Psalms 119:113-127:5

 Don’t leave me to the mercy of my enemies, Psalms 119:121

As I was walking back in the door this morning after ushering each and every other member of my family out of it I noticed that Sean had left his glasses behind. Knowing that he gets headaches without them I decided I was going to take them to him at work. I went to get my phone off the charger and saw that my notifications bar was FULL! I went to start clearing things off of it and wouldn’t you know half an hour later I was still sitting there on the bed clearing away notifications when I got a text from Sean mentioning that he had forgotten his glasses.
I told him that I was “just” getting ready to bring them to him. 😉
Now, if I had really thought things through I would have heeded the two text messages that the weather channel had sent me warning me about a thunderstorm headed our way. But oh no!
So I jumped into the car and headed to Reynolds to deliver my Beloved’s glasses. As I was pulling out of town it was starting to sprinkle. As I was almost to Reynolds it looked like this (yes, I just HAD to pull over even in my rush to take a picture.)

As I pulled into the parking lot the Emergency Broadcast System interrupted the KLOVE morning DJs’ joking about spilling the Sentsy warmer all over the counter and that’s when I knew that if I wanted to make it home I’d better BOOK IT! Or stay, but what would I do while I sat it out? I decided to try and book it. Yet another not-so-wise-decision of the day. By the time I reached that same tree headed the other direction it looked like this (yes, I just HAD to pull over even in my rush to take a picture – leave me alone.)

I was beginning to get the feeling that I might not be able to beat this storm home.
I was a couple of miles past the tree and SEVERAL miles from home when the deluge hit and every drop of water that those clouds had been storing up came falling out at the same exact moment… and for about 15 minutes after that too!

The sky was black, the wind was howling and pushing my car around and the sound of the hail was nearly deafening. Thankfully it was NOT quarter-sized like the EBS had foretold. And yet right there in the midst of the storm that my poor choices had brought me to, I had peace and no fear what-so-ever. You know why? Because I knew God was with me, even in the midst of the storm of my own bad choices. He didn’t leave me, He didn’t ignore me or even give me the cold shoulder. Actually, His presence was more vivid and obvious in the midst of that storm than it had been either before or after. The truth be told, He actually sang to me right there in the midst of the storm and told me that I wasn’t alone and that He loves me. Even when I make poor choices.
As I sat there on the side of the road watching the rain drops literally swirl in torrents through the newly greening grass like ocean currents through seaweed I shook my head in amazement. His creation is so amazingly wonderfull! His creation is absolutely beautiful in it’s fury and strength. It makes my head spin in awe thinking, “If a simple storm is this powerful, how much more powerful is my God whom I call Abba, Father, fortress!?! HIS faithfulness is my shield!
Simply amazing!

Psalms 110:1-118:29

On this beautiful Easter morn I just have to go back to one of my all time favorite posts I’ve ever written. I usually tend to post it on Easter morning, and I’ve debated over and over about sharing it once again. I’m sure many of you have read it already, and yet, I can’t help myself! I LOVE this post!!! I really feel like it does such a great job of capturing the emotion of that morning.

My friends, it would be my pleasure to once again present to you, “In the Garden” by Tamar Knochel.

May your Ressurrection Day be FILLED with as much joy as your heart can possibly hold. My dear ones, HE’S ALIVE!!!!!! God’s not dead, He’s ALIVE!!!!

Psalm 88:1-92:15

This month’s book was written by C.S. Lewis as a follow up to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. How do you review one of your all time favorite books? The Horse and His Boy is an adventure that takes you through far away lands and then returns you smack into the Centre of Narnia royalty once more.  Queens Susan and Lucy along with kings Peter and Edmund are all present in the tale as well, although not until the end. This story begins with a young boy in a hovel by the sea where he has been treated poorly his entire life. Then one day a man riding a horse comes and everything in this boy’s life changes in one night. Which is where I’ll stop telling you about plot because the last thing I would want to do is to spoil this wonderful adventure for you.
If you like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe then you’ll definitely want to look into this next book in the series!
Now, don’t forget to comment below if you read this book and you will receive a free e-book! This month’s book is Dandelion Season, a popular choice for anyone who is going through a rough period in their lives.
And for everyone who reads all 10 books with us, you will receive a signed print version of any one book of your choice from the “books” tab above.

Psalm  76:1-79:13
 “By Your strong arm You redeemed Your people,” Psalm 77:15

The other day my seven year old daughter came home from school with a self-inflicted bite mark on her arm. When we asked her why she did it she replied, “I don’t know”. But we knew. You see when it comes to learning, especially reading, she has very little confidence in her ability to do what is asked of her. She avoids the task as long as she possibly can and then when she can’t avoid it any longer she attempts it, but with no confidence in her ability to succeed. Then when she doesn’t feel like she has succeeded she punishes herself. Biting.
As a mom it’s heartbreaking to watch your beloved child struggle with something so much that they injure themselves because they feel like they’ve failed you. Obviously we’re working very closely with the wonderful teachers and staff at her school to resolved this issue. Her teacher is phenominal and I KNOW that he has done, and is doing, everything in his power to help her. In fact, he’s been able to do more for her this year than anyone before him. And I thank God every day for that.
This morning as I drove my daughter to school we prayed for her day. You know what her beautiful seven-year-old soul prayed for? That “no one would make it a bad day” for her. I smiled in the front seat, does she know that I tell my students at least once a day, “Only YOU have control  over your emotions and how you react to them. No one else has the power to make you angry or hurt. No one else has the power to make you say or do something you shouldn’t. You have control over you. Period.”
As I pulled away from the school, tears blurring my vision I prayed for God to help her stop hurting herself for being less than perfect. And WHAM, realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m getting the opportunity to see myself from God’s eyes! I know women. I know how we work and how we think and how we LOVE to beat ourselves us for our imperfect houses and our less than model-material bodies and especially our inability to be the perfect mom. We see our inability to be perfect and we bite ourselves in the arm for it. We mentally berate ourselves often to tears because we’ve not been able to live up to our own impossibly high standards. And you know what that does? It breaks our Father’s heart! It’s not our fault that we aren’t perfect! There is absolutely nothing we can do about our humanity, other than accept the fact that we are human. We are filled with inabilities and imperfections and THAT’S OK! Does that mean we should stop striving to be better? Absolutely not. But it does mean that when we fall short of the glory of God we need to remember Romans 3:22-25 “There is no difference: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.”
If you grew up in church I bet you heard the first part of that verse a thousand times. But if you never read it for yourself in context I bet you never knew the rest of the story did you! I know I didn’t. You see that’s Satan’s favorite verse to use to beat us up. He loves to put a period where God put a comma. In the original Greek that is all ONE sentence!
Yes. We are human. We’re going to mess up. We are going to fall short of the glory of God time and time and time again. Does that mean that we should stay put on the ground? Never! Why? Because we are JUSTIFIED! To be justified means that when we accept the gift of God’s Grace through Jesus it’s “just as if I’d” never sinned. Beloved, stop biting yourself. Stop letting Satan trick you into biting yourself. You are justified by Jesus’ free gift of Grace!