Monthly Archives: May 2013

May 30, 2013 · 8:49 pm

When You Need Power To Ride Out The Storm…

Photo credit: Google

I have a friend whose husband is not at all supportive. She is basically on her own.

She texted me and asked, “So what can you possibly do with someone who doesn’t see anything wrong?”

This was my reply: “What you do is throw your entire self onto Jesus. This is a rubber-meets-the-road moment. You do not have a supportive earthly spouse (yet) but but you DO have a Heavenly One who longs to be to you all those things that your husband is not. Your situation with your husband is Jesus’ invitation to you to allow Him to show Himself strong on your behalf. You are NOT alone in this situation! Claim Phil 4:13 and I Corinthians 10:13. Write them down and carry them with you EVERYWHERE until He has written them on your heart.”

Whether you are facing a difficult marriage, a long trial, financial strain, job loss, health issues, there is HOPE for you if you belong to Jesus!

WHATEVER you are dealing with, it is NOT meant to defeat you! (That is what the enemy wants you to believe).

Jesus intends that you TRIUMPH in the midst of it because you are relying on Him to be your strength (both emotional and physical).

Imagine Jesus saying this to you:

Dear ___________,
Through Me, you have strength for all things. I empower you. You are ready for anything and equal to anything through Me. I infuse inner strength into you. You are sufficient in My sufficiency…No temptation has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man. NO trial has come to you that is beyond your human resistance or ability to bear. I am faithful to My Word and My compassionate nature. You can trust Me not to let you be tempted and tried beyond your ability. I will give you strength and the power to endure. When you face temptation, I will always provide the way out ( a means of escape, a landing place) so that you will be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

NOTHING is too difficult for Me.

I love you with an everlasting love,
Jesus

Those are not my words. They are His words and they are found in the above verses, as well as Jeremiah 32:27 and Jeremiah 31:3. (Amplified Version).

This is NOT wishful thinking. This is an exercise of your faith. A determination to live according to His Word and not your feelings or preferences. Yes, trials hurt and we would rather not deal with stormy skies. However, when Jesus allows these things to touch your life, it is not punishment. It is His invitation to you to find true life, which is not in the things and relationships of this world but in HIM.

Just as He came to the disciples in the midst of a furious storm and stilled the wind and the waves, He will do the same for you. If He does not stop the storm, He will blanket your heart with His peace until He ends the storm in His perfect timing.

Speaking of His timing, do yourself a favor and stop fighting Him on this issue. I have walked with Jesus since I was thirteen years old and I cannot remember even one instance when my idea of perfect timing matched His. It is futile to fight. We see only a microscopic fraction of the big picture that He sees. We simply have no idea what we are talking about when we rant and rave and remind Him for the thousandth time that we cannot take one more minute of this trial.

Surrender to His timetable by deciding to trust His heart and His purposes…which are perfect.

Face your situation head on. Rise up and meet it in the spirit of conquest that He freely offers you. Confess your exhaustion, frustration, heartache to Him. Let those things drive you deeper into His Word, which will show you His heart of love and grace toward you. Believe Him to be huge in your situation. Trust Him to do exceedingly abundantly above all you could dare to ask or imagine. Allow Him to reveal any idols that you may be clinging to and leaning on to save you. Praise Him for the ways He is healing your heart through the struggle.

The trial He has allowed is actually a love gift in disguise…because if you let it, this is the vehicle He has chosen to give Himself to you.

There is no greater gift.

“Bride of Christ, no matter how frumpy, ordinary, and dull you may feel, your faith exists in the great storm of a fallen world. Your faith is the power that ravishes the heart of God Almighty. Keep holding on.”—Peter Hiett

The Good Old Days

Photo credit: Google

Yesterday afternoon, I watched the finale for the show The Office.

My family and I have watched that show from the beginning and quickly grew to love the characters. The cast was superbly talented and the writing was absolutely brilliant.

The finale was perfection. Every loose end was tied up. There was abundant laughter, poignant moments, and definitely tears. (Including my own).

Near the end of the episode, there was one line spoken by Ed Helms (who played the hapless Andy Bernard) that really pierced my heart.

“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”

That line was spoken by a fictional character who had realized too late that the unappreciated days gone by had actually been a wonderful and glorious gift.

Yet, how many of us can relate? I certainly can.

