You have been the tree that has given many shade in the heat of life…you’ve been a bridge that connected broken hearts…you’ve been poured out as a balm over the wounds of fractured people…you’ve been a leaning post for many who were weak…you’ve been a fragrant bouquet for those who needed to be refreshed…you’ve been a warm fire to sit by when the cares of life have chilled the very soul…you’ve been a light when the tunnel of life has dimmed the view…you’ve been a compass for those who were lost…your arms have served as a soft place to land…woman…sister…mother…grandmom…auntie…wife…friend… make sure you are being filled by the One Who is always full…you cannot allow constant withdrawals without having something deposited…God loves that we are so much to so many…but He is concerned that we don’t spend all of our time pouring out…and miss being poured into…spend some time with Him today…go fill up…so that your tank is not dry❤

I was in a woman’s group and we were discussing the things that we saw modeled before us…we were talking about people that made a difference in our lives…my mind ran quickly to my grandmother…she was the kindest…gentlest…most giving woman…her life was not without challenges…although I loved my grandad he was not a very easy man to live with…he was harsh and his words towards my grandmom at times could be brash…I would watch this amazing woman live her life with joy and zeal through all of this…she sang the hymns that glorified God…she loved her family beyond measure…she showed me that though life was not always easy…you could still have joy…I met God because of her…it was obvious to me…that there had to be someone greater within her that allowed her to withstand hardship without being hard…I loved her…I love her now…when life hit me square between the eyes…it was her image that I grabbed…what did she do? How would she have navigated through this…do you know the vision that I got? Her on her knees crying out to God..I slowly fell to my knees and began to pray to a God that I had ignored…but He knew my name because my grandmother spoke to Him often about me…she modeled the life of a Godly woman well…I needed to reach for the right thing to do…what she modeled threw me into the hands of a loving God who was patiently waiting for me to catch up to the prayers of a great woman who honored God with her whole life…her ordered steps in the Lord…changed my direction…I hope we are all modeling well…because someone will remember what we did…and they will repeat it…model well sisters…someone is walking behind us…😊

It had been a long year…there were challenges and obstacles…my hope dimmed as each day progressed…I had hit a wall…and had decided that all that I was doing was a waste…Have you ever been there? No…I mean really been there? Where your hope had turned to ashes and you made the decision that it would be easier to relinquish the fight…to yield…to acknowledge defeat…to declare that you had lost…that the struggle you were in had finally broken you…and you were now agreeing with everything that had wrestled you to the mat…I found myself there one day…life had hurled so many fast balls at me that I had no way to catch them all…I found myself in bed in the fetal position…I was tired…defeated..deflated..too weak to even pray…all that I could do was cry…no eloquent prayers..no warrior cries..just warm salty tears streaming down my weary face..that’s all I had..and do you know what? That’s all He needed…He translated them into a prayer…and He embraced every word that my tears spoke…and He met me in my pain..and He poured His love on my broken soul..and spoke life…and He can speak life to you too…Ladies…here’s what I know..even when the pain is too great to speak…His heart hears our soul…and He won’t let you or me quit…because we are His… His daughters…and He is a good…good Father❤

It hurt you…you can still feel the sting..the ache…the raw emotion…how could they say that?…do that?…think that?…act like that?…how?…I was good to them…kind to them…I loved them…I supported them…I can’t believe this happened…Have you ever mouthed these words? Have you ever had the unthinkable happen to you? You were caught off guard…your world slid off it’s axis…Have you ever thought…”I’ll never be the same”…I didn’t expect that from them…I will never trust ..love…embrace…anyone ever again…this is not how it’s supposed to be…my script didn’t read like this”…your days are filled with pain and your nights with tears…the weight of this thing drops you to your knees…and you finally find the position that will release the agony of this thing that has happened…it is on your knees…it is this place that the weight is lifted…and the healing begins…it is this place that soothes…and restores…it is this place that removes the sting…that stops the bleeding…and pierces the darkness…keep visiting this place…until joy returns…

I had to go outside to take out the trash..the ground was wet and muddy and there was a light rain falling…I rolled the trash can out and placed it carefully at the curb…I quickly hurried back inside…I began preparing for my day…I was in my kitchen and I glanced down at my floor…there was a wet dirty leaf that had obviously stuck to my shoe…”how did that get in here?”…… How many times have we come in our homes with dirty things from the outside? We had a difficult day on the job and we allow the things that happened on the job to attach to our spirit and we bring it in….perhaps someone cut us off when we were driving and that anger has attached itself…or that phone call that didn’t go as well as we would have liked has attached itself…I don’t know what it is…but you do…it sneaks in…just like that dirty leaf…and without much fanfare makes what was clean…dirty…so…here’s the remedy…be alert to the tiny little things that soil “your house“..be on the lookout for the little things that creep in…be vigilant…to those things that dirty “your house“…pray throughout your day…so that “your house remains clean“😊

