Love Letters

When Jeremy and I first started courting, he would send me love letters. Throughout the time that we were getting to know each other, these letters would arrive in my inbox (dating is so high tech these days :P) and with each sweetly written note, I could see the genuine feelings that were growing between us.

So it is with our relationships with others. I have been reminded of the verse in 2 Corinthians that says:

As I live my life and share my 'letter' with others, what message am I sending? How many times has my letter been spam, junk mail, or heaven forbid, hate mail.

I love the way this verse sounds from the Message: "Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it."

I want my letter to resound with the love of Jesus Christ. In a world full of all sorts of messages, I choose Christ as the letter and message I want to share. I want to BE a love letter for Him!

Perfect Timing

All things happen in God's perfect timing. Loving the time in my life that God has given me! Feeling so blessed!!

Fresh Perspectives

Interested in world events? Love to watch silly youtube videos? Well thanks to my husband (my supplier of funny and often times ridiculous videos) you can have both!



Jeremy said that the little girl, Morgan, reminds him of me. I hope you learn as much as I did; kids = too cute!!

His Holy Temple

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? -1 Corinthians 3:16

How many of us actually treat our bodies like they are a temple of God? Do we watch what we eat or do we carelessly put in whatever happens to be around? (Chocolate why must you do this to me!?) Or how many of us have would rather lounge around than get up and use our bodies to serve Christ and His kingdom? I have to admit to neglecting the temple I have been given these ways before. But still others will end up fanatical about their bodies and work out too much or engage in yo-yo diets just to get the "perfect body". I have put my body through that treatment as well. Both of these extremes are not healthy and are not good for the body or soul. It is only when we align our thoughts and ways with God's where we find balance and the correct way to handle the gift we've been given.

In her book, Greater Health God's Way by Stormie Omartian, she says, 'Your body is a tool of ministry. Do you think you can serve the Lord better in sickness than you can in health? Do you want to serve Him for a couple of decent years, or would you rather have ten, twenty, or thirty more great ones? Our physical condition can influence our spiritual lives far more than we often realize. If we are disciplined in the care of our physical bodies, we are far more likely to be disciplined in our spiritual lives, too.' Her book has opened my eyes to a lot of different ways we can care for our bodies the way God meant us to with proper exercise, healthy eating, fresh air, plenty of water and rest.

Along with Stormie's book, I have recently taken up something called Holy Yoga which is yoga without all the eastern mysticism thrown in. In exchange, christian meditation replaces that spot. Consider it a work out and devotional all in one. I have really enjoyed myself in this class. Besides the fellowship and teaching I've received, when I practice at home by myself, the quiet time in prayer has been very sweet. The different poses can be somewhat challenging but start with the easier ones and as you get comfortable you can move onto the ones where you twist yourself up like a pretzel. Just kidding, but not really!

Ultimately, the most important thing we can do with our bodies is to glorify God with them in how we treat them physically (with good exercise, healthy food, fresh air and rest) and spiritually (with His Word, quiet time and prayer). It has taken nearly 25 years for me to come to have right thinking when it comes to my body and how I should treat it. And like David I will say, "I praise You because I was fearfully and wonderfully made" and because of that I will give my body to the Lord as "a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God."

Abide in My Word

Do you ever sit through a sermon and have an 'aha!' moment, when something finally clicks, or when a verse just comes alive with wisdom? I had that experience during yesterdays sermon. The verse our pastor referenced was John 8:32, about knowing the truth and the truth setting us free. The sentence just before it is the one that caught my eye, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." The key phrase being, abide in my word. In order to know what exactly His truth is, we need to be in His word. According to the definition, abide means to:


That means Jesus wants us to continually stay in His word. If we don't, we are bound to end up walking our own way only thinking we are walking in truth, but we are not. I know that is the case for me. If ever I go a few days without His Word guiding me, I face this world on my own and the results are disastrous. And honestly, I'm glad they are, because I never want to think I can handle life without Him and His guidance.


This last week I shared some precious time with my Lord, in His word. It is in those moments when I can learn more about the character of God and His truth, because His Word IS truth. There is nothing more precious to me than this special time I have with Him and as a spring cleaning measure in my life, I am 'cleaning out' all the junk that has entered in. The envy, the laziness, the too much TV habit, it's all gotta go because He means more to me than those things and I want to abide in Him! What spring cleaning do you need to do in order to more fully abide in Him?

The Power of Love

I have to admit that the last few weeks have been rough. I've been in a real stinky mood, with just about everything. I just wanted to be mad. Whether it was work or friends, church activities or planning dinner, I was not happy with it. I guess you could have called me a real debbie downer. I would "try" to commune with God and get back in fellowship with Him but for some reason my efforts weren't working (hmm, I wonder why!?). What I didn't see was that while I was busy being a grump, God was sitting there patiently waiting for me to come around and see how ridiculous I'd been acting. My Father-in-law put it best when he described us in our rebellion as a child trying to wring and twist away from his parents grasp, but all the while God continues to hold our hand, no matter how much we squirm.

It wasn't until this past weekend that I finally came around and 'saw the light', so to speak. I had promised some of the high school girls from AWANA that I would be a community judge at their home school debate club semi-finals tournament. While conducting my judging duties, 5 high school age young ladies each shared their own original illustrated oratory about a topic of their choice. Some of the topics included intelligent design, world hunger and the sanctity of life. And I'll tell you what, these girls, although in totally different stages in life, taught me a lesson or two on being appreciative of my blessings and this moment in time that I've been given. For those of us who live in the United States, we have been blessed with so much abundance and we don't even see it. We've been gifted with an education, our jobs and even shoes! There is so much to be thankful for and I had been missing it. I overlooked the blessings because of my own pride and selfishness.

When I got home from the debates, I was in the kitchen working on dinner when Jeremy came home. I shared with him my experience at the tournament. He told me that he had been praying for me and also asked my Mother-in-law to pray too. It just warmed my heart to think that even in my terrible funk, even when I was not very fun to be around, and when I couldn't even stand myself, my loved ones still stood by and prayed for me.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:38-39

And like my family sticking by me, I know God is there, even in my hard times and in my stupid times. He's there through it all. That part in the verse that says 'the present nor the future', that means even when I sin, now and any future sins. Christ has already paid the price once and for all and because I have accepted Him as my personal Lord and Savior, He will continue to hold my hand through these ups and downs in my walk with Him. Praise God He never lets go!

No Hurry Veggie Curry

The slow cooker is an invaluable item in our house. It helps so much with our busy schedules, because it virtually does all the work for us, we just come home to a delicious meal ready to go!

On any week day when I would prepare this recipe it would be no problem to wait because I am busy at work and come home to the curry deliciousness. However, when I prepared it this past Saturday, I was home and it was so hard not to keep checking it so see if it was done. I got a craving for curry and just had to get my fill. When the time passed and the food was finally ready, this stuff sure hit the spot! I guess the saying is true, 'good things come to those who wait'!!