I am currently reading a book entitled Until I Say Goodbye: My Year Of Living With Joy by Susan Spencer-Wendel. The author has ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and rather than wallow in self-pity and wait to die, she decided to fully live whatever life she has left.

As I read her story, particularly the honest accounts of living in a body that no longer works, I am reminded anew of the simple beauty of ordinary days.

Stop what you are doing and look around you.

The good old days are now.

You might say, “But my life isn’t perfect. I have too many problems.”

Welcome to life on planet Earth. Life here will never be perfect. The truth is that when we tend to reminisce about “the good old days”, we conveniently forget that things were not perfect. We only remember the good.

Yes, there are heartaches. Trials. Annoyances. Irritations. Setbacks. Disappointments.

But there is also beauty. Laughter. Music. Color. Sunsets. Oceans. Forests. Birds singing. Birthdays. Lovemaking. Flowers. Pets. Spring rains.

Love.

So today choose to focus on the good in your life. Look for the blessings. Let loose and laugh. Search for joy in unexpected places.

Stop waiting for things to be perfect to begin enjoying your life. It will never happen.

You are living the good old days.

Don’t let them pass you by.

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May 29, 2013 · 10:46 am

Adventures in Cooking

Photo credit: Tumblr

It all started innocently enough.

I saw the recipe online and thought it looked both intriguing and delicious.

That was my first clue to cease and desist.

As I have shared many times, the kitchen is not my friend. Nothing about me in the kitchen is intriguing. I cannot cook to save my life. Yet, in moments of utter insanity and optimism, I throw caution to the wind and dive right in, believing that this time, things will be different!

Upon hearing that I was planning to make something called “Vegan Spinach Lasagna” my husband announced that he was headed down to the finished basement to watch the movie “Apocalypse Now.”

An apt description of what was about to happen.

Since the recipe was online, I had my laptop sitting on the kitchen counter. Before beginning, I decided to declare my culinary intentions on my Facebook status. My cousin Sarah, who is a lifelong vegetarian immediately replied: “You are MUCH braver than I am.”

Uh-oh.

Nevertheless, I plunged right in. My mom happened to be sitting in the sunroom, which is open to the kitchen. She was supposedly reading her Kindle, but I now think that she was just treating herself to a front row seat to the spectacle that was about to unfold.

Since the recipe is vegan, one obviously cannot use a container of ricotta cheese for the lasagna. Instead, I was to place firm tofu, raw cashews, lemon juice, garlic,spinach, and half a cup of nutritional yeast (among other things) into a food processor. I was assured that once finished, it would be a suitable (and tasty!) imitation of ricotta cheese.

Except that it was green and non-dairy.

Since I do not own a Cuisinart, I surmised that a blender would do just as well.

I dumped everything inside while trying to ignore the look of increasing alarm and revulsion on the face of my mother. (Seeing the huge block of tofu nearly did her in). I placed the lid on all that nutritional goodness and looked for the button labeled “blend” on my blender, since the recipe clearly stated that I was to blend the ingredients.

No such thing. (Strange, since it is called a blender).

My options were: stir, chop, mix. pulse, puree, liquefy.

What to do?

I asked my mother for help. She said that I really should have used a food processor instead of a blender.

For the record, let me state that this was not helpful advice since I already had a small fortune in ingredients loaded into my blender.

She suggested the “chop” option, since I was dealing with raw cashews. So, I pressed the button.

The machine immediately made an impressive whirring sound…and then stopped. Utter silence.

I tried again. Same thing. Nothing was moving.

Then I heard a rather strange sound. My mother had positioned her Kindle in front of her face and her shoulders were shaking.

She was laughing!

“I’m sorry!” She gasped, in response to my (rightful) offense.

Then she proceeded to collapse into more giggles.

Clearly, I was on my own.

I re-read the recipe, which informed me that if the mixture was too thick, I needed to add more vegetable broth. I was happy to hear this because the only vegetable broth I could find at my local grocery store was the organic brand that sold for a whopping $3.99. Imagine my irritation when I got home and realized I only needed two tablespoons for this recipe! So I liberally poured the vegetable broth into the blender and it worked its magic by causing the blades to happily spin.

I poured the green “ricotta” into a bowl and declared it to be delicious after a quick taste. (I will admit that this was more a declaration of desperate hope than actual fact). I offered it to my mother, whose expression suggested that a bowl full of nails would be preferrable. She politely declined and disappeared behind her Kindle.

