BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

    This year, my friends and I decided to do a Bible study together on Jesus to focus our hearts for Christmas. There were the usual devotionals about Jesus, the shepherds, the angels and of course, Mary. She is, and always will be, a fascinating and treasured part of the Christmas story. The Catholics deify her and the Christians don't give her enough credit (in my opinion).      I was heavily pregnant over Christmas with my last baby and I felt such a kinship with Mary. I imagined myself getting anywhere near a donkey or making a journey on foot across many miles. Um... the answer is no way. Can we just call and tell you how many are in our family instead of having to show up?!? Of course, it was my fourth pregnancy and I was way older than her, but even as a first time, teenage mother, that does not sound like fun.      But the one devotional that really stuck out to me this time was about Joseph. We don't know a lot about Joseph's life in the...

     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...

WHAT'S IN A NAME? ELOHIM When Greg and I were having our children, I remember pouring over names. We wanted to give our boys strong, Hebrew scriptural names that means something. But to be fair, pop culture also played a part in the choosing of at least our first two sons:) Then name Jacob is actually not a great Hebrew name. It means supplanter or deceiver. And yet, we loved the name because of God's redemptive power over the Jacob of the Bible. God took what was flawed and broken and made a great nation out of it. You can't read the old testament without reading, "The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." While Jacob had issues, he was never too messy for God to produced great blessings in his life. The name Zachary is a derivative of the Hebrew name Zachariah and also Zacharias, who was the father of John the Baptist. The name means, the Lord has remembered. If you know the story of Zacharias and Elizabeth, you will know that they were past child bearing years ...

BEING THE PERFECT PARENT I am, of course, joking with the title of my blog. Even when Greg was here to help me parent, we were anything but perfect and clearly, on my own, I need a lot of help. Parenting in general is so difficult, and single parenting... whole 'nother level!😅 I feel as I am in the thick of it as pertains to parenting. I have some adult children and some teenage children. The funny thing is, I always thought when they were little that it was the hardest time parenting. Hands down, parenting early adult children is the hardest! Finding that balance of guiding while still allowing them to make mistakes is hard. The consequences for some of the mistakes they want to make can be steep. Because this is an area I have been struggling with, I wanted to remind myself what God does when He parents us. Of course, He IS the perfect parent! In studying this, I was reminded of so many amazing principles. Ephesians 1:4, "...even as He chose us in Him before the foundat...

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN? I've talked before about how I see my life as a mosaic. How God has taken things in my life that were whole and broke them and is now putting it back together to create a new picture. It still contains remnants of the old, just re-purposed  in a different way, with new pieces being added daily. For the art cover on my podcast, I chose to take a picture of a mosaic bowl Greg and I got while we were in Israel a few years ago. It's a replication of a mosaic found in a catholic church that stands right by the Sea of Galilee called Church of the Multiplication. They made this mosaic in their floor to represent where Jesus would have done the miracle of feeding the five thousand men plus women and children. When you think of this miracle, you have to understand what Jesus had just experienced. The loss of His family member, His cousin, John the Baptist. Before Jesus heals and multiplies, He is first hit by death and He does what mos...

HOW DO YOU LOVE WHEN LOVE IS TOUGH? I have mentioned here before that I am a totally hopeless romantic. I love love, love being in love, love talking about love, love reading about love, love watching cheesy Hallmark movies about love (don't hate on them; they are awesome!) Give me a story that ends with a 'Happily Ever After' and I will love it (and read it about a thousand times). Love is wonderful. And, the wonderful thing for me that happened in my life is that I found a true fairytale, romantic kind of love! I'm not saying it was perfect and that we never fought. We were passionate people; about each other and about life. That leads to some pretty passionate fighting. But the makeup was usually worth it😉 When we got married, part of what we vowed to each other was to never throw around the word divorce. Greg came from a broken family and I came from a very long line of marriages that lasted lifetimes. We did not want to give divorce a voice or an option of bein...

WE CAN'T CONTROL WHAT COMES INTO OUR LIVES, BUT WE CAN CONTROL OUR RESPONSE Hello again my beautifully broken friends! It feels so good to be back at it and writing what God lays on my heart:) I am excited to announce that along with a blog every Tuesday morning, I will also be dropping a podcast on that day's blog!! This gives me a chance to verbally express my ideas and if some of you are like me, it's easier to listen to a podcast than it is to take the time to read a blog. Ok, so....I was in the trenches for a while over the holidays. There is no easy way to get around it; December is the best and worst month for me. It's bittersweet. Greg and I loved December, with it's Christmas spirit and festive flair. We loved it so much, we got married that month. We had fun every year making precious memories and things only got sweeter with each child. Watching them excitedly open presents, give presents, learn the true meaning of Christmas and partake in our church t...

PREACHING TO MYSELF Ephesians 5:20, Paul writes, "Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Remember that verse from last week? Where I talked about how I have so much to be thankful for, but don't always have the right perspective on things, which can make being thankful ALWAYS and in EVERYTHING tough? I don't know if you have ever experienced this, but often, when God lays something on my heart to share with someone else, it is because He is preparing me for what is to come in my life. Can I just tell you, I'm not always the biggest fan of that. I'd my rather be the sharer of encouraging things than the recipient needing encouragement. Aren't we all like that? (Please tell me I'm not alone😂) As many of you know, my dad passed away this August and it's been hard. I miss my dad, but it's also tough to see my mom walk through grief. I find that since walking through my own grief, it ma...

BEING THANKFUL IN THE HARD TIMES There   are many times I find myself forgetting to be thankful. And I have SO MUCH to be thankful for. But the circumstances of my life lead me to want to focus on what hurts me, and not what has helped to heal me. This is why I love scripture. In Ephesians 5:20, Paul writes, "Giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."  At first glance, it seems like, of course, that is something the apostle Paul would say. But when you look at where Paul was at the time when he wrote this, you would understand why this is so significant. Paul was in prison. Of course, these aren't like the prisons we have today. He was probably in some dark, disgusting place with rusty chains rubbing his skin raw. I'm sure his treatment was not nice and the mice and insects probably kept him company. How can Paul write about thanking God for everything when he is in such deplorable circumstances? It's about...