Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  My church always comes through for potlucks. My husband likes to say they have the gift of potluck. We always bring all of our small groups together for the first Sunday of the month. Since it has been a long week, I took the easy way out and bought some store- bought cookies. Of course, when all of the homemade masterpieces arrived, my store- bought cookies paled in comparison. Who wants to settle for a shelf-stable cookie when you can have homemade cherry cheesecake or cream pie? Needless to say, our children's Wednesday meals will have the edition of store- bought cookies. This brings me to this week's thought. God has a wonderful plan for your life. However, so many times, we settle for a poor substitution of God's best for our lives. It may not seem that bad, but it just isn't as good as what God intended. My challenge is to allow God to guide you and submit to His leadership. He already knows what you need before you even ask, so why would we want to miss out o...

 As a pastor's wife, I cross paths with many people. One of the most common things I have heard is, "God could never work through me because of where I come from." So often we allow our past to define our value to God. Let me take a moment to argue that your past does not determine your value to God. Let's get into the cool part of this. In the Old Testament, Numbers 16, Moses has led his people out of Egypt. They have built a tent as the Tabernacle for God. During this time a man named Korah, who was a Levite dedicated to working in the Tabernacle, decided the whole community was holy, not just Moses and his people. Therefore, they should be allowed to lead the people.  He took 250 men to raise a rebellion. Moses addressed them by telling them to bring incense to worship God, and He would bring incense. They would see who God called. As they brought the incense, God warned the people to move away from the tents of the wicked. Then, the ground opened and swallowed K...

  Since Fall has finally come, I wanted to join the bandwagon with Fall mums. I have driven by so many stands with these big, beautiful mums in so many bright colors. I voiced my excitement for these mums and my sweet husband heard. He appeared one day with two pots of yellow mums. The only negative was that they were green with one little flower poking out of the greenery. After mentioning this, my husband pointed out that by being green, my mums would sprout later so that I enjoyed color for much longer. I couldn't fault this, so I waited. Nearly two months later, my one little yellow flower peeks through the greenery like a clown in the middle of a funeral, bright in an otherwise solemn surrounding. Of course, this became the joke around my house. It's like the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of mums. Here's the spiritual nugget. It becomes so easy to focus on what you don't have that you can't value and appreciate what you do. If only I had more money, meanwhile,...

  I attended a women's retreat this weekend. While there, there was a statement made that really challenged me. "When we don't put on the armor of God each day, we open ourselves up to the enemies attacks. Naked Christians (unarmored Christians) are not pleasant to look at."  I thought about the TV show , Naked and Afraid. People are dropped off in harsh conditions with no clothes and only their wits to survive. Due to lack of clothing, the harsh conditions create obstacles that cripple the contestants ability to function. God gave us the ability to protect ourselves from the harsh conditions of this world. We have the helmet of salvation to guard our minds from thoughts that intrude and cripple our walk with God- those thought that tell you that you'll never be good enough to earn God's love. We can never be good enough. We all fail, but my salvation reminds me that this is the point. Jesus came because we could never be good enough; however, with Christ, He...

  Over the years, I have owned several dogs, and the bigger the better. As I was walking my grand puppy this weekend, I started thinking about what my neighbors must be thinking as I plead with my dogs to do their business. Imagine late at night the sound of a desperate woman repeating the mantra of, "Come on. Poop. Go poopy. Poop. Poop. Poop." They must think I'm crazy, but I  read about a study where dog owners who repeat one phrase over and over saw a quicker poop time for their dogs; thus, the poop mantra. As the dogs hear my voice, they become so familiar with it that they automatically respond. Wouldn't it be great if we become so familiar with God's voice that it's second nature to automatically respond to His voice? Keep in mind   that immediate obedience comes in a very similar way to the dog training. It's repetition. As we seek God regularly, we become responsive to His voice. The more we listen, the more we recognize His commands. So as I wand...

  My children laugh at my ridiculous amounts of open tabs on my phone. At one point, there were 40ish tabs open. I, now, try to close the tabs more often. As I was closing tabs, I noticed my Google search bar. You may notice that as we type into the search bar, it shows a history of searches from the past. I noticed how odd my searches are sometimes. There was a pirate translator for National Pirate Day because, of course, you want to be that annoying person who talks like a pirate to irk your friends. Then there are phone numbers for a restaurants that serve the best food. Next, there is the quintessential question every dog lover asks, "Is (fill in the blank) okay for dogs to eat?" I've overfed my grand puppy because of this question. He's gained a lovely 12 pounds under my loving care. He's not fat. He's delightfully fluffy. My next search goes to odd questions like, "Do armadillos carry leprosy? How do you make chicken nesting boxes? What does a poi...