Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  My husband and I are enjoying a little vacation during Spring Break. Of course, we are doing what everyone does. We're taking the mandatory selfies. As I snapped some selfies, I started annoying my husband because in every picture, I noticed the wrinkles and bags under the eyes. One angle was wrong. The next accentuated the extra ten pounds. At one point, I started playing with filters because I didn't like reality. Our world has embraced filters. If you don't like something about yourself, change it. Here's the beautiful thing. God sees us in reality. No filters. Our bad attitudes, grumpiness, anger, and pride are much worse than a few wrinkles, and He sees it all. But God isn't repelled by our flaws. He loves us in spite of our brokenness and imperfections. So as we filters ourselves to the world, know that the only One who matters loves you no matter what you look like. You are loved. You are valuable. You matter to Jesus. And that's the unfiltered truth. H...

My new phone has a nifty feature. When someone leaves a voicemail, it automatically transcribed it into text. My husband, however, speaks so fast that hus messages have become quite entertaining. One message said, " Hey, I mean, if I am cons seem, Yeah. What I. " What he was actually saying was, " Hey! I'm being hit by hail ." Following that message was the sound of the hail storm that had passed over while he was driving.  I now look forward to the transcriptions. They're really funny-like Madlibs. Here's the beauty of being able to speak with God. He sees our heart. How many times have you felt so misunderstood? Or maybe the words just do not come out right. God knows your heart. He doesn't need eloquent prayers, fancy words, or seminary speech. He just wants to hear from you. And as you pour out your heart to the One who loves you more than anyone, He knows who you are. He understands what you need, and He cares what you feel. When we speak to Go...

  This last week, I saw God's hand over my husband. Every morning, I start my day praying for God's protection over my family, including accidents. I saw this prayer answered. On Wednesday, my husband was commuting home from work driving 55 miles an hour when someone going the opposite direction turned in front of him. He felt like he needed to swerve, so he turned to the right. The woman continued toward him, hitting the front of his car and sending him into a spin toward trees. He prayed he not hit the big trees and relaxed his body. He bounced off two telephone pole-sized trees and came to a stop. There was a sheriff's deputy behind him that mentioned if he had not swerved, both the woman and he would have been seriously injured, if not killed. Here's the miraculous part. All side airbags deployed and the car was totaled, but he walked away with only a tiny scratch on the inside of his left ear- no broken bones, not even a bruise. He didn't even feel very sore th...

I'm going to be transparent for everyone.  I threw a big adult temper tantrum the other day. My work day was great. Don't get me wrong. It's fast-paced and high stress, but manageable. My daughter is weaning off her seizure meds, so she is unable to drive for a few months. I became her after work transportation. She also warned me that she needed some help with a college assignment. I knew this would be challenging.  My husband was out of town all week. I had been running the home, taking care of pets, along with stepping in for any needs that might arise for my children. By the time I picked up my daughter from work, I was tired. I told her I was ordering a pizza and taking an evening off of cooking. My paycheck would not clear until the next day, so I was using reward points to pay. Free dinner. No fuss. It was perfect. That is, until we arrived at the store. After having the clerk check tickets several times, I had to resign myself to the fact that pizza was not happen...

  My husband and I have been challenged by God to work on laying down our right to be right in order to honor the other person. It makes for interesting moments when you decide to work on character issues. As soon as you feel God asking you to grow in an area and you surrender to that growth, God immediately starts challenging you in that area. When I felt challenged to cut sugar from my diet, I had never seen so many sweets randomly show up in front of me. Someone would bring a dessert to work, potlucks would unfold, or my husband would bring home treats! This makes for cranky growth. As my husband and I agreed to grow in putting others before ourselves, we immediately faced opportunities to practice this character building. Usually, it was in front of a bunch of people. Maybe we were telling a story and the details were wrong or there was a comment that didn't settle the right way. It's always harder to keep your mouth closed when you feel you are in the right. In your mind ...

  If the hearts and overwhelming usage of pink everywhere has not given it away, Valentine's Day occurred this weekend. For husbands and boyfriends around the nation, the pressure is on to display their love through creative gifts and cards. My husband rose to the occasion. I came home from work to find half a dozen individually-wrapped roses placed in a large vase on my table. My first thought was, " Did he buy out all the individual roses sold at the checkout of a gas station? " I was told that's the way they came at the store. I must say they were beautiful roses. My husband then gave me the gift of sleeping in late Valentine's Day morning, to be followed by antique and thrift store browsing. He chose this because I love a good bargain. All this is to say that, all though I loved the gifts and activities, love is more than a one day event. In a world filled with romance filling the movie and television screens, we mix up romance and love. Love is not a romanc...