Undeterred, I plunged ahead.

I carefully followed the recipe, layered my lasagna, covered it with tin foil, and placed it into the oven to bake.

My daughter wandered into the kitchen halfway through the baking process. Immediately, she wrinkled her nose and said, “What is that awful smell? Did something die?”

Not a good sign.

For the last 15 minutes, I was to remove the tin foil and add the vegan mozzarella cheese.

If you have never purchased fake cheese, it is not cheap. $5.99 will buy you eight ounces of a substance that is “dairy, lactose, casein, gluten, soy, and cholesterol free.”

(Let me emphatically add that it is also TASTE-FREE! But I digress).

In addition, big red letters on the packaging declare that it “melts and stretches!!!”

I don’t know about you, but I always look for a cheese that stretches.

I had begun this endeavor at 7:30. When I finally took the dish out of the oven, it was 9:20.

Online, the recipe looked like this:

spinachlasagna

And then there was my version:

It really is a wonder why the Food Network has not called to offer me my own show.

This is my mother’s reaction:

To her credit, she had bravely stepped up to the plate, ready to take a taste.

She just couldn’t do it. In fact, one look and she literally gagged.

She could, however, do this…

And this…

There was simply no containing her gales of laughter.

I don’t blame her.

This vegan spinach lasagna was without a doubt, the worst thing I have ever made.

And that’s really saying something. Oh, the stories my family could tell.

To prove it, I called our dog Buddy into the kitchen. He came running, tale wagging happily because he knew a treat awaited him.

I placed a small piece on the floor for him.

He gingerly approached. Sniffed. And walked away!

This, from a dog who will happily return to his vomit and begin eating it.

After dumping the entire dish down the sink, I headed downstairs to my husband.

“How did it go?” he asked.

“It was horrible.” I replied glumly.

“Of course it was,” he said.

I have announced before that I am finished forever with cooking. I made that very same announcement last night before I went to bed.

However…I know that sometime, somewhere there exists a recipe on the world wide web that will one day call to me, promising that this time will be different! That I can finally make that one dish that will be treasured by my family for generations to come!

Our illusions die hard, don’t they?

In reality, my family will most likely join with a man named Storm Jameson, who once said of a loved one, “She did not so much cook as assassinate food.”

Sad but true.

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May 26, 2013 · 8:50 pm

Land Of The Noble Free

Photo credit: bestflag.com

This morning at church, our congregation sang “My Country Tis Of Thee.”

The last stanza caused my eyes to well up with tears:

…Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light
Protect us by Thy might
Great God our King!

The light of freedom is dimming in this country.

And that breaks my heart, as I think of those (some in my own family) who have given their lives and sacrificed much for this magnificent country.

We have an administration who rose to power by cynically proclaiming “Hope and Change.” In reality, their policies have brought nothing but despair and increasing tyranny. As they outright ignore and therefore totally trash our precious Constitution, the masses seem to sleep as our blood-bought liberties are slowly but surely and methodically eroded.

Statism, which our current president holds so near and dear to his heart, has proven time and again over the course of history to be a miserable, soul-crushing failure. Yet its cold, godless tentacles are reaching further and further into every aspect of life in our nation.

In recent weeks, we have seen the gross abuses of the ruthless bureaucrats at the IRS come to light. We have witnessed their supreme arrogance as they come before Congress, blithely claiming that they have done nothing wrong—while thousands of lives are now pointlessly shipwrecked because they dared to espouse conservative values.

Next year, this very same loathsome agency will be in charge of making life and death decisions for the health care of every American.

Chilling, isn’t it?

Last September, four Americans were brutally slaughtered in Libya. Some as-yet-unnamed shadowy figure gave the order to “stand down.” With that despicable and cowardly order, these four brave citizens were deserted by their country in their time of greatest need and cut down in the prime of their lives by Islamic terrorists.

(I realize the current political climate declines to call a spade a spade and seems to believe that refusing to acknowledge something will make it go away. I, however, refuse to yield to such juvenile and pathetic absurdity. Islamic terrorists really do exist. They hate America and all that it stands for and are committed to replacing freedom with tyranny by any means necessary. Their goal is nothing short of world domination. And a politically correct climate that refuses to acknowledge the existence of sheer evil is making such a goal much easier. Haven’t you heard? There is no such thing as a ‘war on terror’!).

