YHWH. We added the vowels to say the name Yahweh, but we are just guessing at the pronunciation. We find out later in scripture that this is the PERSONAL name of God. If you were to ask me what my n...