Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  It was that time of year again. My husband and I take an annual pilgrimage to the Renaissance Fair in Kansas City. It is always a blast to dress up in costumes and walk back in time to dirt roads, jousting, turkey legs, and aristocracy. Kyle and I gathered our costumes and prepared to escape for the weekend. This time we added my youngest son along for the ride. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, other than the extremely long line to get into you ladies privy (bathroom). As the crowds crawled past the thousands, I trekked from one side of the dusty park to the other, desperately looking for ladies' accommodations. After an hour and a half and at least two miles of walking covered, I found success. When we left the grounds, I was relieved to enter bathroom accommodations that didn't involve a marathon and a Black Friday kind of line, that is until we visited a bathroom on the way home. Once we were within a couple of hours from home, we realized the sodas had taken effect. We pu

  Tonight we had the opportunity to join other churches in worship. It was fun to watch how so many people from different backgrounds come together to praise God. Some are quiet and sit. Others stand and raise their hands, while others call out to God. It reminds me of a football game. I was never super interested in football. I attended every game because I was a band nerd, but I never watched the game much. I was a people watcher. Some were quiet and reserved. Some jumped up and down and raised their hands in excitement, while others shouted out their excitement. Sound familiar? We never think anything about people getting excited for a game, but we get critical if it crosses into church. In preschool circles, there is a phrase, "Don't yuck my yum." It just means that just because it isn't to your taste doesn't mean everyone should feel the same. I don't like beef liver, but my husband loves it. Just because I think it's nasty doesn't make it so

  I may show my age, but does anyone remember the famous phrase spoken by Steve Urkel on the television show, Family Matters ? Anytime he did something dumb, he would reply, "Did I do that?" I've noticed there have been many Urkel moments in my life. There was trying to shave my eyebrows using a sweater shaver at 16 years old. By the way, you can't use a sweater shaver. It sucks the sweater balls into the shaver and cuts them off, so guess what happens to the skin on your eyebrows. If you guessed that it cuts it off, you would be correct. My tenth grade school photo is proof. Recently, I had another moment . While at work, I was very busy typing when I noticed my lips were dry, so I grabbed a little pot of lip balm. As I smeared it on, I noticed it felt weird. That's when I read the label. I had smeared hand salve all over my lips. Let's just say it does not taste good or feel great. It got me thinking about our decisions. When we don't think through our

  This weekend, I had the great opportunity to participate in a girl's retreat. As I led the Bible study with the older girls, we discussed what they felt was the hardest part of walking the Christian walk. They all agreed that sharing their faith was difficult, especially in today's world. There is a huge problem in our world with connecting to others. There is an anxiety and fear that others will reject us if they don't like what we say or do.   Because of this, most avoid connecting if it involves face-to-face contact. This includes sharing our faith. To help with this fear, I gave the girls some inventive ways to share there faith for introverts. I'll share them in case you want to use some of these. Here they are: 1) Write a positive scripture and the phrase, "God sees you and loves you " on some paper with however much money you feel led to give. I told the girls to use a dollar or two. Write for you on the outside of the envelope. Put it in an envelop

 I received the best gift this week. My coworkers gave me a beautiful set of wind chimes in condolence for my father-in-law's passing.  Everyone in my office know that plants that enter my care die very quickly. It's almost like they see me coming and wilt in defeat (or maybe my forgetting to water them). The wind chimes were a perfect gift for my new porch. As I sat on my porch swing and the wind swirled through the chimes, beautiful music began to fill the air. Isn't it amazing that ordinary pieces of metal, when cut and aligned correctly, can make such beautiful music? Isn't that like our lives? God creates us and orchestrates our lives to create a beautiful melody of worship to Him when He flows through us. Each circumstance and difficulty shapes us and our worship to reflect His faithfulness and goodness. I think of the worship song, Reason to Praise , that reminds us that whatever happens, God is still on His throne. So whatever I'm feeling, I still have a re

  I was able to go on an annual trip for professional development. I always enjoy the getaway from the craziness of life in general. While staying at a hotel, I discovered a fun sight. The toilet paper rolls had flower designs woven in the roll. The Kleenex had fan designs, and the towels were shaped into designs. I felt like I had stepped onto a cruise ship, minus the sea sickness. As I looked at the designs, I thought how amazing it was to create beauty and creativity in the most mundane of media. What if we did this with the everyday moments of our life? What if we found joy in matching socks and turning them right-side out? Instead of being annoyed at matching tons of socks, I found beauty in the task by praying that the steps of my family were ordered by God . In gathering used dishes scattered through my house and under couches, I found gratefulness that God provided daily bread for my family. In traffic and chauffeuring family, I found blessing knowing God provided transportati