When grilled about this brutal and senseless carnage, our own Secretary of State yelled into a microphone, “What difference does it make now?”

When I first heard those words, I was so shocked I could not even speak. And then I wept.

This has what our country has become?

The warriors who valiantly serve this country are heroes, pure and simple. They deserve to know that their country is fully behind them when they are in harm’s way.

In my small town, there is a ceremony of remembrance every single Thursday evening. Each week, rain or shine, sleet or snow, a group of veterans gather on the town green beneath the flag to hold a vigil for those missing in action in the Vietnam war. That war ended nearly forty years ago; yet these patriots gather each week to remember their great sacrifice.

Because those people mattered.

The patriots in this country who are willing to take a stand against clear encroaching tyranny and suppression do not deserve to be intimidated by un-elected bureaucrats at the IRS who are intoxicated with the power a behemoth government machine grants them.

This America is NOT what our forefathers fought so hard for.

This America is NOT the country that was founded on the Word of God.

When a country legislates our Creator out of the public square, He grants their request.

Today, we see the dire consequences of this. And it is enough to break a heart.

However, God is not mocked.

His throne has not moved.

He reigns supreme over all.

Statism does NOT win. It is an ultimately utterly and completely futile endeavor, to say nothing of the fact that it is evil to the core.

Those in power are there by God’s decree, whether they acknowledge Him or not. (Romans 13).

The state seeks to enslave and control the very souls who God designed to live free.

No man can chain the soul, regardless of the (temporary) power he has been permitted to have by his Creator.

The savior of this world is NOT big government. There is One Savior, One Hope, One Bondage-Breaker.

Darkness will never overcome the Light Of The World, whose Name is Jesus Christ. There is coming a day when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord to the glory of God. (Philippians 2:10-11).

This Memorial Day, I will pray for this country. I will personally thank as many veterans as I can. I will salute the flag. I will sing our National Anthem with tears in my eyes and a heart filled with gratitude.

I will remember the great ones who have gone before us, who have given so much so that we can all know the sweet taste of freedom.

And as long as I have breath, I will speak out against tyranny and stand for freedom.

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”—Bonhoeffer

Friday Photos: A Spring Day In My Town

The Friday Photos post has been woefully neglected the past couple weeks, the result of a very busy spring schedule.

Now that things have (temporarily) slowed down, here goes…

This is my son and his girlfriend, who graciously agreed to do a photo shoot with me to celebrate their one-year anniversary. We were at the lake on a gorgeous spring evening and this was one of my favorites. I do love the sweetness and the promise of young love.

This was taken the same day. It speaks to me of the upcoming summer and the deliciously good times ahead.

Spring was in full bloom…

And laughter was abundant because my oldest friend in the world had come to visit. We grew up next door to each other and only my husband knows me better. I adore him. Here he is with my mom, who is like his second mother…just as his dear mom was to me.

He, my mom and my brother spent the afternoon together, reliving old memories and sharing present blessings. It was such a joy.

I love this town.

And I love my life.

When You Can’t Fix Things…

Photo credit: thisoldhouse.com

My husband and I sat across from each other at a new cafe in a nearby town.

He looked tired and stressed. The usual merry twinkle in his eyes was absent, replaced by the utter weariness that can result from a lengthy wait. We have been in an infuriating holding pattern in recent months, the result of incompetence and seemingly endless miles of red tape.

As I listened to him share how he was feeling, my heart was extremely unsettled.

My husband is a rock. I am the emotional one and he has spent a considerable amount of time over our twenty-one years of marriage reeling me back in, speaking calm words of reassurance and always making me smile or laugh out loud.

Yet he is human, just like me. He is subject to the same frailties, fears, doubts, and insecurities we all share. I dare not place unrealistic expectations on his broad shoulders, looking to him to be to me what only Jesus can be.

But sometimes I do.

We finished lunch and strolled hand-in-hand through an art gallery.

The afternoon sky became grayer and cloudier and his cell phone remained stubbornly silent. I felt a heaviness settle on my heart.

I wanted to FIX this.

I wanted to burst into this person’s office, demand that he do his job and give us what we want already.

But more than that, I got brutally honest with Jesus. “You could fix this,” I reasoned with Him. “Haven’t we waited long enough? What you You doing? For the life of me, I cannot figure it out. This all seems so pointless! Can today just be the end of this, please? Do we really have to wait another day????”

