A Life of Gratitude

As we say so long to 2023, I bet most of us are hoping for a better, more prosperous, more healthy, more peaceful year ahead. One way to move forward is to seek healing from the various things we've suffered through, whether those things happened recently or years ago. I truly believe God wants each of us to be healed  physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  That doesn't always involve a miraculous healing. In fact, most of the time it involves a lot of hard work and support from others. I believe that is because we must walk through the fire to be refined by.  John 17: 11-19 (TPT) Jesus traveled on toward Jerusalem and passed through the border region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered one village, ten men approached him, but they kept their distance, for they were lepers. They shouted to him, “Mighty Lord, our wonderful Master! Won’t you have mercy on us  and heal us ?” When Jesus stopped to look at them, he spoke these words:  “Go to be examined by the Jewish pr

During our Christmas Eve service today, we sang "It came Upon a Midnight Clear." It's a very familiar Christmas song, one I've heard many times, but I'm not sure I've never thought much about what the lyrics say.  I was really blown away by the third verse which says, "O ye beneath life's crushing load, Whose forms are bending low, Who toil along the climbing  way, With painful steps and slow; Look now, for glad and golden  hours. Come swiftly on the wing; Oh rest beside the weary road And hear the angels sing." Maybe you can relate to feeling crushed beneath life's load, painfully and slowly toiling and climbing. I know I can. It's that last sentence that gets me though. "Oh, rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing." The song reminds us that yes, life is hard, and our load is often heavy, but now is the time to rest beside the weary road we're traveling and pause long enough to hear the angels sing.  Typically,

Last night I took my six-year-old daughter to the movie theater. On the way there she said excitedly, "Mom, guess what I want to be when I grow up!" After I tried to guess, she responded, "I want to be just like you!" Her answer nearly made my heart explode!  As we watched the trailers before the film, I realized she was sitting just like me. I captured the moment with a photo because I know she won't always feel that way.  I've been thinking a lot about what my girl wants to be when she grows up. Even though it made my day to hear her say that it also caused anxiety and dread to rise up within me as I thought about the influence parents have on their children. There are so many things about me that I hope she never replicates. Things like my poor self-image, my inclination toward people-pleasing, the guilt I feel when I need to rest or take a break, my desperate attempts to feel loved and the poor choices that resulted, my tendency to be impatient, and my h

This morning I saw this photo and touched my heart. This is a picture of one of my favorite Christmas decorations, a nativity by Willow Tree. This specific set up was designed by my son, Tyson, when he was just three years old. I know a lot of people would say I probably shouldn't let play my children play with such an expensive nativity scene, but it’s very important to me that my children don’t view Jesus or faith as something that is “hands-off.” I don't ever want them to feel like the story of Jesus' birth is something they can't engage with. So, I’ve let all four of my children play with my expensive nativity scene and I love watching them interact with it!    Six years ago, when Tyson created this masterpiece, he was playing with the set and talking in his quiet little saying something about the animals coming to see the baby Jesus. For a while the angel and Jesus were hanging out in the stable together but this is the way he left it the scene, in a scattered me