The weather today is 19 degrees, but feels like 6 with the wind chill. “He offers a resting place for me in his luxurious love. His tracks take me to an oasis of peace, the quiet brook of bliss.” Psalm 23:2 -The Passion Translation The weather statement and the verse above sound like completely opposite places. The first is cold, windy, freezing conditions and the other is a tropical paradise. But they both are intended to bring about the same thing, peace and rest. How is that possible? I have today off work, in fact I am in the middle of a long holiday weekend and still have 2 days remaining. The…

The other day our internet service provider was down with a nationwide outage. This created quite a bit of stress and trouble for many people. Most of the programs that I use at work are internet based and we were unable to login and do the work we usually do. Our phones were also affected and we were unable to make long distance phone calls. The first day of the outage was quiet. We received a few phone calls, but nothing urgent and people were understanding as they were experiencing the same issues. The second day was much different. People were needing assistance immediately as flights were delayed, cancelled and…

I came across this verse in my studies the other day and it has opened some interesting parallels to the re-conditioning process that I’m currently going through. Years ago while on a trip to Long Beach, California, my husband and I were walking the boardwalk and came across a pirate ship that was used for dinner cruises. The ship was very realistic in it’s appearance with the design, sails, pirate flag and even the barnacles attached to the hull. I was surprised at how many were on the ship and didn’t think much more of them until the other day. In Psalm 51:10-12 King David asks God to restore him…

The journey continues as I work towards my birthday goals and as my mind fights the idea of a diet, the re-conditioning is telling me that I need to do things differently than I’ve done them before.  I’ve tried most of the plans out there and was prompted to look at a relative that had tried Weight Watchers.  He had lost several pounds and kept it off, which was encouraging. This program would require me to us an app on my cell phone and that is something that I don’t use.  I believe this was another nudge from God to get out there and try new things, think differently and…

While looking up a word in the online dictionary a statement caught my attention, it was, “The Oxford Word of the Year is a word or expression that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year, and have lasting potential as a term of cultural significance.” Do you know what the 2018 Word of the Year is….toxic. Isn’t that a sad way to describe anything, let alone a whole year. With 2018 wrapping up today it is always a time to look back and reflect on the past year. What were the highlights, the best memories, the things you hope you never have to go through again and the things…

I’ve noticed that I use both hair color and wrinkle cream a lot more than I use to.  They have become necessary elements in my Esther Project.  This project started by writing out some goals that I wanted to achieve by a certain date.  During the goal setting process I was reading a book by Mark Batterson called Prayer Circles.  He talks about goals and says, “Any goal that cultivates physical discipline will cultivate spiritual disciplines too.”  He also said, “When you write down a goal, it holds you accountable.  Goal setting is good stewardship.” Because this journey is about both outside and inside changes, God introduced me to an…

As my year progressed the closer I was getting to a milestone in my life, my 50th birthday. I’ve never been one to worry about turning another year older and I enjoy celebrating birthdays with others. I think of birthdays as your day or as a day to celebrate that person being in your life. I feel that way because my boys liked them so much, especially Brock. He liked them so much he wanted to make sure he had one more before he went to Jesus. So I guess it’s a privilege to be able to celebrate them, a privilege I’ve had for almost 50 years, and I don’t…

When I was growing up our family would go fishing often. My dad was a boat builder and part of the final process was testing the boats on different rivers and lakes. This meant that we would be able to go fishing often. On one fishing trip I was out on the lake with my dad and brothers. We were using large red and white fishing lures that were about 2 1/2 inches long. As we started fishing we were reminded to keep quite or we would scare the fish. All of a sudden I felt this sting on my ear and yelled. Then it felt like something was trying…

While Tracy and I were working on remodeling our home I would often offer to help him with bigger projects. I wanted to be useful and try new things. I thought that remodeling something by myself would be exciting and challenging and I wanted to do more than what basic skills would require. He was always sweet and calm about my offers and would usually give me something easy to do like paint, clean up or prep a room for the bigger things. So I continued to ask. Finally one day he said that the reason he doesn’t let me help him with the bigger things is that I’m clumsy…

I put myself on a timer all the time so I’m always rushing to get things done. Some examples are unloading the dishwasher before my coffee finishes brewing or getting the house clean before Tracy finishes mowing the lawn. I like lists and feeling a sense of accomplishment when I can cross something off of them. There have been times that I’ve put things on my list that are already finished, just to cross them off. I’m not sure why I do it, other than I like seeing measurable results. I won’t win any medals or get pats on the back for completing a list of projects. My reward is…