Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  I celebrated my fiftieth birthday this last week. I've noticed everything is a little more blurry. It's amazing what a good pair of readers can do. I've noticed I make a lot more noises when I get out of bed or off the floor. It changes from creaks to pops. Through all the physical changes, I am blessed. It's not because of anything material that I've gained. Things come and go. It's the blessings of God's love that is fresh each morning, family that love me and God, and a full life that God has allowed me to live. I'm keeping it short this week, but I wanted to challenge you that relationships are more important than things, and people are important to God. I challenge you to respond to life with those things in mind in this new year.  Have a great week high-heeled warriors!

As we move into the new year, I was challenged by something I saw in the parking lot at my local Lowe's store. As I walked by a parked truck, I saw this dog sitting in the driver's seat of his owner's truck. It captured my attention at the silliness of a dog driving a truck. Obviously, the dog was in the wrong seat. That's when it hit me. To God, we must appear much like the dog. Even though we are limited in our knowledge, we still at times think we know more than God, who knows everything. We climb into the driver's seat of a life we have no idea how to drive. As the new year comes, I challenge you to relinquish control to the One who knows where you need to go and how to get there. Let God back into the driver's seat of your life.  Have a wonderful new year high-heeled warriors!

  This Christmas, my family has been given the privilege of paying back my parents for all the years of sacrifice they made for us. My family and my brother all united to rebuild my parents' floors as a Christmas present. This was no small feat. Much like the complete remodel at my own house, we've torn out floors, subfloors, and floor joists.  During the summer, we redid half of the house. This week, we finish the job. As we started demo, I asked to borrow a sweatshirt from my parents. Since we were starting demo, I threw on the shirt and started removing floors. After a few hours, we took a break and decided to drive into town for snacks. Once we made it back, I glanced at the shirt I had been wearing all through the busy store. It said, " My favorite people call me grandpa ." Nice! I'm sure I got a few weird looks for that. As my family gathers together, working, and talking, I realize that it's not the perfect gift for Christmas that matters. It's tim...

  As Christmas nears, families gather to celebrate the Nativity, new family members, and successes. My daughter graduated from a university with a Health Care Administration degree. We're super proud of her because while doing this, she worked almost thirty hours a week and held a challenging scholarship that required a massive amount of biannual paperwork and essays on top of her regular school work. Only a small percentage of students nationwide keep this scholarship from freshman year to graduation, due to the rigorous requirements. She did. She also held an A/B GPA in a degree that covers both a business major and a pre-med major. I'm incredibly proud of her hard work and character, so we celebrate. But we also have mixed feelings. My husband's father passed away before Thanksgiving, so this is the first grandkid graduation and Christmas without him. While at my daughter's graduation, we looked over a couple of rows, and there was an elderly gentleman who looked j...

  Being pastors allows you to do a lot of things that are not talked about in Bible schools. We show up first to the church to turn on the lights, heater/air conditioner, and start the coffee. We are the last to leave and turn off the lights, lock the doors, and turn off the sound system. We take calls in the middle of the night and make hospital visits at the drop of a hat. Before potlucks, we worry about if there will be enough food and rush to the store at the last minute if there isn't enough. We plunge toilets, counsel couples for marriage, and throw together last minute weddings. We have the privilege of leading people to Christ, leading people to worship, and praying for healing of the sick. These are just a few things that pastors do that are not taught at Bible colleges. This last Wednesday, we had yet another first. My husband and I had just settled at home after service when we received a call. Someone thought they had dropped their wallet at the church and lived too far...

The boys in my family have participated in a Southern past time for years- hunting during deer season. My husband was excited because he had a few extra days to hunt during the week off from school. So every morning before sunrise, my husband and son would drag themselves out of bed and go to the deer stand. Every evening before sunset, the same routine applied. After some near misses and a change in guns, my husband was able to get a small deer, but my son saw nothing. He became frustrated because he wanted to donate the meat to the church to help those who needed food. He asked me why God didn't let him get a deer if he wanted to do something good with it. I told him to not give up. Today, he mentioned he was going out in the afternoon to collect the deer blind. He was done. I told him I felt God was telling me to tell him to go back out. I also was supposed to tell him twenty minutes. My son said, "Mom, I don't want to just sit for nothing." I replied, "Just ...