I am grateful for tears. They are God’s idea of a release valve…tears serve so many purposes…they counteract an emotional implosion..and give the soul the ability to exhale…they alert the world that what is inside is spilling out…and most importantly they are our silent voice to God…tears speak when we cannot…they are liquid petitions to God…they are a language that the enemy of our soul cannot interpret… because he is unfamiliar with it’s country of origin…tears are Kingdom language…their source is the King Himself…He appropriates just the right measure for everyone who needs them….tears speak directly to the heart of God.. and alert Him to run to us… and then He reminds us that He is already there…Tears…are another wonderful gift from a loving FATHER who knows exactly what we need… tears ladies…are a good thing❤

I’ve shared before about this amazing circle of women that I am blessed to be a part of…these are the warrior women who face every aspect of life with great tenacity and phenomenal strength…they at times walk in fire and don’t even sweat…their faith is uncommon…one of these wonderful warriors has a special needs adult son…”Buddy”…we call him…”our Buddy”…because we have adopted him in our hearts and we have prayed him through many medical challenges…Buddy would be considered disabled…he is unable to walk…and has limited verbal skills…but what Buddy does have is LOVE…Buddy will hug and embrace anyone…he has no biases…he has no “party affiliation”…he does not see race…or gender…he just loves..because it makes him happy…he is at his finest when he is loving another human being…as his mother was describing his joy in loving everyone…I heard God say…”who is really disabled?”…Buddy?…or everyone who loves conditionally? Isn’t Buddy the one who has the greatest ability…to love ALL…with abandon…to declare that he accepts you…no matter what your backstory..no matter what your flaws…or weaknesses…whether you are rich or poor…black or white…male or female…old or young…Democrat or Republican…he loves…God spoke to me… He said…Mary…be like Buddy…his ability far outweighs what the world sees as his disability…I learned a wonderful lesson from the beautiful heart of Buddy…God showed me what He values…that “Buddy kind of love“…I want to be like Buddy…who do you want to be like?

People know your pain…but do they know your peace? I read that recently and it resonated with me…I thought about how often we speak of the dark times in our lives…the storms…the obstacles…the battles we have been in…we sit together and compare notes…we can give every single detail of the things that scarred us…the things that nearly consumed us…we can talk for hours about those painful things…but how long do we spend speaking about the peace that came after the pain…how often do we sit describe in detail what that feels like…do we walk people to the place of our peace…or do we leave them in the valley of our pain…we must allow people to see the place of peace…to recognize that we are not defined by our pain…but that we are only allowing them in the valley of our pain so that they can see that the place of peace is possible..that no matter how dark the night…there is a morning coming…we are peace ambassadors…we are obligated to give more time to our peace than we do to our pain…the things that set victims apart from conquerors is the proclamation of peace being louder than the groaning of our pain…yes…we had the pain..it hurt…it was difficult…it nearly destroyed us…BUT GOD…sent His Peace…and ministered to our pain…now it is our job to minister to them the peace that was ministered to us…if we are only known for our pain…we have failed God…finish the story…lead them to your place of peace…

How do you measure success? Is it by how much money you have in the bank? Or how many friends you have…perhaps it’s where you live…or the number of letters behind your name….or maybe it’s your credit score…or how beautiful you are…maybe it’s what people think about you…the accolades that you get…but what is success? I mean true absolute success? Well…I think it is an inside job…I mean it’s what’s going on internally…it’s what you think about yourself…..it’s the dialogue that livestreams whenever you are your only audience…to me..that is the true measure of success……it’s when you enjoy the person who lives on the inside…when you have accepted you…with all your flaws..with all of your failures…your past no longer torments you…but it is the thing that reminds you of the great grace of God…success is being at peace with the real you…the you that only you and God are familiar with…true success is living without the mask and being unapologetic about it…what success is not..is being counterfeit and pretending to be what everybody thinks you are…What it is..is living your life with a purpose that is not defined by others and is not dictated by social norms..it is knowing that you are who He created you to be…and you are right where you should be… you are successful simply because you were created to be just that…successful…because His plan for you is excellent…and that translates to success…I am because He says so… and so are YOU…and that’s a good thing😊

Here’s what I know…there are miracles happening around us everyday…there are things that we have experienced that were miraculous..but because our senses have become dulled by so many things grabbing our attention …we step over the miraculous and make it common…we say things like…”something told me to do this or that”…”boy that was lucky”…or “I don’t know how this or that happened”….there is a miracle in the smile of a stranger…there is a miracle in the laughter of a child…there is a miracle in the growing belly of a pregnant woman…there are miracles in the wisdom of a seasoned man or woman…there are miracles quietly happening internally…as we become aware that the struggle we are in has not conquered us…that the pain that was unbearable last year has diminished…that the raging anger has been removed and the sting is minimal…these are all miracles..that we overlook…that we don’t celebrate…God is in the every day…He is miraculous in His very nature…therefore…I am more sensitive and am compelled to look deeper…to linger longer…to stop and observe…to see what He is doing in my life….. I declare there are miracles all around me…there are miracles all around you…you survived that…you still have the ability to love after that betrayal…you are still sweet…not bitter…and there are still victories after that failure…yes…there are miracles all around…our task is to look for them…everyday miracles…God reminds us of His presence by giving them to us…everyday…and that ladies is a wonderful thing 😊

