Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  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 ...

  My husband preached a really sermon this morning about thankfulness and living a life that blesses others. He asked a question that challenged me, and I hope challenges you. "Has something you've done been the answer to someone's prayer?" If we live a life of gratitude to God, then we recognize that every breath we breathe was given by Him. In that gratitude, we make the most of those breaths by pouring into those around us and loving as Christ loves us. As we enter Thanksgiving and Christmas, you have the opportunity to be the answer to others prayers, whether it's showing kindness and a smile to a cashier, leaving a good tip for a worn-out waitress, or providing a meal to the hungry . Is there a neighbor alone for Thanksgiving that could use friendship and a good meal? Is there a young family that could use some help for Christmas? Or is there an elderly person or friend who will be experiencing loss or loneliness for the holidays? Ask God to show you how yo...

  I believe in the power of prayer. Over the years, I've seen God answer prayers faithfully.   Before meeting my husband, I prayed that God would bring the right person into my life. At one point, I told my mother God would need to drop the guy he had for me in my lap because I was waiting for God to move. A few days later, while attending a conference, this guy shows up late and the only place to sit was on the floor next to me. And, you guessed it, he lost his balance and fell in my lap while trying to sit on the floor. Two years later, we married. I watched God provide a place to live. As young missionaries, my husband and I felt God moving us to a mission's position in another state. The location had no place for us to live yet, and we were giving up our jobs, so we were moving with no income or place to live. We prayed that God would provide and loaded the moving truck. The day before the move a person called saying they felt like God wanted him to let us stay at a house...

  Yes, I've entered the years I've heard spoken about by many who have come before me- the perimenopausal years. This year, I turn (enter year her) years old. Actually, it's the big fifty. I can still remember my mother turning fifty. It's just hard to get my mind around the fact that I'm now my mother's age. As I turn the big 50, I also face hot flashes from down below, and I'm not talking Australia. At church, my congregation has started BYOB (bring your own blanket) just to handle the Artic cold after I've crossed paths with the thermostat. I thought I would be kind today and leave the air conditioner alone, only to leave the stage soaked with sweat. I now carry a fan with me on stage and behind the scenes. People know that I'm either channeling a Victorian mindset or suffering a hot flash. It doesn't matter what the temperature is around me. When I'm hot, it's an internal thing. It's not regulated by my environment. What if our f...