Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  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...

Today, during our church service, we took communion. If you are unfamiliar, it is simply remembering that Christ died on the cross by continuing the Lord's Supper as Jesus did before He died. In Matthew 26:17-30, Jesus took bread and explained that this bread was His body and the wine was His blood shed for forgiveness of sin.  A representation of what He was about to do for mankind.  Here's the cool history portion of this. During the time Jesus led the Last Supper, a practice was well-known. When a family accepted the terms of a bride-price between father and groom, then a binding contract was made. After this happened, the groom approached his bride with a glass of wine. He would push it toward her. If she drank from the cup, she agreed and legally sealed the engagement. The groom would then leave to prepare a place at his father's house for both him and his wife to live . In the same way, Jesus was offering this bridal contract with his disciples, and us now. He gave u...

  My work office has a history of...how can I put this gently, not the best cleaning crew? One custodian from years ago would flush the toilet and call it good. Another would leave the paper towel dispenser empty so much that we had to put signs in giant print saying, PLEASE GIVE US PAPER TOWELS." All this to say, our expectations were low when we got the latest custodian. However, he proved us wrong in our low expectations . He walked from room to room introducing himself and learning each of our names. Every day, I was greeted with, "Hello, Eyevette." I always grin at the mispronunciation. My name is hard to figure out sometimes. He then emptied all the trash cans and even picked up tiny specks of paper off the floor. He spent 15 minutes cleaning a therapy table by my desk. I didn't have the heart to tell him the half a can of disinfectant was making it a little hard to breathe, but I think my coughing gave it away. I noticed every time he emptied the trash can,...