One of my most cherished books is Jesus + Nothing = Everything. The author (and my pastor from when we lived in Florida) writes about the glorious fact that everything we need, we already have in Jesus as a result of the eternal and abundant life He purchased for us on the cross. I love this book. I practically have it memorized, I have read it so many times. Page after page is highlighted, underlined, starred. I give copies away as gifts. I love the message. I know it is true.

But this afternoon, in a moment of both ruthless honesty and exhaustion, I wanted my own way more than I wanted Him.

Wow.

That looks really ugly in black and white.

But you know what? That is what faith looks like. It is often a messy, difficult process. A wrestling match of the heart as we seek to deliberately place the truth of God’s Word over our tumultuous, often unreasonable feelings. Or yield to His (perfect) way as opposed to demanding our own (short-sighted, selfish) way.

Jesus did answer my prayer this afternoon.

He said no.

The phone call we had been hoping for did not come. The waiting would continue.

I took a shower. Cried a little. Felt sorry for myself.

But then, I grabbed my Bible and went to my knees.

It always goes back to this…to Him, the One I love the most with all my imperfect, fallible, and fragile heart.

He sees all the ugly that no one else ever sees. Yet He loves me unconditionally, wholly, completely. Nothing I say or do surprises Him. After all, He called me to His side when I was still His enemy, still hopelessly lost in my sin.

He calls me His bride. He tells me that He delights in me and rejoices over me with song. He offers to give me beauty for ashes if I will only trust Him. He redeems and He restores. And He is always about the business of melting my heart of stone and transforming it into a strong and soft and loving heart like His own.

Even when I act like a spoiled brat and look to the creation to give me what only He can, He welcomes me with open arms.

I read His Word, allowing it to penetrate to the depths.

My heart is quieted, soothed by His love letter.

The darkness of self-absorption is gradually replaced by His healing light.

The peace that I had forfeited by my stubbornness once again settled like a blanket over my troubled heart.

Fear gives way to renewed hope in His goodness, whatever comes.

Pride is replaced by humility, as I am once again reminded that I am but dust.

A fretful, complaining spirit gradually disappears I focus on gratitude.

A closed fist, clenched in defiance earlier today, is relaxed into an open hand.

My will is once again aligned with His.

I make the decision to trust His timing and purposes.

I ask for (and receive) His sweet and freeing forgiveness.

I can fix nothing and no one. I can’t even fix myself. Jesus is the only One who can fill that job description.

I am the clay who will (again) make the choice to yield to the Potter’s loving hands.

And when I do that—when you do that–bondage gives way to freedom.

Every time.

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May 21, 2013 · 12:02 pm

Continually Before Him

Credit: Google

Like everyone else in our nation, I have been glued to the television screen as the sights and sounds of utter destruction from the tornado in Moore, Oklahoma once again remind all of us that life on this planet is broken.

Time and again, I have heard brave souls give praise to their God as they stand before the microphone of a reporter while all around them is debris and chaos.

“The Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” said one man in a strong, clear voice.

“I thank my Savior Jesus Christ that He has seen fit to let me live to see another day,” said another, hat held in hand.

These words, these attitudes are evidences of people who live their lives walking step by step with the risen Christ. They possess eyes that see beyond the pain and heartache and trinkets of this world to the coming world where Jesus will wipe away every tear from the eyes of His people and will make all things wonderfully, blessedly, and beautifully new.

This morning I was reading Isaiah 49. The Israelites were suffering greatly and in the midst of their pain, they accused God of forsaking and forgetting them.

I imagine that is what some of the victims of this tornado are feeling this morning, particularly those who have lost loved ones.

This was His response to them: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture) of you on the palm of each of My hands; O (people) your walls are continually before Me.” (Isaiah 49:15-15, emphasis added).

The word “indelibly” means: “cannot be eliminated, changed, erased, forgotten, or removed.”

The word “continually” means: “without cessation or intermission, unceasingly, always.”

When storms (either literal or figurative) strike our lives, leaving desolation and devastation in their wake, it is easy and tempting to think that there has been a terrible mistake, that our Savior has forgotten and forsaken us.

Nothing could be further from the truth….despite what our circumstances and feelings tell us.

Our situations are continually before His eyes and on His heart.

Jesus said, “I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, on every occasion) to the very close and consummation of the age.” (Matthew 28:20).

