Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  While in Dallas over Christmas, my husband and I got to see an early release screening of the movie Jesus Revolution. Tonight, it was officially released in the movie theaters, so we had to go again. Once again, it was an amazing movie about a generation desperately seeking something real. During much of the movie, several young adults were trying to find love and acceptance. Eventually, they realized it was with God, even though God showed that love through flawed individuals. As I think back to my eighteen-year-old self, I remember being extremely self-conscious. In my head, I felt like I had nothing to offer, so why would anyone want to talk to me? I closed myself off and isolated. When I had that life-changing encounter with God I found my value wasn't in anything I could offer. When you think about it, what could I bring a God who has everything and made everything? But that is exactly what God wanted-me. My value is His love for me. I can't do anything to earn it. He...

  I found some old pictures from my teenage years, if the glamour shots didn't already give that away. For the last few weeks as I watch my children become young adults, I've thought about what they should know, so I am continuing my advice to my younger self. So my advice to my eighteen-year-old self would be 3) it will get better. There were multiple times in my young adult life when times were hard. During these times, it was really easy to hyper-focus on the negative. Everything became shaded with dark glasses. There were points that I felt like I wouldn't survive the hurt, but it always got better. Sometimes it got a little worse, but it never stayed that way. The best advice I was given was to look myself in the mirror and tell myself what God said about my situation or me. I made a list of ten scriptures from the Bible and read them every day to myself. As I told myself that I was more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus, and that as I waited on the Lord, I would ...

Across America, there are two types of people gathering-Team Superbowl and Team Superbowl Commercials. I am beyond a doubt a commercial girl. My brother played football all through high school. He was even the quarterback. Between that and being in the marching band, you would think I knew something about football. You, however, would be wrong. The ball games were the times I hung out with friends, walking back and forth to the concession stand. I never paid attention to the game. Flash forward to now and the same still exists. I spend Superbowl parties talking to friends, and my favorite, watching funny commercials. Some years are letdowns while others are pure gold. At one point, I started cheering for the team with the best uniforms or a player with the best backstory. Either way, many would think this is a waste of a good game. So the next thing I would tell my eighteen-year-old self is 2) Don't get so caught up in the distractions that you miss the big things happening in yo...

  This weekend was a major milestone in my life. My youngest child turned eighteen this weekend. At least legally, all of my children are adults. This is the point where I insert crying and weepy faces. I remember the time when all of my children were little. I had three in diapers for a span of 5 or six years. As I changed unending diapers, cleaned endless messes, and battled temper tantrums, nightmares, and boo boos, I felt like independence would never come. Now, as we celebrated all my babies growing up, I realized that in a blink, they're grown up. For my son's birthday, my oldest son wrote him a seven page letter giving him advice from his experiences over his young adulthood. This had me thinking what my current self would tell my eighteen-year-old self. Over the next couple of week's I want to share what I would tell my younger self.  1) Things don't have to be perfect to be from God. When I was younger, I had this rose-colored glasses look at the will of God....

Have you noticed how unpredictable the weather has become? Some say it correlates with climate change while others say it is a random occurrence. One of my coworkers has said that there is no way it was going to snow. Weather response- five inches of snow. Earlier this weekend, I walked around in a t-shirt. Today, I pulled out my parka as we prepare for an ice storm. What I've learned from all of this: my closet should always have a warm coat, flip-flops, t-shirt, heavy duty sweater, snow boots, and shorts all available because a flip-flops day could quickly result in Artic conditions by the end of the day. Isn't that the way we should be in our walk with God? In 2 Timothy 4:2, people are charged with being prepared to share God's Word because one never knows when circumstances will arise that require God's truth. You may be prepared for weather changes, but how prepared are you to encourage and help others who are hurting? Is your spiritual closet (your mind) packed ...

  This weekend, I had the privilege of joining a ladies' tea at a local Spanish church. I am always a little bit hesitant to use my Spanish because I am out of practice and very rusty. I had three years of Spanish in high school, but no opportunity to speak it daily, so my vocabulary has dwindled away. This has left me challenged in times where I need to speak Spanish. While visiting Orlando a couple of years ago, we happened to discover a food truck park with 30 food trucks all with Latino inspiration. I thought I could get us through ordering, which I did, only to realize we had ordered $120 worth of seafood. Ouch! My next venture was in Puerto Rico last summer. I was wedged between two Spanish-speaking women who could not speak any English. They were very kind, and I managed to communicate, but it was tough. I had much better luck ordering from the food trucks there. This brings me to the tea. I thought I would guarantee success by using Google translate to fill in my vocabula...

  There's something you should know about me. I hate snakes. They give me the creeps, not so much with my husband. Since we have been married, he keeps finding snakes and bringing them home. A farmer called him once to give him a six-foot, egg-theiving black snake. My husband plopped him in an aquarium and welcomed him in our home. As I cleaned my son's room, I would stare into little beady eyes, telling that snake that I didn't like him. My husband was informed that if the snake escaped and wrapped around my legs while I was in the bathroom, both would regret it.  Later, our cat  noticed a lovely rat in the snake  cage. In catching a snack, she liberated the snake. I did not take the news well. One night, as we were watching television, my husband jumped up, running towards the bathroom. There, wrapping around the toilet, was the snake. Both had narrowly escaped my wrath. In today's sermon, my husband had shared from Numbers 21. The Israelites were wandering in the...