Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  My ladies group at church attended a women's retreat this weekend. The retreat ran a thrift store closet as a fundraiser. As I perused the various gismos and gadgets, I noticed an instrument box tucked under a table. It was trombone box. The price sticker read "ten dollars." Now, I thought, "If this case has a real trombone in it, this is an amazing deal!" My son plays the trombone, so I knew it would be an awesome gift for him. As I unfastened the clasps, I held my breath. Once open, I confirmed that I deed it was a trombone in good shape. The problem was that I would need to wrestle the massive brown recluse spider and all of her babies for it. Some of you may not know that as a teenager, I was bitten on my leg by a brown recluse spider. As it began to change into a rainbow of purple, browns, and black, we thought my leg would go to the next step of rotting out. My mother took me to church and had ladies pray. The bite healed immediately without ever rott...

 I was involved in an accident a couple of weeks ago. As I was slowing down for a turn, a motorcyclist had looked away and, when he looked back, rear-ended me. My first concern was that the young man was okay. He had been thrown from his motorcycle. He got up, and after a period of time, said he was okay. The next step was getting the insurance information. After obtaining the accident report, I started the process of filing a claim with the man's insurance company. There was quite a bit of damage to the back of my car. The claim agent was very nice and courteous . I eventually received an email stating that I had gained a new claim agent, Jesus, pronounced "Haysus." He was Latino. Now, I thought about Allstate's motto, " You're in good hands with Allstate ." I thought, " I am in good hands because Jesus is handling my claim! " My husband even sang, "Jesus take the bill, take in from my hand..." I know that this is a funny thought,...

Everyone loves a good sign. As I was driving in my area, I noticed a sign for a yard sale. There were many signs around it, but this one stood out from all the others. The owner of the sign drew a pirate pointing in the direction of the sale with the title, "Yaaar Sale." A short drive later, there was another sign with a drawn Lionel Richie and the caption, "Hello, is it deals you're looking for?" I never made it to their yard sale, but I was very impressed with their signage. In today's society, good advertising is the key to a business gaining success or failure. Super Bowl ads are proof of this. We pay attention to the signs. Spiritually, are you paying attention to the signs? In Revelation, it mentions the signs of Jesus' return to Earth. There will be floods and famine at the same time. Wars and rumors of wars will be prevalent. People will be lovers of themselves and money more than God. The love of many will turn cold. Guys, the signs are getting...

  I've mentioned that for the last seven months, my house has been a construction zone. When we started this journey, we thought there were a few soft spots in the floor. Once demolition was started, we quickly found that every floor joist in three-fourths of our two-story house needed replacing. We went through a season of nothing but a really big hole and dirt instead of a living room and kitchen. After digging down where the floor once stood and removing the wall separating the kitchen and living room, rewiring the first floor, and rebuilding the whole stairway, we come to the final leg of this construction. Our contractor told us to start our painting because the floors will be in soon. Now, I need to tell you that words cannot fully express my hatred for painting. I start out okay, but after twenty minutes, I begin to feel the stirrings of impatience. I begin to rush the process, and before you know it, I am slopping paint all over the place. The good news is that the floors...

  My husband came home yesterday and handed me a fashion magazine. He told me that his elderly father had this magazine delivered to his house. Now my ex-military father-in-law definitely is not the type to thumb through Elle magazine so my husband passed the magazine on to me. As I looked through the latest fashions, it provided entertainment for my family. One fashion statement was what appeared to be a floor-length hoodie made out of puffy coat material- think Back to the Future jacket meets moody teenage meets prom.   As we guffawed through each page of ridiculous fashion, my son asked if people actually bought this stuff. My answer was absolutely, if they are obsessed with the latest fashion. This had me thinking about obsession, not the perfume. As kids we were obsessed with the latest toys. I remember cutting out pictures from the Sears catalog to give hints at what I wanted for Christmas. I was obsessed with getting that gift. I would tell all my friends about it an...

Today, I had the pleasure of moving one of my daughters back into her college dorm for her second year of college. As we were driving down, we noticed a random stop light in the middle of a national forest on the way to her college. The first time we encountered it, we thought how random it was to have something like a stop light in the middle of nowhere with little to no traffic. Of course, as we moved passed the sign, we saw the bridge ahead had one lane blocked as the highway crew were resurfacing the bridge. The bridge happened to be over a very popular floating/kayaking river and next to the only bathrooms on the river, thus, the stop light. Now, because the stop light makes no sense, we could choose to ignore the light, but once past, realize the light had a purpose to protect us from harm or miss-steps (in this case, miss-drives). How many times do we beg God for signs? "God, if you really want me to do this? Should I go here? Should I date or marry this person? Is what I...

First of all, I have not dyed my hair to black. Our church just finished up Vacation Bible School this week. Our theme was a Pirate Party Deep Sea Adventure, thus pirates everywhere! Anyone who knows me knows that I will dress up at the drop of a hat if it will reach people for Jesus. I've been a doctor, a CSI agent, a cowboy, a clown, a queen, a slew of Bible characters, a flamingo, and a Pirate just to name a few. There are so many that I can't remember them all. This character required a black wig and a hearty spirit me' mateys! I had several people tell me that it took them 15 to 20 minutes before they recognized who I was. There is something fun about being someone else. Maybe it is because you can leave your comfort zone and embrace who you've always wanted to be. I'm an introvert. Anyone who knows me knows I like to hide in the background and make things happen. Only those really close to me see the goofy, playful person. However, when the costumes go on, t...