BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

FREEDOM I love the 4th of July. The food, the family, the friends and the fireworks. I love the good ole USA and the freedoms we enjoy living in this country. Every year I thank God that He put me in this country and especially the family He put me in where I was told about Jesus and how I can find freedom in Him. I was sitting in church this past weekend listening to a missionary I know from Egypt. Nathan lives in a culture without religious freedom. In fact, his father was murdered for his Christian faith when Nathan was just six years old. I love Nathan's story because God took what was a broken life and turned it into something beautiful. God took his painful life circumstances and put a passion in Nathan's heart for his people. Now, Nathan and his wife write children's Biblical curriculum to impact the next generation.  Even under oppression, Nathan and his wife share the freedom that comes from knowing Jesus to the people around them. I got to thinking about the f

I'M NOT ALONE AND I'M NOT (NECESSARILY) CRAZY Let me start out by stating this fact: God is good. For all the times I have screamed at Him and asked Him the why's of my life (at least a thousand times), He still shows up in my life to offer me things that are good. I often think of my life in metaphors. A fairytale, a comedy, a tragedy, a mystery, etc. Being widowed, I often feel like a castaway. At the beginning, it felt like I was in the middle of a raging ocean with no land in sight and now I feel like I'm on a desert island. Just me and Wilson, my volleyball...no wait, wrong story. Just me and my neurotic dogs. But recently, another castaway floated by my island. A fellow widow who is surviving just like me. I've known this women for several years. We went to church together and were even in a Bible study where she spoke wisdom into my life. Life moved us in different directions, but we were able to connect and catch up. I am very open about where I am at in