strength to praise

 I glance around one Sunday morning as we sing…

Here we are in your presence, Lifting holy hands to You,
Here we are praising Jesus, For the things He’s brought us through

I see the hands stretched high; they are beautiful to me for I know what they let go of to reach up.

The mother whose daughter has 8 full body seizures a day and constant pain.

That sister who has seen the death of her hearts desire, but continues to hope.

A father who has lost a child.

The couple who is shunned from earthly family, but chose to gladly forsake all earthly ties for the sake of knowing Him. 

These saints praise their Father even though what their eyes long to see, is not what is seen ...

but in its place a greater gift develops… Faith to trust, Hope to labor on, strength to praise.

There is a sweet fragrance in this place... I too am stirred to praise.

Pots of Gold

Ordinary things become beautiful when the sun touches them.

Take for example hay.

No, normally it's not very pretty; quite itchy actually. I was sitting on a round ball with my donkeys grazing around me when the sun peeked over the trees and came spilling into the barn.

The hay turned gold in the sun’s light and soon after a prism of color bent to kiss a single blade poking up above the rest.     

  “So this is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow...a pile of hay”, I laughed to myself.

But it's true, the one ingredient that changes the ordinary into the extraordinary is the SON.

The light of His face brings beauty to all things. 

To dishes, and diapers.

 To dirty floors, and piles of laundry.

 Take the things you lest enjoy, set them in the SON, and be AMAZED!

growing up together

 I remember that day, not much bigger then a doll, he spun her round on his neck.

It seems I blink and the image replays…except now, she’s a LOT heavier. 


But now he's a lot stronger; so their still having a blast.

Reminds me of the great importance we have to grow up together. 

If we didn’t we’d be off balance.

If Preston didn’t grow stronger as Bethany grew heavier they still couldn’t enjoy each other as they are today.

God made us to grow up together. When one is not growing…it affects another.

It prevents a blessing that could have been if things would have gone as they should.

Yes, we are all at different ages in Christ; which makes things wonderfully enjoyable, as long as we continue to GROW UP with one another. 

“So we are no longer to be children…. But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love."

  -Eph. 4:14-16

frosty reflections

I wake to a blanket of white crystals. I marvel at the beauty of it, shimmering in the sun’s first light.  

I’m reminded of long ago when the Israelites woke to something that resembled this… “thin flakes like frost”. Manna. The bread of angels.

 I wonder…did it to sparkle in the morning light? 

I can almost see the women bent low on hands and knees gathering flakes for the new day.

He still sends His Manna and He still sends it early. To gather it we must bow low.

“…I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions…”
“When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.”


“This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent. The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.”

It could have grown on trees where it would have been effortlessly picked…easier on backs and knees.

It could have come in bigger chucks, quicker to gather. 

You’d think God would have thought of this.

 But of course He did.

Castle Building

“Castle building” that’s what Fenelon calls it. 

You’re living in a log cabin, but you’re building a castle in your mind. It is dangerous. It might not feel dangerous, but there is one major problem with those seemingly harmless imaginations….they mostly benefit me, they put me in a good light, arrange a nice future for me.

And then there are those imaginary dialougues in which you always seem to come up with the wisest, wittiest things to say, leaving the other person somewhat in awe…of you

We are blinded to the Enemy’s bait.

It is not just effecting you alone, thoughts detained in our minds leak out through our actions.

But there is Hope and a very effective cure!

It is possible to have a mind set on Jesus alone, where Reality reigns and the Spirit directs what is permitted in your mind and what is not.  

What to do then, when you sense your mind beginning to wonder away to fantasies near or far? 

" try and stop them forcefully and you might as well try to stop a torrent... "

Simply begin to change the way your mind views such imaginings. Don’t voluntarily except them.

 Turn your mind to Jesus. And drop off castle building and become useful in another way. 

No, the above picture is not mine! As of yet I have never seen a 'real' castle, but thanks to National Geographic I had a wide selection to choose from. Quotations are from Fenelon's Spiritual Letters to Women