Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  Every few months we have a little contest at our church for missions. If the girls give more money, then my husband dresses up in a costume of my choosing and does an illustrated sermon and vice versa if the boys give more. This time, I was given the honor of dressing up- as a ladybug. My sermon was basically about what allows bugs in our spiritual garden. Aphids can show up due to drought. Have you been in a dry patch with God where you're struggling with feeling God's presence? When we don't press in to God and His Word, we dry out like a sponge, but Jesus gave the answer to the Samaritan woman at the well. He said if you asked He would give living water that would never go dry. Is your soil bad? When we allow anger, hurt, and unforgiveness in our hearts, it can ruin our spiritual soil.  How do you repair it? Allow God to remove the contaminated soil or counteract toxins with His Holy Spirit, love, and mercy. Last, has overcrowding let in the enemy in your life? We ...

  It was a big day today. My daughters turned twenty today. One of my daughters lives out of town in order to attend college while the other recently moved out to live on her own. Because of this, we had to book way in advance to spend time with both of them. Even with this, we still had to grab one daughter and drive down to see the other for their birthday. Spending time reminded me of my next piece of advice for my eighteen-year-old self. 7) Relationships are always more important than stuff. This is not a popular statement in today's world where we put value on taking care of yourself and building protective boundaries to keep people from hurting you. If anything, what we really build is isolation and, eventually, loneliness because it is impossible to be in a relationship with someone without them hurting you and vice versa. This is where forgiveness comes into the picture. The Bible is the most radical lifestyle because it totally goes against worldview. Where worldview says ...

  As the school year swiftly moves toward an end, both of my sons have begun to look forward to graduating-one from high school and one from college. They both say it can't come soon enough. I can't help but feel the same. It seems Spring Break will take forever to get here. This brings me to advice to my eighteen-year-old self 6) Don't rush the now moments trying to get to the future. We can go us so hard on what we want to accomplish that we miss so many great moments along the way. When my four children were all under the age of five, I remember thinking, "If only I can get them all through sleeping through the night, which led to if only I can get them through bottles or nursing. This led to if only I could get them all out of diapers. The list went on and on. Eventually, I figured out that I missed so many precious moments focused on the future that the present became a blur of survival. I did have the forethought to write down milestone moments and funny things...

Just when I thought products couldn't get more weird, something new is released. My son saw a new product just released for the Easter season- Peep-flavored Pepsi. When I saw this, I automatically thought, "This sounds disgusting." My son mentioned he thought it would more than likely taste horrible, but there might be a small chance that it would taste good, so why not? The result? Imagine infusing Pepsi with toilet bowl cleaner or floral floor cleaner. The aftertaste was significant. This brings me to my fifth piece of advice to my eighteen-year-old self.   5) Sometimes what looks bad is actually bad. Stay away from it. Have you ever got that gut-feeling that something was bad news, but you talked yourself into giving in, only to realize your first instinct was correct? I saw this happen a lot as a student when I was taking a test. I would change an answer only to realize I was right the first time.  As a Christian, God has promised a very important gift to believers- ...

  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...