Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

 As I sat in my house tonight, I heard my daughter yelling from my front yard, "Mom!" After a few screams and I still hadn't appeared, she progressed to calling my cell phone. As she quickly beckoned me outside, I found her standing over something moving in the beam of her cell phone light. As I approached, I saw that it was a fairly large bat with a broken wing. We were arguing over how to tell if it was alive while keeping my cat from feasting on it. I had the brilliant idea to scoot it with a dustpan from my broom. As I slowly lowered the dustpan under the bat, it began to flop towards my daughter and me. My husband drove up to both of us flapping our arms and squealing like the slugs from Flushed Away . We left my son and husband to handle the hurt bat and gladly took refuge in the house. Have you ever heard the phrase, "hurt people, hurt people?" In ministry, I've found that broken people tend to strike out at those trying to help them, much like the b...

  As I walked my dog at the back of our property, I noticed a plant growing in the corner- a Yucca plant. This plant takes me back to my childhood. My mother has never been a big gardener. I definitely inherited that trait from her. I think plants probably weep when they enter my home, knowing their fate. Because my mother struggled with growing things, she chose hardy plants that could survive almost anything with little attention. She created what I called, "the garden of death." Inside this round garden in the middle of her lawn was a set of rose bushes, several cactus plants, and two really large Yucca plants, all among a bed of decorative rocks. Although everything was beautiful and flowering, it was also thorny and sharp. My preteen brother had the wonderful idea to play daredevil and ride his Huffy bike and the circle of death. He started slow and began to pick up speed with each revolution.  When he reached maximal speed, he lost control and crashed directly in the p...

 My husband and I have learned something as I get older and begin the journey through perimenopause. Hormones are crazy! Some days they are up and other days they are nonexistent, so I found a little secret. I take an herbal supplement with black pepper extract, and for the most part, the hormonal crazies are tamed. Let me tell you, I can a difference when I forget to take it. So can my husband. He calls it my "cranky pill." This morning, I forgot to take it. As I began to feel irritation at too much noise and a feeling of being overwhelmed, I reminded myself that all things are under God's control, including my hormones. As I prayed I felt the stress and anxiety lessen. Later, as my husband and I were shopping, he snapped at me out of hanger (hungry/anger). He immediately apologized and said he was sorry. He forgot to take his cranky pill. I replied, "You're sausage biscuit cranky pill?" We all have moments of crankiness and stress. The question is, ...

  My quiver is full and so are my closets. After several years of only having one or two of my adult children living in my home at different times, things are getting ready to change. All of my adult children will be living in my house, at same time! One of my daughters had been living in the mobile home of my late mother-in-law while my two sons were dwelling in the mobile home of my late father-in-law. After much thought and rising lot fees, we bought eleven beautiful acres in the country for both mobile homes. I had no idea how much went into moving mobile homes. The whole process will take at least a month of drilling a well, putting in a sewer, and preparing foundations. During the next month or so, all of my children will move back into our home until their homes are ready.  The side effect of all the packing is that laundry was piling up for my sons. I volunteered to catch the boys laundry up, so their move could have a literal clean start. After the ninth load, I reme...

Being a mother can become your identity. Before I had children, I ate hot food, finished everything on my plate, and had full nights of sleep. There was something about that moment when you bring your first child home from the hospital. You are holding this tiny human being in your arms, and the thought goes through your head. "I have no idea what I'm doing." That's when mom instincts kick in. A simple whimper wakes you from a sound sleep. Suddenly, feeding your child comes before you  eating. And, yes, your child can have your piece of cake. Before you know it, you can no longer remember a time before having the little ones for whom you would lay down your life. Your whole life evolves around the children God entrusted to you. Here's the struggle. What happens when the children are grown and go their own way? As women, we need to remember our identity is not just being a mother. Even though you'll always take care of your children, they will become self-suf...

  My husband, daughter, and I had the honor of attending a rural church pastor's meeting this weekend. It was in an unfamiliar area for us, and we arrived with minutes to spare. The parking lot was packed.  I was a little amazed because huge crowds usually didn't attend this type of event. As we rushed in a group of teens were handing out programs. I just thought this was a really organized event until my daughter caught my attention. As I glanced at the program, I realized we had crashed a preschool graduation. I'm sure we confused the teenager's by grabbing programs and walking out. I was so embarrassed that I didn't even return the programs, so now I have a program for a bunch of preschoolers I don't even know! We got back in the car and regrouped. Obviously, a preschool graduation was not the rural church meeting. We rechecked the website and confirmed the meeting was at this church. We drove to the side and saw a gym with a door open and a basement door o...