A Life of Gratitude

 Every morning, after coming downstairs, I sit in our sun room or out on our deck to to read the Bible, pray, and listen to worship songs. Allison has started coming downstairs and asking, "Mommy, are you talking to Jesus?" She knows the answer is, "yes," but when she hears my answer she considers it an invitation to climb on my lap.     She always wants to listen to the worship songs with me so, we share my earbuds. I love watching her nod her head and sing along. She requests her favorite songs and talks to me about God. It is so incredibly sweet.  This morning, as I watched her put that little earbud in her ear, my heart filled with joy. I believe this is what Mommy's are called to do. We should love the Lord our God will all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our strength. (Deuteronomy 6:5) Our children should be able to observe that kind of love when they are with us. They should see us spending time with the Lord and hopefully, they will want to jo...

We spent the evening watching the At Home Concert Series with We Are Messengers, Unspoken, and Big Daddy Weave! If you're a fan of Christian music, you know that having the opportunity to see these three bands in concert for free, is pretty incredible! The event was live via Zoom and was limited to only 300 viewers from around the world. I was thrilled that we got to be a part of this! We are living in such odd times. I never imagined live concerts would be replaced by Drive In's and Zoom calls! Tonight was very refreshing though. We've really missed being enjoying live music! It was wonderful to dance and sing with the family while watching other families across the globe doing the same thing!  Today I am grateful for worship. While worship is all about God; giving Him glory and singing His praises is such a blessing to me also. Every time I worship my Heavenly Father, my "cup" is filled and my perception changes. When my eyes are focused my Lord instead of the ...

I was out of town last weekend but since I returned, Allison and I have been attached at the hip. We missed each other so much. Today we wore our "Bestie" shirts that Bryan got me for Mother's Day. There really couldn't be a better word to describe us. We are Besties!  God is really good at using my kids to teach me things. My little best friend did just that this morning. She was looking at my shirt (the one that matches hers) and she pointed to the period after the word "Bestie." She asked, "What's that, Mommy?" I responded, "That's a period." She looked up joyfully and said, "No, that's a polka dot!" Today I am grateful for those sweet little words, "No, that's a polka dot."  There are times when it feels as if things are over or have come to an end. When you aren't sure if you heard God correctly or maybe think maybe you've missed the mark. It can feel like there's a big a period at the ...

This past weekend was one that I will never forget. My sweet friend Angel, and I, attended a retreat in the mountains right outside of Knoxville, TN. The retreat was called Deeper Still. There truly could not be a better title for this weekend away.  I flew to Knoxville, Angel picked me up, and we spent a little bitty bit of time in downtown Knoxville.  Then, we drove up the mountain the most gorgeous retreat location, called Eagle Rock. The view was absolutely gorgeous.  The retreat space exists solely for people and groups to get away and rest awhile. They desire to be a place where folks can spend time with Jesus, be blessed and loved on, and then go home renewed and restored.  The weekend was beautiful in so many ways. We enjoyed ourselves, engaged in some intense times of prayer, learned a lot, and made several new friends.  Before we headed back down the mountain, we enjoyed a beautiful service outside. We threw red roses into the fire, symbolizing letting...

A couple of mornings ago, before the kids got up, I was sitting outside on our new deck just listening to worship music and praying. As I sat there, I noticed several leaves falling from the huge tree right behind our fence. They fell one at a time, sporadically, and just seemed to dance gracefully through the air. They were really beautiful. Then I realized, it's July. Leaves aren't supposed to be falling in July. As a few more floated to the ground, I couldn't help but wonder why. The huge tree behind the deck was the one losing leaves. It's hard to see them in this picture but there were at least 15 leaves that fell in front of our fence, many more behind it. They were beautiful, but why are they falling in July? I decided to look it up. I mean, Google has to know the answer, right? It took a few minutes but I soon found the reasons why this very healthy tree was losing leaves in the summer. One reason is due to a crowded canopy. Trees grow...

Today was the last session of the post-abortive Bible study I've been leading since the end of March. This study was different because it had to be done via Zoom. I never imagined leading a post-abortive Bible study through video conferencing but it ended up being a wonderful experience. The five of us had so many meaningful conversations. There were many tears shed but also lots of laughter. Last Sunday we all met in person at the Not Forgotten Ministries' office so we could make memorials in honor of our preborn babies. It was a very special time. Even though the Bible study focuses on a very deep, tough topic, the time we've spent together has been beautiful. As our video call came to an end today, each person in the group shared what they've gotten out of our time together over the past few months. I was absolutely blown away by their heartfelt words. One lady shared that something I said is what finally encouraged her to open herself up to the idea of true hea...

A couple of weeks ago I observed the most incredible sunrise while sitting on the beach. It was truly stunning. The photos don't even begin to do it justice. As I was sitting in the sand, watching sun take its place in the sky, I noticed a man standing nearby with his back turned toward the rising sun. I watched him for a while and then saw him start taking photos of whatever he was looking at. It just struck me as so odd.  What in the world was he looking at? This was truly the most beautiful sunrise I've ever laid eyes on and this man was choosing to turn his back to it and set his gaze upon the hotels and condos. It was very early in the morning so other than some folks walking on the beach and the occasional trash collecting vehicle driving by, it was very quiet and uneventful. I could not figure out what he was looking at or what he could possibly be taking photos of.  Over the past 2 weeks I have continuously thought about that man.  I haven't bee...