BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

THE LAST WORDS Death sucks. The process of dying is heartbreaking. And for my family, that process lasted over 4 years. However, the good thing about knowing that you are going to die is the fact that you get to stress to those you love, those things which are most important to you. For Greg, those most important things were stories, memories and messages to his family, particularly his children. Of course, Greg had done a lot of sharing with his kids as he deteriorated, trying to think of all the events of life and reminding the kids of how good God had been to us. Then he thought about the future events he wouldn't be able to help guide them through and he said all the things he thought he would have wanted to say to them for the occasion. Even in this, Greg did it with passion and hilarity. His catch phrase to Brooke always being, 'Remember, boys are bad' and to the boys, it was always about how important family was; to take care of each other, their sister and mom. T...

Growing up in a pastor's family and then being in ministry myself, I have had the great opportunity to hear many great pastors preach many great sermons. However, since Greg's death, there is one topic that I tend to have a reaction to when I hear it preached; the topic of faith. I am not sure that the pastors are trying to communicate faith the way it sounds like they are teaching it. The principle about faith that many sound like they are saying is - if you pray, if you really seek God and have faith, the miracle you are waiting for will happen. I have heard so many sermons on this and every time I hear it, I want to push back on it. What about me? Are you saying I didn't have enough faith to see my husband healed from a terminal disease? Now I'm not saying that God can't or won't do miracles. I am a big believer that God did miracles in the scriptures and that He is still in the habit of doing them today! I've seen it happen. There's an obstacle t...

MAMA BEAR AND THE WHITE SHOES I don't know if this ever happens to you, but sometimes in my life, there is a roaring protective bear that lives inside of me. And she is vicious. Normally, I'd like to think of myself as a happy-go-lucky, roll with the punches type of person. But anybody who thinks they can mess with my kids, I've got another thing coming for you. My kids lovingly call this the mama bear syndrome and sometimes they even have to tell me to put my claws away. I remember when they were little, we lived by a large desert dry creek. The neighborhood kids would congregate in there and even made a secret fort for hanging out in which they had all sorts of make believe adventures (not sure why, as I would be scared of snakes and scorpions, but hey, that's just me). One afternoon, my oldest son comes running back crying that some kid was picking on him and my gentle, quiet spirit went from peaceful to savage. I saw red. I marched out my front door and waited fo...

A MOTHER'S BIGGEST BLESSING Happy Mother's Day! I love celebrating my children and I equally love when they celebrate me.☺️Flowers, dinner out, clean house, etc, etc (putting that in here just incase one of them reads this😂). It's so fun to be recognized for the hard work you do and appreciated for it. But as with most mothers, what really blesses us is to see our children thrive and especially for me, to see them walk with their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When I was a new mom, my church was doing a study called Motherwise by Denise Glenn. It was a great study, but what has stuck with me all these years is the biblical prayers that she had us pray over our children. I thought this Mother's Day, I would give you the gift of these prayer and where they come from in scripture. Prayers for our children: 1. That they will know Christ as Savior early in life. (Psalms 63:1, 2 Timothy 3:15) 2. That they will have a hatred for sin. (Psalms 97:10) 3. That they wil...

CHRISTIAN WIDOW'S SURVIVAL GUIDE PART 2                                    "Coincidence is God's way of remaining anonymous." - Albert Einstein As we continue with part 2 in our Christian Widow's Survival Guide, let's focus on Ruth's story. Ruth 1:16, "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." Clearly, Ruth had experience an encounter with God that changed her life. No longer was she able to return to her past, but needed to move forward to her future. She had fundamentally changed and knew she couldn't go back to where she had come from. She needed to be around people who held the same beliefs as she did. Ruth's faith in God at this point is incredible. She probably saw how her husband's family lived differently than how she did growing up. But the loss she an...