Be Still...

I was so apprehensive about starting to write. I mentioned in my first post that I am so unqualified to teach anyone anything about God. I didn't understand why I had this urge to write. I sing. That's my ministry. I'm not good with putting my thoughts together. But I just couldn't stop thinking about it. When I finally decided to give it a try, I thought I'd try to write once a week. I really don't have a lot to say. I can tell stories, but I had no idea how I would relate them to anything Biblical or how to form any sort of lesson/devotion out of them. I've never done anything like this.  So my plan was to write once a week, and my measure of success would be that someone other than my mom reads it. I would study scripture, pray about what I should write, and take my time putting my thoughts together for my weekly post. I wrote the first one and had a feeling of relief, like 'ok now I can start thinking about what to write about next week.' I g...

This one is a little personal for me to write. I'm hesitant to share for a couple of reasons. First, I don't want sympathy. I don't want people to think "ohhh, that poor girl." I am not scarred. I did not have a troubled childhood, by any stretch. I am not harboring hate or anger. But most of all, I don't want this to come across as a bashing session, or accusatory, or hateful in any way. So here it is. I grew up in a home with an alcoholic dad. From a very young age I had a good understanding of what alcohol was. Simply because I was taught from the time I could walk that I am not to touch dad's drink. There were kid drinks and there were adult drinks. My dad always, ALWAYS had an adult drink. I mean, in the morning before work he was mixing his Bacardi and Diet Pepsi. When I say he was never without an adult drink, I mean never. This was my normal. When I was young, I didn't know that it was a problem. Again I want to stress that I do not consi...

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to rebuild. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speed up. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.  Cool nights, allergies and Halloween stores opening on every corner are telling me that Fall is coming! I love the fall. I love everything about it. I love fall decorations, and fall scents, and cider mills, and college football. It's my favorite time of year. I especially love red leaves. My family will roll their eyes at me because I point out ...

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the story about Jesus healing the demon possessed boy. There are a few different accounts of this, and for the most part they all tell the same story. My favorite is how it's told in the book of Mark. The basics of the story are that Jesus finds a large crowd surrounding some of the disciples and an argument is happening between them and some teachers of religious law. Jesus asked what the arguing was all about and a man tells Jesus that his son is possessed by a demon. He tells Jesus that he asked the disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn't. Jesus asks how long the boy has been possessed and the dad tells him since he was a small child. Then Jesus casts out the demons. That's the part of the story that is the same for the most part each time it's told. The reason I like the 'Mark version' the most is that it goes on to say that the man asks Jesus to "Do something if you can." (Mark 9:22) To...

A few months ago I read a book called "The Road Back To You." It's all about The Enneagram, which is basically the idea that there are nine different personality types that explain why people think, feel and act the way they do. If you can pinpoint what type you are, you can work on improving yourself. If you can pinpoint what type others around you are, you can learn to better communicate with and understand them. I thought it sounded interesting. If I'm being completely honest, the book bored me to tears. I felt like I was in a college lecture with a monotone professor, like the teacher on Ferris Bueller. That is until I got to my chapter. (I cheated and took the test online to see what type I am so I could skip to that chapter.) If you Google "Enneagram Test" you can take one of many online tests to find out your type. Anyway, I'm a Type 2 - The Helper . Not surprising. I was ok with that title. I mean, what could be negative about being a helper, r...

I've been toying with the idea of writing some sort of blog/devotion for a while now. Disclaimer: I am NOT a writer, nor am I a Bible scholar by any stretch of the imagination. I've been feeling this nudge to write, and I keep giving God the same excuses I just mentioned above. "I don't have enough scripture memorized to attempt to teach anyone anything. I'm not a writer. Who am I to write a devotion for others to read? Who am I to give anyone any type of advice?" My life is far from  together.  I ate Lucky Charms for dinner last night. Every time I give one of these excuses, God comes back at me with "JUST TELL YOUR STORY." So while I don't have any seminary training, I don't have a degree in any sort of writing, or theology, and I'm less than equipped to teach anyone... I do have one thing, and that's my story. Actually, I have several stories. About my life (that could quite honestly be turned into a good soap opera), but most ...