Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  I had a wonderful weekend at Rockhaven Ladies Retreat. It's always a treat to get away from the hustle of life and just slow down to listen to God. In preparation for the retreat, I sent a list of the names of the ladies attending. Once there, a couple of the ladies from my church noticed misspellings in their names. Upon hearing one speaking with a leader to correct the error, a thought suddenly occurred. When I sent the text of all the ladies going, it was late. I pulled up the text only to realize it was my fault. Between autocorrect and my late night exhaustion, I had misspelled a couple of the ladies names! This made me think about how important it is to be properly known. I have spent the majority of my life with a first name that is misspelled. When someone got it right, I somehow felt I was fully seen and understood. My friend, God sees you. You are known by Him. 1 Corinthians 13:8  But if anyone loves God, he is known by God " (ESV) To be known by God is simply lov...

  While taking a little mini-vacation in Missouri, my husband and I decided to eat at a restaurant in town. The restaurant was packed, so everyone sat very close together. While glancing over my husband's shoulder, I noticed a lady's purse sitting on the ground beside her table. Her phone was sticking out of the side pocket of her purse. I did a double-take when I saw her phone. Her phone had four letters displayed- BUTT. I immediately questioned why someone would want to display BUTT on their phone. When I looked a little closer, I realized the phone case was yellow. That's when it occurred to me that the original BUTT was actually the beginning of the word BUTTER. Her phone case was a stick of butter. Have you ever made assumptions about someone only to realize you were completely wrong? It's so easy to look at situations from our point of view and read the situation entirely wrong. Instead of assuming the worst and going into immediate attack mode, God has called us...

  After a very busy weekend, my husband and I thought we would wrap it up with some construction on my daughter's future home. We laid trim and realized it would look better painted white, so we took the first step to painting. We primed the wood. I am not super handy in construction. When my brother, husband, and I redid the floor joists and flooring i.n half of my parents' house, I realized this. My husband's growls, repeating of misunderstood instructions, and frequent head shakes indicated this fact. I've even been known to start a project wrong in front of my husband to get him to finish it for me. Because of this, I must say that I am not an expert, but I'll do my best to explain this construction fact. The purpose of priming is to prepare and seal a surface so that paint can stick well. Without primer, the paint will be uneven or not adhere as well. Primer is the foundation needed for a smooth paint job. What happens in our life without a firm foundation? It ...

 I received a call from my youngest son as we were each driving our cars back from oil changes. With most of my family out of town at a camping event, my youngest son and I decided to get much needed oil changes on both our cars. He took one route home, and I took another. Upon almost making it home, he called me telling me his car had stopped moving. It was stuck in the middle of the road on a very steep hill. I rushed over to find him at a dangerous section of road right above a hairpin turn. It was getting dark, and I was nervous. After realizing the transmission was frozen, I called a tow truck and prayed it would arrive before dark. While we waited, I noticed something interesting. Out of the eight cars that passed us, three people slowed and asked how they could help me. One woman was in a car that looked like it was on its last leg, but she stopped to help someone else. This brought me to a challenging question. Do we take the time to show kindness to those around us? God s...

  My son's dog does not differentiate right from wrong. Late one night, my husband had smoked a five pound bag of chicken for my youngest son. While he pulled the chicken from the smoker, I had decided to take a quick shower. I heard my husband's fire beeper sounding and thr slamming of the front door, indicating he was responding to a fire call. After showering, my son's boxer entered the bathroom to snuggle. Upon cuddling, I smelled the distinctive scent of chicken. After further investigation, I found an empty plate on the stove with remnants of chicken juice on the plate. I thought to myself that surely my husband put the chicken in the microwave or oven before leaving, but both remained empty. The boxer had eaten the entire bag of chicken! Was there any remorse? Not even a little. Why? Dogs understand consequence, but they can't discern right from wrong. In this day and age, the largest quality lacking is the discerning of right from wrong. People act simply becaus...

  My family has a long-standing agreement when I thrift. If I can fit the item in the car, I can get the item. One of my daughters furiously manhandled a large queen-sized murphy bed frame, along with a full-sized mailbox on its pole because of this edict. At one particular trip, as I was taking my daughter to her neurology appointment, we stopped at a Goodwill thrift store. It had become a bit of a tradition. While there, I noticed this massive framed oil painting. The painting depicted a ocean scene with ships moving in the water. I immediately thought of Jesus calming the storm for His disciples. I had to have it. However, I was in my car, and it was taller than a sofa. As I pushed, I had my daughter pull. She argued it would not fit. I volleyed by saying, "If I can fit it. I can get it!" With a big push, the painting slid inside the back of the car, barely fitting. It holds a place of prominence on my staircase wall. This week, my husband and I attended a funeral for a...