BEAUTIFULLY BROKEN

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...