journal
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February 15, 2023
I recall Bill Johnson once said you could always tell the families that were in revival because there lawns weren’t mowed and their houses unkempt. I think that’s where we’re headed. Our church has closed down it’s coffee bar this week and instead has opened up a 24/7 revival hub of prayer and worship. Brad and I normally do date night on Thursdays but we switched it to Wednesday this week so we could really soak in the first night of it.
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Robustness // 2022 Best of Photos
Over and over again I’ve had to remember what God has called me to, and decide that no matter what people say about me, no matter what others might think, no matter how insane or stupid it looks, no matter how much it doesn’t make sense. that I will keep on following the path that God laid out for me. It’s my path to walk and no one else’s.
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A birthday evening.
I don’t really mind getting older, but sometimes the feel of it is jolting. The extra aches and pains, the lines and creases beginning to form on my face, and the lack of childlike energy all point to one inevitable thing: aging. I don’t mind aging but, like everyone else, I never imagined it would happen so quickly.
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The Goodness
It’s so much easier to taste and see that the Lord is good in summer. The daisies are blooming alongside the road, and soon it will be the ditch lilies followed by the goldenrod and asters of late summer. Though there’s not much yet I can go out to the garden and literally eat things that grew from tiny seeds. What a miracle that alone is!
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A beautiful life
I sat outside this morning because I want to use the beautiful spaces God has given us better. I finally got the deck cleaned off and situated for summer over the weekend, so I thought I should pretend like every day is vacation and go read scripture on the red couch with my side of coffee and vitamin D.
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A missionary of LIFE.
The Lord urged me to take an extended social media break in the month leading up to my birthday. It was a wonderful time off and I’m now dipping a toe back in. The last month I felt clear headed, able to write just for fun and not likes, and found myself having more free time to ponder with God or really listen to my kids. In this age we are all learning how to live in this technological world, one that we’re not quite made for and is fairly foreign to our DNA. One evening last week I lit the lights on the deck and sat with the Lord…
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Rose colored glasses
A rose hue enveloped the world as the sun set last night. I grabbed a cup of watermelon kombucha and felt the Lord beckon me out to the newly finished deck. Admiring the sunset I heard Him say, “I am your rose colored glasses” Just as the world looked gorgeous with a magenta tint, despite the weeds and toys, so will life in the natural look once we put on our God glasses. Yes, it’s cheesy. Yes, it’s true. I came inside to make a couple of eggs, and as I began heating the cast iron, I looked out and noticed the sky was an even more blazing shade of pink. …
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A week in June
There were few obligations this week and the weather was nearly perfect. The kids spent many hours running in the yard, we swam with friends, and Brad finished a great deal of the deck. I wish all summer weeks were like this. Plenty of time and space just to be home and explore life together, but summer is quick and fast and there are a lot of fun things to cram in. We have a lot coming up, and it will be amazing, but I am treasuring the sweet moments spent in a week with little scheduling.
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The Power of Words
Written in March 2020 ———— The other night I could not sleep and felt panic gripping my body so I turned on some worship music. The clock on the stove read 3:13 and I heard the Lord whisper Romans 3:13. “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” “Well…that’s heavy,” I thought. As I pressed in I realized that He was leading me to pray for the blood of Jesus to cover the careless words that we as a nation speak. I prayed over our world and our country, that God would heal our tongues and that His people would turn…
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Distractions
I sit and write amid trash and crumbs strewn across the table. One child is sedated by a show, one squirms on my lap and the others are outside, finally making their own fun. The morning has been full of tempers that have flared. Tempers that lashed out at each other and the schoolwork that we tried to do. Forever I will be learning to not lash out at their lashing out because how in the world can I teach them to be calm when so many days I’m like a pressure cooker that’s not properly vented? For years I’ve been trying to figure out how to do social media…