Real Life is Better Than Fiction

This is Easter week. One of my favorite Easters, one that still sticks out in my mind today, was when I was five years old. It was actually Monday, the day after Easter and my mind must have been full of questions. My brother and dad had gone to church for Awana for the evening. My 5-month old baby sister was asleep in her cradle and my mom made us cups of hot cocoa (must have been one of those cold Easters). We sat together on the couch, in the peace and quiet, while I asked her one question after another. That was the night I gave my life to Jesus. My life has never been the same. For me Easter is definitely a time for celebrating! Matthew 28: 1-6a "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. His countenance was like ligh...

When I was a child I remember reading a devotion where one girl and her mother drove around the neighborhood picking up her friends for a “come as you are” party. It didn’t matter what the girls were doing at the time or what they were wearing, they needed to come just as they were. This devotion has stuck in my mind for many years. This is a great picture of how God sees us and how we can come to him no matter how we look, act, or feel. He will clean us, heal us, love us, or give us whatever it is that we need. Now, as a writer, I look back on the author of that devotion and wonder if my words will stick in people’s minds for years to come. Can/will I say anything that will lead people to Christ? Can/will I plant any seed that may have the slightest effect on anyone’s life? I don’t know. But I do know that I can’t stop trying. God wants people to come to Him just as they are. Think about all the people in your life that you know need the Savior. Share this week’s song with them. Maybe...

My mom and I...a few years ago. She taught me what it was to be feminine. Feminism. Now there’s a word I hate! That one word has taken everything God intended a woman to be and trampled it on the ground while shouting, “You can be something better!” What can be better than what God intended? We are to submit to our husbands and take care of our children. Feminism distorts the act of submission. Submission is not giving in to man’s every whim as some would have you believe. Submission is respect for a husband. I state my opinion to my husband all the time on family matters. Sometimes he takes my thoughts to heart, sometimes he doesn’t. He makes the final decision that he thinks is best for us as a family. A man cannot feel like a man when he is not respected. Men go looking for what they need elsewhere. It isn’t sex they are looking for, but love and respect. One day a friend told me, “When we are all standing before the judgment seat of God, the man is the one who will have to answ...

My husband came home from work late one night. While he was in the shower I warmed up his dinner, got a TV tray ready so he could relax and eat at the same time, fixed him a drink, and placed his fork and napkin on the tray. When he came out of the bathroom, I gave him all that information. My son was sitting there watching and listening, then said to me, “That’s what I expect from you from now on.” Of course this was said with a grin on his face. I looked to him and said, “You can expect it from your wife.” With another smirk he added, “It is your job.” This time my look was a little more like a glare. “Of course with that attitude I won’t get a wife, will I?” This entire conversation was in jest, just in case you don’t know my son, but he made me realize that as he gets older, he needs to seriously realize the roles of husband or wife and what to expect and what not to expect. He also needs to realize that sometimes expectations are not met. That brings m...

About two years ago a friends asked me about teaching a writing class at her homeschool co-op I immediately got excited about it for several reasons. I already homeschooled my own kids so I was used to teaching. None of them had caught the writing bug. I love mentoring others in their writing endeavors. This was my opportunity to give back. I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was 9 years old. I was fortunate enough to have people, mainly my mother, who were there for me all along, giving me opportunities that most young wanna-be writers don’t have. I entered a poetry contest sponsored by a “nationally acclaimed” publication. I received an honorable mention. Yes, I know now that it was a scam to get money from me, which they didn’t, but it was a huge boost to a young writer’s ego. Then there were the Arts Festivals at school. I entered the poetry competition there, winning second place one year and third the next.  I was thrilled! Although the judging was blind, I...

Have you ever felt like you were stuck? Stuck in a job. Stuck in your ministry. Stuck. Stuck. Stuck. The bad news is we’ve ALL been there. The good news is it’s only for a time. I can’t help but think about the Israelites when they were held in captivity. Now they were stuck! However, God told them to not stop living, even with life as it was. They were to continue worshiping. They were to continue to have families. They were to continue to thrive. That’s our song of the week. No matter where you are in life, no matter how bad things may look from your perspective, you can still Thrive!

Forgiveness is something people crave. I don’t know about you, but if I’ve hurt someone, it eats away at me until I go and ask forgiveness. I guess I can’t stand for people to be upset with me. You see, I don’t always think before I speak. It’s been a lifelong struggle, although I’m learning…very, very slowly. I think that’s why I enjoy writing so much. I can always go back and scribble things out that I wrote that shouldn’t be written. Unfortunately, I can’t do that with words that come out of my mouth. What about those people that repeatedly hurt you? In Matthew 18:22 the Bible tells us to forgive people more than we may care to. A lack of forgiveness in this world is one of the reasons I wrote Come Eat at My Table . People need to take the initiative and ask for forgiveness if they have done the hurting. On the other side, people who have been hurt, need to forgive, even if the one who did the hurting didn’t apologize. Holding in that anger hurts you more than it does them. T...