Well, at least there’s that...

 I was talking to the Lord about how wonderful he has been to me. I was telling Him just how wonderful it feels to be free of people’s opinions and how good it feels  to need only His approval. Disclaimer... of course we must come under authority and humble ourselves to have reality checks through other people that have God centered hearts , but as far as anyone else determining how I feel about me? Not so much. I asked Him to help me stay free. I asked Him to show me when I was falling backwards and looking for approval outside of Him. Just because I’ve been set free doesn’t mean the rules of battle have changed. The same traps that got me where I was can take me back again.  I have to stay aware and listen to His heart. I can honestly say that I trust Him now.  I don’t understand everything, but I don’t have to. I am aware of the traps and it’s my job to stay away from them. People can be addicted to anything. People can be addicted to perfection, to the ...

I find friends in the most unlikely places. Sixth grade! What a glorious year! It was the year of being plain old weird. My hair was long, strawberry blond and unruly. I was short, had freckles and super skinny. Not a pretty picture. Oh and one of my front teeth was behind the others so my smile was a little off. Kids were picking on me because of...well..everything. But there was another! She had Long strawberry blond hair, a bit more ruly than mine, she was tall and thin.  Her skin was as white as snow and I looked like I’d tanned through a screen door. I still don’t think that’s a funny joke,.... well. Maybe? Anyway this was an era when we had one class all day long. We didn’t change rooms or places. It was... interesting. Guess who was assigned to sit together? Long legs and short legged me. Let the games begin! The girl with the long legs needed to sit by someone with short legs. So, guess what happened next. Yep, two red heads at a table. Oh, we each shared a table wi...

Ways to tell if you’re too tired ...  oh the phone stories all happened  before cell phones were the norm. These are all real life experiences I’ve gathered from friends and family of things that they did when they were just too tired. 1) The phone  rings and you jump out of bed, grab  the closest picture off of the wall and try to answer it. 2) You do the above and wonder why the phone won’t stop ringing. 3) You discover that there are five ways to put a fitted sheet on your  bed. 4) The phone rings , your spouse says, “get the phone” and in a panic you reply , “what’s a phone?” While staring at it. 5)  You’re driving down the road and someone is talking to you. You reach over to turn up the volume on the radio only to realize that the radio was never on....you were trying to turn the volume up on your passenger. 6) You  try to lock the house door with your car key. 7) You wake up in the morning to find that you’ve eaten an entire bag ...

In some of my blogs I talk about cancer and a major car accident. What I haven’t written about is that I’ve dealt with some sort of illness my entire life. I had asthma and allergies that were so severe that I was often rushed into Drs offices, then hospitals. I had mumps, measles, chicken pox... I had two out of three of those in one year. Yes there are vaccines for those things, but somebody forgot to tell my body how they worked. In one year alone I had double pneumonia, lung failure, bilateral Bells Palsy and an intestinal blockage. I had a sinus infection for a full year. I never heard the phrase “nothing is wrong with you” or “that’s normal.” When I went to the Dr I heard words like, “ you got here just in time!” “Call an ambulance” or at least “I’m calling in a round of antibiotics “. While my sister was out enjoying sports I was at the piano. People often assumed it was because I wasn’t athletic. They were wrong. I couldn’t go outside for very long. One year I signed u...

I heard someone say something very profound today. “Your opinion is none of my business.”  They were talking about aggressive hearing. In other words, listen intently, but also protect your heart. Never accept someone else’s opinion without evidence I’ve written a lot about owning your own opinions.. Right now I’d like to talk about NOT owning other peoples opinions. Most of my life I’ve been busy trying to adapt to other people thought. I thought I was supposed to take criticism to heart. I failed miserably every time I attempted to change other people’s minds so I learned to change mine.  My responsibility should not be a reflection of what someone else expects of me.  There is only one of me. Don’t laugh and say, “ thank God,” ha! I  fully believed that  the opinions of other people were more valid than my own. Have you ever done that? I was certain that somebody , well everybody, was smarter than I  for only one reason: they weren’t  me. I kn...

