Lighthouse Keepers

I’ll never forget the day when my second oldest, who couldn't have been more then four at the time said to me, “mommy are you happy at me?” And I immediately said “of course I am happy about you. I love you so much!”  Then she completely caught me off guard and replied “then smile at me.”    Even as I write this I feel the power of those words coming from my little girls mouth. It made my stomach turn.  It literally shook me and broke my heart that she could sense that I was obviously not happy and simply did not have joy right then.  I could tell her that yes I was happy but I knew she knew better. That day I realized that I had been depriving my sweet precious family of a vey powerful and wonderful gift.  The gift of joy. I had had a hard day..or probably a hard week and I had let it drain me of joy and happiness and my dear family had to feel the consequences of it. It was not fair at all. Since then God has so often reminded me of that day and I ...

Are you anxious? Are you worried? Are you afraid?   We have so much to be anxious, worried and afraid about. Often our feet have not even hit the floor yet and we have something worrying us or we haven't even had your breakfast yet and we've already heard some bad news. Almost every single news outlet thrives on making sure we get the news, the terrible, the horrible, the no good, the very bad and depressing news. The news we hate to hear but we actually look for it, we listen for it, without even consciously knowing. Maybe it's because our focus is more on the negative events that are going on around us. It's almost like a habit.  Most people would agree that the media is too focussed on the bad news.  Sorry to be the one to tell you girls, but we look for it and they know it. Two men from a well-known university set up a "tracking the eye" experiment on the computers in the university la...

One word that sums up who my daddy was; is “Unselfish”. He was so in love with our Jesus and in the way I could only wish to be like one day. When I think of how our heavenly father is, I see my dad. The unconditional love, the mercy, the kindness, gentleness and forgiveness that God bestows upon me is how my daddy was to me. We are called to be Christ like, and I can say my daddy was the most Christ like person I ever knew. Of course he had his mistakes, but the beauty of that was that he owned up to them ad openly confessed and asked for forgiveness. My daddy didn’t hold back when it came to being the best example of Christ. He loved my momma more than anything besides his Lord. He cared for her and us kids as best as he knew how. He gave up everything for his family. My daddy worked so hard to raise us kids for the Lord and let me tell you I love Jesus! Father’s Day. I can’t imagine celebrating Father’s day without my daddy.  I thank God daily for t...

"Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19 I was asked to write about my experiences in Bolivia. But I feel like I could  probably tell you a lot of stories, but to make sense of them I’d have to write a lot and  it would end up being a story book. And I’m not ready for that. So instead I’ll share  something that has become my everyday battle. How am I fishing? “Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing, is fishing for pleasure or compitition. Subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival.” -wikipedia On the left margin of this page you’ll see pictures of different church activities. And  they all have their time and place. But why do I participate in any of these activities? Is it because I want to be a support of whatever is going on and am I willing to use my  God given gifts to encourage someone that is weaker? We are called to be the salt and  the light of this world. Matthew 5:13-16 . Salt preserves  a...

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live." John 11:25 Easter is approaching and with that we often think of the resurrection of Jesus. We see lots of pictures and quotes about the empty tomb and our risen saviour, and it truly is amazing. Our God is NOT dead, he IS alive!!! But is that all Jesus is to us? A nice picture or quote? There is so much purpose in the resurrection of Jesus, without it we would still be dead in our sin. "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."     Romans 6:5 "Blessed be the God and our Father of our Lord    Jesus, which according to his abundant mercy hath    begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Peter 1:3 It is    by his resurrection that we have a lively hope. That we can have life....

Ten years ago I became a mom. A mom…..something I had always wanted to be. Something I had looked forward to with anticipation and longing. Images of happy days and smiling children, fun and laughter, making memories and being friends filled my head. It was going to be GREAT!!!!! Ten years later and I can say it is great and all those things I listed are a part of our reality, but there’s another side that I wasn’t prepared for. A world filled with tears, desperate prayers, silent anguish, frustration, anger, uncertainty and guilt. Of not knowing what to do or where to turn. Looking at my beloved child and feeling hopeless, helpless and so alone. But I know I am not alone. I know there are so many other moms out there facing the same battle and that is why I want to share what God has been teaching me, especially as of late. ( Source ) If you follow me on social media, you may have seen my posts about raising a child who is ‘different’. My out-of-the-box, “oh my goodness” chi...

February...........the month when love is celebrated on the 14th. But what is it? Do any of you know the history of Valentines Day?  If not, I would encourage you to look it up.  It is quite interesting to know where it came from, how it started and why we do what we do now because of it.  (Mind you, my husband is anti valentines because he says he doesn't need a man made day to tell him to bring his wife chocolate and flowers..........lol.  I don't mind because I do prefer surprises. :)  Now as I was preparing to write about this topic, I was having a bit of trouble and my thoughts were pretty scattered, but a friend of mine told me to use a spatula, scrape them together and get it done.  So this is what I scraped up ;). The more I studied and read, the more I realized how amazing love is! I also realized my understanding of love has been at best, quite shallow.  This is a poem I wrote in high school, that made me see that I had been questi...