So there’s this litttle girl at the school my grandson attends…I noticed her last year…as we waited outside in the morning…some days shivering in the cold…and other days sweating in the heat…she’s a tiny little thing…but she always seemed sad…she would stand alone…it seemed as though she was lost in her own world…God saw that little girl and He had me put on my Mommy Superhero cape…and He said SEE her…she simply needs to be SEEN…I began by complimenting her new hairdo..she drew closer to me that day…I purposed to look for her and speak words of life into her little heart…and do you know what? She finds me everyday and we talk…she is emerging out of her cocoon…today I saw her laughing with two other little girls…and her whole face seemed brighter…alive…God said…you must learn to see the invisible…you must find the lost ones…you have to leave the distractions of your own world…and enter my realm…you will see people…like this little girl..who need you…you are equipped to see the invisible…your words and your mother’s touch can change the heart of a child..your love can dismiss darkness and introduce them to the light…ladies…press in…strain to see the invisible..someone is waiting for you to really SEE them😊

You’ve got something to say…your story means something…what you have lived…are living now… needs to be deposited in the earth…so often…we believe that what we have to say will not make a difference…or that it’s not important…I can remember as a girl being painfully shy…I was afraid to speak…and because of this…my voice was silenced for many years…I had many great thoughts about many things…but the only person that heard those thoughts was me…I was frustrated and felt intimidated by those who seemed to be always ready to speak…One day God used me to speak into the life of a sister who was in a struggle that He had delivered me out of…that young woman came back to me and thanked me for my words that gave her hope…that was my pivotal moment…when I realized that my voice was not created to be heard only by me…but it was fashioned by God to be a trumpet that increases courage and motivates faith…how many women missed my voice when I made the determination that I had nothing of value to say? I had to repent and ask God’s forgiveness…I now speak boldly because of who sent me to speak…my heart gets full when I realize that my voice can exact change in another woman’s life..I refuse to be silent any longer…who needs to hear your voice? Open your mouth…we need to hear your story too😊

I was eavesdropping on a conversation between my two youngest grandsons…our youngest…Caleb…was telling his brother…Joshua… that he couldn’t reach his car…now Joshua is 7 and Caleb is 3…so it is no surprise that he would request his older brother’s help to reach his car…which had rolled under the table…I’m in the other room listening as his request becomes more and more emotional…his brother watches him for a few seconds…and says to him “Caleb…you can do it…I’m watching you…just reach”…he continues to give detailed instructions to his brother…and just like magic…I hear Caleb squeal…”I got it Josh…I got it”..big brother Joshua replies…”I knew you could do it”…there are so many messages in this exchange…it makes sense to seek help from someone who has walked ahead of us and has experienced things that we are now going through…we must trust that our God has surrounded us with the help we need…but we must first recognize that the help is there…and then there is this picture of a caring Father…who watches quietly on the sideline…desiring His children to grow up…so though He is near…He does not do it for us…He equips us to complete the task…and then just like big brother Josh says…when what we are reaching for is finally found…Our Good Father says…I knew you could do it…after all He was watching all the time What are you reaching for today? God has surrounded you with help…the greatest of which is His Holy Spirit that dwells within…continually instructing and cheering us on…His one desire is to encourage us to simply try so that He can say…”I knew you could do it”…thanks for the life lesson Joshua and Caleb❤

Today as I wandered through the supermarket….I decided I wanted a particular type of sandwich..I walked over to the area that they are usually kept…and there were no sandwiches displayed and the lights to that particular section of the store were off…I was disappointed and began to walk away…I saw a deli worker but was hesitant to ask…finally…I approached her and inquired about the sandwich…she stopped what she was doing and asked me exactly what I wanted and began to make the sandwich right there…it took a few minutes so I continued my shopping and returned to find my sandwich completed and the worker smiling and thanking me for waiting…why am I telling you all of this? Because…sometimes this is the way we approach God…we will make an assessment…just like I did at that area of the store that seemed inaccessible to me…it did not appear that what I had come for…I would receive..so in my disappointment…I began to walk away…but…I really wanted that sandwich…and I decided to go back and ASK…isn’t that what our Father instructs us to do? He tells us to ask…but so often we decide that if we can’t see it…then it probably will not happen…today God reminded me that…often…we will miss something that is for us…simply because we do not ask…I’m not sure what you have walked away from…because you have made an incorrect assessment…I encourage you…to go back…and ASK…you just may be surprised when you receive the thing you almost walked away from😊

I was wrestling with God…yes…there was a struggle within me because of what I knew He was asking and what I knew it would require…I sat and mourned over the life that I had envisioned..I believed that I had done many things for the kingdom of God…I also believed I had obeyed and had even sacrificed more of me than I had intended…and now I feel God pulling on me and saying “what you have imagined is not what I have intended”…so my heart began to grieve…the thing He was asking costs too much…it requires time and engaging with people when I would rather be hopping on a plane and enjoying a pleasant beach and a quiet hotel room…I saw my latter days as a peaceful escape…a time to reminisce about past exploits for the kingdom..but now…God…interrupts my script and begins writing a new one…there is more…more to do…and in a very particular way..it requires another YES from me…I know Him too well to fight Him…but it is not always easy to die to the life you have created and begin to live in the one He has designed…my YES has eternal implications…and there are lives attached to my obedience…so…sisters…a YES He will get…because He knows me well enough to trust that even when I don’t always understand what He asks…I will honor His request…How about YOU?