This verse is His promise that He is with us on every occasion. He has not abandoned the people of Moore, Oklahoma.

I was reminded of another man who lived during a time when his homeland had been reduced to utter ruins. His name was Nehemiah. As he looked at the rubble around him and began to rebuild, he wrote these words, “Be not grieved and depressed, for the joy of the Lord is your Strength and Stronghold.” (Nehemiah 8:10).

In the original Hebrew, the word stronghold means: “place of safety, protection, refuge.”

We would do well to remember that true joy, security and safety will never be found in this temporary world. Any of our possessions that we tend to rely so heavily upon for status and support can be taken from us in an instant. Our good health can vanish with a diagnosis or a car accident. Our bank account could be wiped out.

Ironically, the things that we can see turn out to be flimsy and impossible to keep.

Yet, the Person we cannot see (Jesus) turns out to be our most solid and sure foundation; our source of unlimited strength, our only safe and truly secure place of refuge in a broken world.

Whatever storm is blowing in your life right now, cling to Him. He will never leave, fail, or forsake you. You can count on it.

Who shall ever separate us from Christ’s love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?…Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded beyond doubt that neither death nor life not angels nor principalities, not things impending and threatening, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. —Romans 8:35, 37-39

Pray that the people of Oklahoma whose lives have been forever changed by this tornado will turn to Jesus for the hope, comfort, and power they so desperately need.

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May 15, 2013 · 11:21 am

Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone!

Photo credit: lifewithoutlimits.com

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”

A few weeks ago, I received a call from a photographer friend.

Could I help her with a wedding? She had broken a bone in her wrist and if the resulting cast was not removed in time, she would be hard-pressed to carry out her photographic duties.

I was so excited! (Not about her wrist but about the chance to help photograph this wedding).

I hung up the phone and immediately dove into my photography books, writing down ideas for poses, camera settings, etc. I fell asleep with one of the books on my chest.

Then around 1:00 in the morning, I awoke in a cold sweat.

What had I done???

Was I ready to shoot a wedding??? It has only been one year since I took my first photography class!

What if I messed up? What if all my settings were wrong? What if the photos were blurry?

I was simultaneously thrilled and nauseated. I briefly considered calling my friend and suggesting that a professional photographer we both know might be better suited for this.

However, I never made that call because I somehow knew this was a defining moment in my life.

On the day of the wedding, I was scared to death. This was it. No turning back. I had studied and practiced and studied and practiced some more; yet I had the alarming feeling that all of that knowledge had left my brain faster than a morning mist vanishes under a summer sun!

As I was getting ready, Jesus reminded me of the Scripture He had given me for 2012: “I have strength for all things in Christ who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him who infuses inner strength into me. I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency).” (Philippians 4:13).

Immediately I felt my heart still.

Jesus had given me this opportunity. He had called me to it…which meant that I was ready for it and equal to the task!

Besides, He is the Master Photographer. He would be there to help me.

To make a long story short, I grabbed my camera and never let go and it was a marvelous ride!

The bride and groom were an absolute joy and their families were a fun bunch. At the end of the day, I was exhausted but exhilarated.

I had done it! I had gone waaaaay out of my comfort zone and lived to tell about it!

He had indeed empowered me and given me the strength to rise to the occasion. The venue was very challenging to photograph for a variety of reasons but I know that He gave me the ideas for the settings I needed to use. He was right there beside me as He always is, cheering me on, encouraging me, supporting me.

Life…real life…truly does happen only when we choose leave the restricting confines of our comfort zones.

Will things always go smoothly? No.

Will you make mistakes? Yes.

But…you will never know the sheer invigorating joy and freedom that accompany taking a risk if you are not willing to leave the shore and launch out into the deep. Rather than being gloriously enlarged, your soul will become small, confined, hardened, stifled.

What opportunity has He given you?

Are you ready to seize the day and say YES? If not, what is holding you back?

If He has called you to it, He knows that in His strength, you are ready for anything and equal to anything.

As Ann Voskamp has said, “Fear makes a life small.”

You were placed on this earth by your Creator to matter. To scale new heights. To make an eternal impact.

What are your gifts?

Are you using them?

The world needs you…your talent, your voice, your passion! There is no one like you on the face of this earth.

At the end of your days, you will not regret the risks you have taken. But you will regret playing it safe and living the small.

