Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

 I get the joy of babysitting my grand puppy often. Tonight, my son's dog was enjoying his favorite ball. Not a problem, usually. Tonight, however, we were hosting our church small group while he squeezed his squeaky ball over and over and over . We had enough, so we hid his ball on top of my armoire. He saw us hide his ball and spent the next hour staring at the ball. He would walk away, become distracted, but always returned to stare at his treasure. What if we did this with our spiritual lives? In Phillipians 3:12 NIV  Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. What if we had tenacious faith that focuses so intently on Jesus that when distractions come, our faith remains steady. When things happen around us, we only have eyes for the true treasure- Jesus. What if we stay focused until we obtain our prize? Oh the joy when we obtain it! May your eyes rem...

  As pastors, this is one of our busiest days.We celebrate the gift of God in His Son, Jesus. He died on the cross willingly to take our sin and brokenness on Himself. In return, we received salvation and everlasting life through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  Just to show you how important this day is to God, let me show you through the Bible. In Genesis, Adam and Eve chose their will over God's will when they are the forbidden fruit. In doing so, they created a distance between them and God. Sin cannot enter the presence of God, and Adam allowed the sin of pride and rebellion to be a part of his life. God immediately removed them from the Garden of Eden so they could no longer have access to the Tree of Life. This was merciful because it meant that man did not have to spend an eternity without God. Instead, they now faced death and temporary separation from God. Through sacrifice and obedience, they could enter back into relationship with God. Throughout the rest of the...

  I had the privilege of speaking at a women's retreat at Rock Haven Bible Camp this weekend. I always enjoy the time I spend there. I opened with a crazy thing that has happened to me over the last couple of weeks, so here goes ... with the weather changing from hot to cold and back again, I have struggled with dry skin. To alleviate some of the itch, I smear body lotion all over my arms and legs at night. After doing this for a while, I.noticed the itch getting worse. It got so bad that I had to swing by my house during the day to apply more lotion. By evening this last Wednesday, I couldn't take it anymore. I asked my husband to rub it over my whole back. I warned him to be careful because the essential oils in the lotion burned my eyes. I even told him that it must be long-lasting lotion. He replied that it was the slimiest lotion he had ever seen. While applying lotion, I read the tube. As I squinted at the tiny print, I realized I had been applying body wash to my body fo...

  As a result of a missions-giving competition in our church between the girls and boys, I was the person who shared an illustrated sermon this morning. My costume was a huge whale blanket. I've never felt so warm in my life! I'll share the main points. Jonah did not want to go to the city of Nineveh. It was a violent and depraved city, and God told Jonah as the prophet of God to tell them to turn from evil and He would spare them. Jonah did not want to do this, so he bought a ticket on a boat headed in the opposite direction to Joppa. While on the ship, God sent a storm that almost destroyed the boat. The men that didn't serve God figured out that Jonah had angered God. They eventually threw him overboard at his request. They repented.  The storm immediately calmed. God then sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. While in the fish belly for 3 days, he argued with God. After 3 days, he repented, and the fish spewed him on dry land. He obeyed God, spoke to the king of Nineveh, an...

  In case you didn't notice, I took a week off from the blog to have a little vacation with my hubby. Since it was Spring Break and my husband now works during the summer, we took our summer vacation a little early. Our plans were to not have plans . We were going to jump in the car, visit our daughter down South, and then head towards Tennessee. If you know me, you know that I struggle with not having a plan. Having a plan is good, but it can get out of control to the point that it becomes a source of anxiety if things don't go according to plan. Our goal was to relax and walk away with fun stories. This was a challenge for me. On the first leg of the journey, we decided to drive toward a little gas station in the middle of no where. It is one of the oldest general stores in Arkansas. On the way to the store, we noticed the GPS taking us through a National Forest and many secluded hiking trails. At one point, we were told to turn at what seemed to be some guys very cluttered y...

  I think most of America is familiar with the storms that rolled through the country. Unfortunately, several places were hit by tornados, so we need to hold up those devestated by the tornados in prayer. While the tornado warnings were going off in my area, my family performed our storm ritual that we've done since the kids were little. The only difference now was the size of my kids. My sons were visiting for dinner when the sirens sounded, so they were herded in my very narrow hallway. My oldest son is six foot eight inches tall. My other son is almost six foot, and my husband is six foot one inch tall. My son also had his very large boxer dog in the hallway. The first five minutes were fine, but as we kept scrolling back to the weather report, the time for taking shelter seemed to extend. That's when legs started cramping and knees hurt. We started to make a decision. Was safety more important than comfort? We chose comfort and spread a little further beyond the safety of ...

  Have you ever been frustrated with the way your significant other or roommate does something specific? It could be putting the toilet paper roll on backwards. We all know the toilet paper is made to go over the top, not under! Or maybe it's how they wash laundry or dishes. This weekend, we always prepare for our church's small group at my house by cleaning. I found what seemed to be every Tupperware plastic dish I owned in my refrigerator and back-up refrigerator (the one in the garage for the stuff that can't fit in my regular refrigerator.) There were leftovers there that I can't remember making. We would open containers to find complex ecosystems growing within my old pot roast. Anytime I have people over, I always feel like I need to clean my refrigerator. I don't know why. I rarely have random people going through my leftovers looking for three-week-old sweet and sour, but there's always the slim chance it could happen, so I clean. My husband humors me ...