So…I went to get my eyes examined…something I do every two years or so…the eye doctor ran all of the usual tests… I’m reading all the letters…the big ones…and I am very proud of myself… then…the letters get smaller and smaller.. I’m thinking I’m doing pretty good…but as they continue to get smaller…..I have to really concentrate…I realize now that some of them I just can’t see…so after all the testing…it is determined…I need a stronger lens…. I really didn’t notice my vision had changed…I know sometimes when I had been reading a long time…that my eyes felt tired…but I needed them checked by a professional to tell me that one eye had weakened…and the reason for the fatigue in the one eye (which was the stronger eye) was because it was straining to assist the weaker eye …now you know there is a lesson in everything…and here’s mine in this…#1 Sometimes your vision can become distorted and you don’t realize it…you need to seek the One who is familiar with how you see to observe the changes…#2 We need regular check ups …even when we think our vision is fine…and then there is this…#3 Sometimes we think we are the “strong one“…but if the strong one is carrying the full load…eventually the strong one gets weak…and now is functioning at a deficit …. I learned a whole lot in that visit to the eye doctor…my vision can be blurred without my knowledge I simply adjust to the distortion… the compromised vision now seems normal… the strong can only be strong for a small measure of time…if the strong one continues to carry the full load it eventually grows weak..because it was never meant to carry the load.. then the strong one is no longer effective..oh and it is the small things that we miss that distort our ability to see clearly ….WOW…I learned all of this sitting in the chair of my eye doctor…Did you get the lesson? GOD is always teaching us something in the natural to show us His supernatural…we are always in His classroom…that is if we stay long enough to listen…When you need your vision checked…where do you go?

Confession…..Sometimes I don’t feel like it…but I do it anyway…Full disclosure…sometimes I don’t feel like doing certain things…but I do them anyway…I do them because I know it is the right thing to do…that it is a part of what we are all called to do…we are called to help…we are helpers…but there have been times in my life when I have said to God…really God…today…you want me to encourage her today? Do you see what I’m facing? Do you realize that I’m in my own storm…and you want me to speak life into her situation? Really God? Did you see me struggling to sleep last night…did you hear me asking you to lighten this load? And now…now…it seems like you missed what I said to you…or at least missed the urgency in which I said it…so…you want to help her in her struggle…Really God? So you want me to search your words and find your truths about what is troubling her? You want me to breathe life into her dead places? You want me to speak on YOUR behalf? But why? Don’t you see life crushing me? Don’t you care about me? Have you no words for me? Have you ever had that dialogue with God? Have you ever questioned Him as to His motives for sending someone to you? But…I need healing too … I am wounded too… Well..here’s what I found about God…He knows exactly what we need…even when we don’t…who would think that assisting someone in their healing would heal you too? Who knew that searching the word for a broken friend would pour healing oils on your own wounds? Who knew that the very words that you used to encourage that broken person were the very words you needed to hear yourself? Who knew that we are all wounded healers? He knew… He knows😊

We are at the very end of another season…summer is taking it’s last gasps…people are planning the last of the outdoor parties…children are collecting school supplies.. and parents are counting the days until school officially starts…I’m sitting watching a series of cartoons with my youngest grandsons…it is one of their favorite afternoon activities…I pretend that I’m as interested as they are…but I’m really thinking about how much they’ve grown in just this one summer…the bodies that are sprawled all over the couch got so much longer this summer…as I watch them I remember when their father and aunt (my babies😊) were in the last days of summer….waiting to return to school…when did they grow up? Time is swift and elusive…it drifts in and out like a fog…That is why I love spending days with these little people…they remind me to soak up every precious minute…because growth is inevitable…it happens so quickly…and as they grow these moments become fewer and fewer …I try to capture these moments like butterflies and lock them tightly in my heart…because the seasons… they will come and go…but these special moments water my soul when it is dry…spending time with them…is everything…and as I think about life…it is moments…precious moments that frame our lives…today my frame looks like two little boys who are growing up much too fast…but I won’t think about that…I’ll linger in the gales of laughter that are filling the room…it makes my heart smile..and I am again reminded that time is precious..and fleeting..but I’m tucking each of these magical moments away…and I release them when needed… and I know that is a good thing❤

There is something so surreal about sitting in a funeral service…there is this incredible quiet reflection that I believe is going on inside each person that is present….a time to consider your own mortality…a moment to think about how you’re doing at this thing called “life“…you begin to grade yourself….then there is the reminiscing about all those who have gone on…and the reality that there is a legacy that we will all leave…that our footprint will be left in the earth…as I sat and listened to the wonderful things that were said about this amazing woman…I thought…she has left so many deposits in the hearts of so many…her presence in the room at that moment was so very strong…as I looked around the church it was at capacity…and it seemed like that was the way she lived her life…at capacity…to love…to give…to encourage….to extend herself…at capacity…there is no getting around death…it is something no one likes to think about…but it is an appointment we all must keep…but..I believe funerals are God’s way of giving us an opportunity to recalibrate…to measure what we have done and are doing… to what still needs to be done…it begs us to ask the question…”what am I leaving behind?”…”Am I at capacity or is there still space to be filled?…this woman lived her life at capacity…what a wonderful legacy…to have poured out all that had been poured in…isn’t that what we all should desire?…to leave empty?…because we have given it all away…that’s my goal..what’s yours?

We had a sleep over a few nights ago…my husband and I…we gave our son and daughter- in- law…the gift of a getaway…so here we are early in the morning… awakening to two little boys…3 and 7 years old…they run into the bedroom with the excitement that only children can bring…they both piled into our bed and began exclaiming how happy they were that we were there…it was like they had won the lottery…both giddy and talking a mile a minute…they were swept up in the moment of NOW…I thought..wow…they have found the formula to a joy filled life…live in the moment…embrace your Now..celebrate being…yes…just being…stop and drink in the times you spend with those you love…inhale life…and search for the good in every situation…I thought… these boys could be lamenting that mommy and daddy are not here…but instead they chose to find the joy in having…a pajama party with their MomMom and PopPop…choose the good and live in that…choosing is up to us…embrace each moment…celebrate the good…children are brilliant teachers..if you decide to sit in their classroom😊