I went on a search today. I thought I would easily find what I was looking for: a straw hat to decorate. How many of you would have joined me in  a tour of the several local craft shops?Thats what I thought.  I mean, I didn’t want pre-decorated hats.  I wanted hats in the raw! I also wanted some bright colored ribbon! How hard could it be? Isn’t this summer...almost? You know, bold colors and straw hats. I guess nobody got the memo. You would have thought I was searching for gold. I was even willing to pay more than I normally do. I needed inventory! I went to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Joanne’s, nothing.   As I was walking through those stores searching for what should have been “ captain obvious” to well...I thought everyone... I met a lady looking for something similar. Neither of us could find what we were looking for. So, I looked at her and said, “ they are going to make me go to Walmart!” So, on my way home on a blistering June day...felt like ...

No! People do not like tragedies! I don’t either,  but they will come. Your children may get off on the wrong path, they may make unwise choices, you will face failure.  But... what will you do?  Will you wait or will you fall? Let’s talk about King Saul in the Old Testament. God asked him to do one thing... wait. He even told him for how long. He also told him what was expected at the end of his time of waiting. Have you ever been in the midst of a time of waiting? You knew what was supposed to happen next. You knew the promise, but you couldn’t wait. Welcome to the Bible   Saul, Moses, Abraham.. they all failed to wait. When we fail to wait there is a price. Jesus was even tempted not to wait. What? No really. Remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness? Jesus knew the outcome of the cross. He would gain authority over the world.  There will be a day when all nations will bow and worship Him as King. What did the enemy offer Jesus on the top of t...

Decisions, decisions.... as life moves forward we often look back and see that what we once thought was actual fact was in reality only partially true. The opinions you accept will determine your view of truth. I wonder how many people are involved in influencing your truth? Childhood.... it’s a wonder that any of us make it out alive. There are contradictions at every turn. There are things I do at home that I would never do in public and sometimes there are things I go along with in public that I’d never do in my home. So how are we supposed to know the “final answer?” Good question. My Bible even talks about knowing the right answer at the right time. Solomon said that there was a time for everything. Paul said there was a time when he saw and spoke like a child, then he grew up. If I saw a 5 foot statue when I was only one year old I would think it was really tall. Especially if I’m only comparing it to me.  Let say that someone 6 feet tall stands beside a 5 foot  ...

I have to give kudos to my little sister, Mary. It can’t be easy having a sister named: Barjeana . Our names match our personalities perfectly. I usually say that she’s country and I’m rock and roll . She’s the one that’s lived in the same area since she went off to college. She’s the one who rules...The World; Super Wife, Super Mother, Super Organizer, she can leap  tall buildings in a single bound and arrange the furniture on the top floor while she’s at it. She either knows how to do things, knows who to ask, or where to find the information. Her and her wonderful husband have raised two exceptional young men.  They learned to drive tractors and they've always worked hard. They will both go far in life and I have to give my sister and brother in law a great deal of credit. They taught them to be self sufficient, to do whatever they did the best they knew how and to be ethical and courageous. She was tenacious. Her tenacity often showed up as determination. For example, ...

Xman used to tell the best jokes! He kept people laughing for hours. But there are two I remember about married people. The first one is about a preacher who did his job and preached for 15 minutes. The people loved him and hired him. The next week he did the same thing. All was right with the WORLD.  However a couple of Sundays later he preached for an hour and a half! The Deacons took him aside and said, "What happened?" To which the preacher replied, "I got my wife's dentures mixed up with mine this morning." Oh come on that's funny preacher humor. Then there's the one he told every year. "We've been married X number of years, but it only feel like X number of minutes...under water." People really laughed at that one. I laughed too. One final joke he loved to tell. A young preacher marries this beautiful woman that can sing and play the piano for church. They are the perfect couple. Years pass... one day he turns to his wife and says...