When he pulled that pepper shaker out of the bag I almost laughed out loud. 
Fourteen years earlier we stood on separate aisles of Target – me with crossed arms and him wondering if we would ever make it. With scanner gun in hand, I stared at the rows of salt and pepper shakers. Wooden? How could I possibly season my food with wooden salt and pepper shakers?
As Alan and I registered for our upcoming wedding, we hadn’t anticipated the sometimes-uneven start of zipping two lives together. After dating six years, we were more than ready to marry. I’d dreamed of this very event since our high school trigonometry class where we met and fell in love.
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Written on
October 20, 2011 by
Mary in
Blog
“What does ‘Trick or treat’ mean?” My five-year old is at the stage of asking the meaning behind cliches that most of us rattle off mindlessly.
“Well, it used to be that on Halloween people were saying, ‘Give me a treat or I’ll play a trick on you.’ It doesn’t really mean that anymore and people don’t really play tricks if someone doesn’t give them candy.”
A few days later he asked again, but he finished the story for me, “But people don’t really mean it, right?”
It made me realize how many times we say things without thinking about the real meaning behind them.
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I pray sometimes when I workout.
I know I must look funny, sitting there at the gym on the exercise bike with my eyes closed, but that time—with my body moving and my mind turning to God—is my lifeline some days. It’s my 60-minute-recharge.
As a busy mom, it’s hard to carve out time every day to pray–to talk to God and to listen to His voice. Some days, I get up and hit the floor running… making breakfast, packing lunches, helping everyone get ready, and then rushing (late) out the door to carpool kids to school. On those days especially, taking time to pray is exactly what I need.
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As the fourth of five children growing up, there was always a lot of competition to get a desired role or other things I wanted out of life. I wasn’t always placed on the “A team” as it was not easy contending for my way with three older siblings and a little sister. I often felt pushed aside, overlooked and forgotten.
Do any of you remember the TV show “Land of the Lost“? (I am really dating myself here!) As a child, I loved to pretend play this show with my brothers and sisters. I always wanted to be Judy, who was beautiful, or Penny, because she was smart.
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Buhfai Tham means a ‘handful of rice’. It’s a ministry started in Mizoram, India one hundred years ago. The ladies, though they have not much more to give, set aside a handful of rice each meal to give to the church as their tithe. The church then sells the rice in order to sustain her ministry. Millions of dollars have been earned and thousands of people have been reached through this sacrificial giving.
I can’t wait until I get to heaven to see this parade of women, who by monetary standards have nothing, come before God. I want to see the rich rewards they’ll have for all eternity.
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I spent some time visiting with a dear friend the other day. We each have things that are heavy on our hearts. Issues that we see as being potential problems for God’s people. Situations where individuals are investing themselves in things that could ultimately hurt them spiritually, and also have a ricochet effect on the lives of those closest to them.
How do you handle this kind of conversation?
I have a few tips to share should you ever find yourself in a similar situation.
1. Don’t Gossip
- Be very careful to discuss the problem without names.
- Details are unnecessary, stick to the big picture.
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I am glad that it’s October.
Yes, I know that October brings us one month closer to winter, and for those of you who live in the frozen northern lands like me that means snow, but I really am grateful for a new start. Somehow when I flip the calendar over and see the month — the new month — it fills me with hope and opportunity.
You see, September was hard. September didn’t go as planned. Our family was sick most of the month. When you have a family of nine a long lasting cold really becomes a long lasting cold.
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The laundry. How it seems to mock me. The endless piles of dirty clothes in baskets throughout my home. The mountains of clean laundry, piled on chairs or in corners, waiting for me to get my act together enough to put them away. The random socks I find strewn all over my daughters’ bedrooms. I won’t lie. Although I adore my family, I do not adore doing their laundry.
How thankful I am that the Lord does not get tired of washing me! Washing away my sin, that is. 1 John 1:9 tells me that if I confess my sins, He is faithful and just to forgive me my sins and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
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