When getting onto a busy elevator, you can literally risk your life!  With so many hands pushing buttons and people attempting to fit their entire family plus multiple luggage pieces into a 4” x 6” box, you might barely make it on board as the doors close while parts of your body get caught in the squeeze.  If you have experienced this unpleasant elevator crush, you will totally relate to the feeling of being caught between friends who are upset with one another. Have you found yourself in the middle of a disagreement between two people you care about?  It is not a fun place to be!  Both of them are sharing information you would rather not know, but somehow you realize God has allowed you to be there.  It is true that you could tell both parties not to share their grievances with you because you don’t like being
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“The woman was made of a rib out of the side of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.” ~ Matthew Henry When the Lord created the heavens and the earth, He spoke everything into existence . . . except for Adam and Eve. Adam He formed from the dust of the ground, and breathed the breathe of life into him. While Eve was fashioned from the rib of Adam, and made to be forever at his side. I have read the story of creation time and time again and yet it wasn’t until this week did I see the significance in how she was formed. She was neither made to be
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The other week, after two days of travel and managing our first Spring Tour event, my daughter and I headed home with our Women of Purpose administrator, Tiffany, to stay with her the week between events. Tiffany’s husband was away for the weekend and Tiffany’s mom had been caring for her girls while we were away. In the short 24 hours before we arrived, two of her girls had cycled through a really nasty virus and her third started feeling sick. Before long, she was vomiting every ten minutes. Already exhausted from the weekend, Tiffany and I stayed up until midnight to assist the sick kiddo until she was able to rest. Tiffany was still “on call” until about 2AM. I was awoken by my own daughter at about 4AM, who was saying random things in her sleep and hallucinating from a really high fever that had spiked overnight. Now
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A cup of dirt became the burial ground for a lima bean seed in my daughter’s first grade science experiment. We followed the written instructions closely, but that was no comfort to my six year old, as she pressed the seed down into the dirt and covered it.  “But Mom, it’s dark in there.  Can it breathe?  I am sure it is frightened!”  No matter what I said to comfort her, the look of concern and doubt as to a happy outcome cloaked her face.  I promised her that it would be alright and that we would soon see this dormant seed come to life in just a few days.  But, secretly I prayed, “Oh Lord, let this be a healthy seed, not a dud, for the sake of my little girl expectantly waiting for a miracle!”  Sure enough, with sunlight and the appropriate amount of water, the seed sprouted
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For the past few Easters, my two oldest children find nestled next to their Easter baskets, or tucked on a shelf in their rooms, a Chocolate Easter Bunny. They immediately know how it got there. They also know from whom it came. Every year, for as long as they can remember, their dad would give them a large Chocolate Easter Bunny. The bunny was typically one item of many, but as the smaller treats varied from year to year, the large chocolate bunny was a permanent, reoccurring present. Cadbury eggs, marshmallow peeps, and jelly beans may or may not have made an appearance in their baskets, but the bunny always remained a faithful fixture. After their father passed away, the holidays became yet another reminder of their great and intense loss. As a mom I frequently felt helpless, wishing desperately I could make it better . . . knowing deeply
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Have you ever felt or sensed that God was breathing on you? Maybe not. I understand it may be a concept to which you haven’t given any thought. I’m not talking about feeling a gentle blowing of wind but a spiritual breath into your spirit. It’s like God is breathing life, hope, or belief back into your spirit. It may be a specific Word being spoken into your inner being with an accompanying dose of faith. The breathing could be the gentle blowing upon the dying embers of our godly passion. Or, it may be a gentle blowing of faith into the deflated lungs of doubt or disillusionment. Maybe it’s the blowing away of the cobwebs that have accumulated from a space being vacant far too long. Or, perhaps the place in our heart where hope is supposed to settle itself and take root but has faded and died. He
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  The year was 1971. I was 19 years old. I had been married for two years. Yes, I was only 17 years old when Phil and I were married 47 years ago.  I graduated from high school at 15.  So I was already out of school and working when we were married. We’d dated all through high school. Our “dating” consisted of seeing each other at church. It’s true that we were WAY TOO YOUNG to be married, but we didn’t realize it at the time.  Phil was drafted in to the Vietnam War right out of high school. We wanted to be married before he left.  God helped us whenever we cried out to Him for help. And we cried out to Him for help several times a day. Truth is, we were married babies. One day we had a horrific, horrible, heinous argument. I don’t remember about
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