Today, make the choice to step decisively out of your comfort zone.

True life awaits you!

P.S. If you would care to remember me in your prayers this Saturday, I would appreciate it! I am photographing the prom at our local high school…another chance to step out of my comfort zone! 🙂

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May 8, 2013 · 8:57 pm

10 Billion Years From Now…

Photo credit: Google

Recently, I was listening to one of David Platt’s sermons and he said something that caused me to sit up straight: “So many things we focus on will not matter in 10 years, let alone 10 billion years from now. We are blinded by the temporal and the trivial.”

Given that I am currently quite preoccupied by the fact that we are dealing with a bank that is moving slower than a snail, I had to admit that this issue certainly will not matter in ten billion years.

What is the only thing that will matter 10 billion years from now?

Jesus.

It always comes back to Jesus. The One Who was, Who is, Who is to come.

The Creator and Sustainer of this world. The Great I AM. The Messiah. The Savior.

Only one life; twill soon be past
Only what is done for Christ will last.

I was reminded of this afresh on Saturday night.

Our family attended a play at the high school that evening. Several of our kids’ friends were in the show and it was a very enjoyable evening.

After the curtain fell, everyone spilled out into the lobby to congratulate the cast on a job well done. I had stepped away after taking my turn through the line and was waiting by the doors for my husband to finish when a friend approached me.

The look on her face was very serious.

“We got devastating news,” she said softly.

Her husband was diagnosed with cancer last summer. After a grueling treatment, the cancer was still ravaging his body. In a last ditch effort to save his life, another round of treatment was begun in February. Hopes were high that this would work.

It was not to be.

“The treatment isn’t working. The main focus now is just to make him comfortable.”

I glanced over at her husband, who was standing against a wall with one of their neighbors. He looked so frail, so sad. He had just witnessed his son steal the show with his amazing comedic timing on the stage. He will not live to see another play or to see his son graduate next year. I noticed that his gaze was riveted on his boy across the room, as if trying to memorize his face.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered as I drew her into a hug. She felt thin, small. There were lines on her face that were not there when I first met her three years ago.

In the midst of a room filled with the energy of youth and hearty laughter, reality crashed into my heart with the force of a bullet shattering glass and my eyes filled with tears.

This life is not a dress rehearsal.

How we live out our eighty or so years on this planet will directly affect where we will spend eternity.

The instant we die, we will immediately come face to face with the risen Christ. We will either see Him as our Savior or our Judge. The choice is ours.

Sin against a holy God has to go somewhere. Either we pay for the full penalty of our sin and experience the horrors of a Christless eternity or we run to the cross in desperation with all our strength and throw ourselves on the breathtaking grace and mercy of the perfect God-Man who died in our place so that we might live.

Nothing else will matter on that day: not our health, our bank account, our home, our possessions, our job, our marital status, our college degrees, our titles. Nothing.

Where is your focus? Is it on the eternal: God, His Word, and people?

Or is your one precious life slipping quietly away as you obsess about the mundane and trivial and temporal?

Wake up!!!

And please pray for this man who does not (yet) know Jesus. He has less than two months left on this earth.

“This world has been condemned to ultimate dissolution. The human spirit persists beyond the grave and there indeed is a world to come. The church is constantly being tempted to accept this world as her home…we would do well to contemplate the long tomorrow. —A.W. Tozer

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May 3, 2013 · 3:07 pm

Friday Photos: Laughter

“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”—Charlie Chaplin

My mom celebrated her 78th birthday last week.

She recently told me that since she moved to New England six months ago, she cannot remember laughing so much.

I am blessed to have one of the funniest families I know. Not only do we all have a great sense of humor, but none of us are afraid to laugh at ourselves.

Mom fits in very well. 🙂

Mom's Birthday-0084-1
“A smile starts on the lips. A grin spreads to the eyes. A chuckle comes from the belly. But a good laugh bursts forth from the soul…overflows and bubbles all around.”—Carolyn Birmingham

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Filed under Friday Photos

Monthly Archives: May 2013

When You Need Power To Ride Out The Storm…

The Good Old Days

Adventures in Cooking

Land Of The Noble Free

Friday Photos: A Spring Day In My Town

When You Can’t Fix Things…

Continually Before Him

Get Out Of Your Comfort Zone!

10 Billion Years From Now…

Friday Photos: Laughter

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