An Unexpected Journey

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” This was the prayer uttered by Jehoshaphat king of Judah when he heard the news that a vast army was coming against him. 2 Chronicles 20:3 says that although he was alarmed he resolved to seek the Lord.  Some ladies in my church and I are doing Lisa TerKeurst’s study called “Trustworthy,” and I was reading what she said about this scripture this morning.  King Jehoshaphat “had both the feelings of alarm that are a natural human response to his threatening situation and a supernatural resolve to inquire of the Lord.“  I can’t think of a more perfect description of what we are walking through as a city, state, country, and around the globe right now. As we face the threat of an invisible army, an invasion that we cannot defeat in the natural, it is OK to feel alarmed. As our communities in some places are moving forward with opening back up, those of us who feel fearful when we are not in control may be a big sw...

You are in for a treat today!  I have a guest post to share from my sweet sister-in-law.  She and my brother and their four littles (new baby in tow) are getting ready to move across the country, and well,  there is a lot going on these days!  I hope her struggle resonates with you like it did with me.... A few weeks ago, before Corona 2020 hit, I sat down with my children to watch the kid’s film, Inside Out. Little did I realize that this movie would find its way into my heart and minister to me in the days to come. In the movie, a young girl and her parents make a big move across the U.S. Meanwhile, the girl’s emotions (joy, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust) are at odds with one another about how to best navigate the many changes they are facing. As is the default in my life, Joy is working overtime to make everyone happy and everything picture perfect. I can so relate to this. I mean, didn’t we learn as children to “Accentuate the positive! Eliminate...

I got up before my kiddos yesterday and went to the grocery store.  I wanted to be prepared to not leave my house for a while, and while we have plenty of food in our pantry, my crew of 6 eats through the pershables so quickly!  I can honestly say that through all of this I have had great peace.  It feels surreal.  I forget for a while that everything is turned on its head.  And of course there are moments of gravity when I read the news, but overall I have felt peace.  And true confession of a partial introvert and of the secret desires of a sometimes wanna be homeschool mom… I Love being home with my kids!  I even love the homeschool part. :) BUT when I was in the grocery store yesterday, I was overwhelmed by what I felt all around me- fear.  It was almost tangible.  I arrived when the store opened and had to hunt in the parking lot for a cart.  As I walked up and down the aisles, the fear all around me was unmistakable.  I f...

Every, Single. One.  Of the blogs that my friends have shared about the lies they believed has spoken to me!  I hope they have touched you, too!  I think a big piece of this is recognizing another very important deception that the enemy whispers to each of us.  It is that we are alone.  He wants you to believe that no one else is experiencing the struggle you face- that you are the only one who has made those mistakes or even those dumb decisions.  The enemy wants you to hide.  To keep your pain in the darkness.  He knows if you are isolated, there is much less chance that the truth of the Word and the light will find you there. Way back at the beginning when the first woman, Eve, listened to the lies of the enemy and disobeyed what God told her, she felt shame.  And the need to hide.  The bible says she and her husband hid from God.  There were consequences for their choices.  And they had broken trust with the One wh...

I am so excited for you to hear from my dear friend, Katie.  We met when she was a sassy, teenage check out girl in Harvey's grocery store in Cairo, Ga and I was a newlywed who didn't know how to cook and actually went back to the store like 3 or 4 times in one night because I kept forgetting things!  She made a joke and we both laughed!  Little did I know a few years later, she would come on staff at our church, and we would become fast friends.  She loves Jesus and has been a friend through thick and thin... The Lie: I can do everything. It’s almost midnight and there I am standing in my kitchen, covered in flour (me and the kitchen) as I’m trying to squeeze out the last of the cookies for my kid’s holiday celebrations at school. I’m exhausted. I’ve hurriedly put my kids to bed that night so that I can move onto this “important” task of baking them cookies to show I love them. I’ve snapped at my husband at least 5 times. I will drag myself to bed in another hou...

Our guest blogger today is someone I am soooo thankful God brought into my life!  She has earned her doctorate, birthed four littles, and juggles work, babies, and life with such grace!  And the best part is she is married to my brother so I get to call her family and a dear friend!  She opens up today in the hope that you, too, will see that perhaps God is calling you step outside of your own comfort zone and embrace the life he has for you more fully... This is Just The Way I Am (and How I Recognized This Lie) Have you ever felt uneasy in life? Like disgruntled about where you are yet unable to pinpoint the issue, much less to change? Maybe you’ve had a feeling that something is off but don’t know why or how? Yeah. Me too. And it started with my bubble… I like my bubble. It’s my safe place. Dare I say, my “personal space,” which is really another way of saying: “I don’t do touch. Stay back.” It’s been this way ever since I can remember. This was my way of keepi...

This week we are hearing from one of my favorite people on the planet!  She is my confidant, my encourager, the one I can always count on to be there... my mom, Jeanie.  She shares how God speaks to us through the little things and how we can see Him in our circumstances if we will look... Several years ago the Lord begin to reveal to me the lies of the enemy that I had bought into – the triggers that the enemy of my soul uses on me, sadly, over and over. One of the big ones is an overwhelming sense of inadequacy. “I’m not enough.” And it can be all encompassing: not a good enough Christian, not a good enough wife, not a good enough mother or mother-in-law, not a good enough grandmother, not a good enough friend, not a good enough hostess and cook! I could go on and on. In talking with other women, I have learned that I am not alone in that struggle, and actually, I think many men also deal with that issue in certain areas of their lives. We live in a very performance-bas...