Lighthouse Keepers

Several months ago I did a devotional for a ladies group and I shared very personally on what I had been going through in trying to establish balance in my life. I would like to share the collection of excerpts from other authors as well as my own thoughts here in hopes that I can encourage other women who feel as I did/do.     We began with an attempt to balance on a board that had been laid across a cylinder something like the one pictured here.   Balancing on the board was hard. No one could balance for more than a few seconds. You have to take into account what you are balancing on, which way to lean, how to best keep it balanced while doing other things. After a while it would get quite exhausting.   This is our lives. We try to balance out being a good wife, mother, employee, friend, being involved in ministry. That’s like not just balancing on one board but stacking them up and balancing four or five boards all at once.   Often when...

When anxiety and despair come knocking what do you do? (Source) I have never really struggled with anxiety to the extent I'm sure some of you have, but within the last year the Lord has been revealing to me how much I depend on controlling certain areas of my life for my sense of security. With my parents moving to Mexico for missions, raising young children; which is the most faith testing experience I have ever gone/am going through, becoming pregnant after struggling with infertility, this year has been a bit of a hard one. Not that these things are bad, but they were unplanned, unexpected and disrupted what I thought I had going for me, or how I had things planned out in my head. The Lord has been so kind and gentle in reminding me of his promises and his care for me in every situation. I am learning that resting in Jesus no matter how difficult the battle may be whether it is an internal or external one is really the safest place to be. This is a process though...

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....