Written on
March 23, 2010 by
Deb in
Blog
Do you love March Madness? We do! Round ball is in our genes. I am not an athlete. I am a sports fan, and I love the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Have you filled out your bracket? Chosen your favorite teams? Is your team still playing or did a loss end their journey to the Final Four?
Have you ever thought about why it is that a highly ranked team can get knocked out of the tournament in an early round? I believe it’s often because they are anticipating the more difficult games, and look right past the opponent that is considered to be less of a challenge.
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Written on
March 9, 2010 by
Mary in
Blog
Our house here is situated on the lot so the front of the house faces east and the rear (where the kitchen and family room are) faces west. I miss the wonderful southern exposure of our home in Portland; the main areas of the house were bright all the time, which was important to me when half the days were gray!
When we bought this house long-distance (after spending maybe 10 minutes in it) I thought the east/west thing would work out ok here though because there is so much more sunlight to begin with. What I didn’t take into account is between the porch overhang in the front and the patio in the back, there isn’t all that much natural light inside for most of the day.
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Written on
March 6, 2010 by
Mary in
Blog
When I left for a 5-day conference, I gave the boys each a toy cell phone that I could record my voice on. It touched my heart to see how much they liked hearing my simple “I love you; be good for Daddy; see you soon…” message.
The toy was too easy to erase though; the touch of a button and my voice was gone. When I got back from my trip, my 5 year old asked “Mom, can you put your voice back on my phone?” He’s the same son who later asked when I was going to my conference again.
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This week I attended a woman’s Bible study at my church. It wasn’t my regular study group. I was surrounded by new faces. Each one took their turn sharing their prayer request and slowly they made their way to the young lady sitting beside me. She was an adorable mother of two, all smiles and sweetness. But, the moment she opened her mouth her voice cracked and her eyes misted over. “Could you please pray for my marriage?” She asked. “With our newest little one, I am finding no time for my husband. And quite frankly, I don’t want any time with him.
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Written on
January 18, 2010 by
Gina in
Blog
A while back, I read Joyce Meyer’s book The Battle Belongs to the Lord. It was a great little book and a quick read about overcoming life’s struggles through worship. What I took away from it is I need to worship God not because of what He does for me, but for who He is!
Joyce sites men and women of God in the Old and New Testament who worshiped God first before facing the enemy. Gideon, Elijah, Paul, Jesus to name a few. All worshiped God despite their circumstances, and God moved!
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
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“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 7
This morning I asked myself if I’m living out this verse by modeling it for my children. I hope to make a more concerted effort to show them I’m living with a spirit of courage, power, love and self-discipline. If I trace back through an ordinary day I can think of dozens of times I allow complaints to slip from my lips. From the moment my feet hit the floor in the morning to throwing vegetables on the stove for dinner, I find little things that needle me and I freely express my irritation.
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This morning I shared the waiting room with a chatty elderly couple. I politely pretended not to hear their conversation, but soon it became more than time-passing rambling.
“Everything would be different if he hadn’t fallen,” she said. Her husband nodded in silent agreement.
“And Eleanor. If only she hadn’t tried to put on her pants standing on one leg.” The conversation continued, listing the various people she could name who would still be in good health (or still be around at all) if they hadn’t fallen.
“Even just a little fall. That’s the key to everything. Just don’t fall.”
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