Category Archives: Uncategorized

31 Days of Seeking Him – Joy

Posted on by
Reply

31 Days of Seeking Him

I can’t believe that we are almost through this month. 26 of my 31 posts were written in advance so I knew I just had to get the chosen word each week and write one post.

Easy peasy one would think. But can I admit that I groaned a little when I saw the choice for this Friday….Joy.

Normally it would be easy for me to snap out a post on what the word Joy means to me…but today, if I am being honest I was just not feeling it.

It has been a tough week. One of those weeks that is painful getting through. Most of it my own doing, which is hard to admit, but joy has been about the farthest feeling from me.

I can be a pretty negative person and very quickly can fall into the “everything is hopeless trap”.

It is a terrible place to stay and I know that it isn’t where God wants me to live.

And then I came across a reading in Psalm 28: 6-7 “Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.
My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.”

There will be times in our lives that are not filled with joy. Times that are heavy and hurt-filled, hopeless and unsure.  Times when we need mercy and grace and other times we need to be the one to forgive.

I don’t typically walk through these trials with much joy. But these verses remind me that God has heard my heart cries. He IS with me. Even when I have failed Him, He is my strength and my shield.

What a blessing that little reminder was for me today.

If I believe the Word of God to be true, how can I not have a spirit of joy?

My circumstances may not have changed, but I can look at them with a different perspective. It is a reminder that we can have hope, we find joy in the Lord. I can’t let the happenings in my life, even the ones I cause by my own bad will, rule my emotions.

I don’t need to live in a pit of negativity, I can choose joy.

The Lord is my strength. He is my shield, my protector, the solid rock when I am unsteady, and today I rejoice in that truth. Just the act of seeking Him by searching for a verse on joy when I feel none, has power to change my attitude. I hope dear friend if you find yourself discouraged it gives you a bit of hope to keep chasing Him…

_______________________________________

Because I am a part of this fun #Write31Days community I have something extra fun to share with you for the rest of this month! DaySpring.com is celebrating all of the amazing Write 31 Days readers who are supporting nearly 2,000 writers this October! To enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree, just click on this link & follow the giveaway widget instructions. Good luck, and thanks for reading! I’d love to see one of my readers win this so enter today!!  🙂

31 Days of Seeking Him – Green

Posted on by
2

31 Days of Seeking Him

The colors are changing quickly around town these days. The green that once filled the ground this summer is fast being replaced with browns. A sure sign of the ever changing seasons.

In the winter we hold onto hope that the green will come once again. We watch for it as the snow melts, we cheer when life appears again. In what at times seems like the endless drag of winter, the signs of new growth remind us that spring is just around the corner.

I love the changing seasons. This time of year is especially beautiful when the trees start to reveal their hidden beauty. What was once green begins to turn to yellows, oranges and brilliant reds. I have always wanted to travel to the Northeast where I hear they have some pretty magnificent displays! I am continually inspired by the beauty of the earth around me.

There is something about these changing seasons that reminds me of the growth I have had in my faith life.

At times I have felt cold and stuck in a repeated winter blah. God seems far away. (Usually it is me that has withdrawn and not Him) I fear that there won’t ever be new growth and yet I hold onto the hope of newness. Newness found in seeking Him.

And as it always has, spring comes again. New growth, new life….a greening of my faith as I experience life with God in a renewed way.

While the seasons change around me I can be  sure that there is one constant in all of it, and that is God. He is the same in each season of my life. He has always been there…even when I have pushed Him away, fought Him, blamed Him. God has always been beside me.

As I continue to seek God more and more I become more secure in His presence in my life. I see Him in the changing colors, I feel His presence even in the depths of winter and I find hope in the promise of new life that comes with the greens of spring.

He is and always has been there and I walk in faith knowing that will never change!

_______________________________________

Because I am a part of this fun #Write31Days community I have something extra fun to share with you for the rest of this month! DaySpring.com is celebrating all of the amazing Write 31 Days readers who are supporting nearly 2,000 writers this October! To enter to win a $500 DaySpring shopping spree, just click on this link & follow the giveaway widget instructions. Good luck, and thanks for reading! I’d love to see one of my readers win this so enter today!! 🙂

Why Our Individual Stories Matter

Posted on by
Reply

Journal 1

The word “blog” was something I hadn’t even heard of until early 2008. My husband and I had tickets to attend a Selah/Point of Grace concert and we heard that the lead singer of Selah wasn’t going to be able to attend. His wife was carrying a baby that was “incompatible with life” and she was due to deliver the same week as the concert.

The radio station gave the name of Angie Smith’s blog, and asked us to pray.

I wasn’t even sure what I would find on this blog, but I wanted to read more about this family. So that night, while using my incredibly slow dial up internet service, I logged on and found myself engrossed in a story I hadn’t expected.

Here was a woman, who had made a choice to carry a baby they were being told wouldn’t survive, and she was praising God in the middle of it.

I was heartbroken for her and yet inspired by her faith. My own prayer life changed as I found myself praying for Angie and her family. I watched as a community of strangers left comments and encouragement, offered up prayers and showered them with love.

Until that time I didn’t know that community could be formed online.

And then in February of that same year my husband and I had a miscarriage.  I was really struggling with the loss, even though it was early in the pregnancy, and I needed a way to process everything.

I had journaled as a teenager and thought that maybe this blog thing might help me. And so my first family blog was born.

I had 4 readers, literally 4. My parents and my grandparents. 🙂

Initially, I was writing for me….finding a way to work out my faith in this grief process I was going through.

The writing was healing for me and while I didn’t have an audience of 10,000….I was so encouraged by the community that I had seen form online that I kept going.

Then somehow I stumbled onto a few more blogs and “met” other women who were dealing with pregnancy loss and infertility struggles. I was not alone. And while none of us had the same story, I recognized that each individual story mattered.  (<=== Click to Tweet)

I am sharing the rest of the story over at Laura Rath’s blog today – will you join me over there?!

Compare x480 LR

Original Photo Credit: Walt Stoneburner modified by Kristin Smith

 

You Are Not A Failure

Posted on by
3

Sailboat 1

When I was 16 I knew that I wanted to be a Physical Therapist when I “grew up”. One of my dad’s best friend’s was a PT and he allowed me to go to the clinic after school and shadow there to see what it might be like.

Before I even started college I had hours of volunteer time built up. I loved it. I felt like it was the perfect job for me and set my mind to achieving my goals.

As a Junior I was pre-accepted to the private college of my choice, located in my hometown, with scholarships. It was the college that my parents had both graduated from….everything was falling into place, perfectly

I had no doubt that this was God’s plan for my life.

My first semester of college was tough, but I worked hard and did well. Then in my 2nd semester as a Freshman I took Organic Chemistry. It was HARD and didn’t come easy. I studied and studied for my first quiz….I think I got 20 out of 25 wrong.

A complete and miserable failure.

I am sharing the rest of the story over at God-sized Dreams today – join me there won’t you?!

Original Photo Credit: Derek Keats

New Life

Posted on by
2

Flowers 1

On Thursday I turned 39.

In less than 365 days I will be 40. When I was 20, 40 seemed SOOO old! 😉 Today I would tell you that 40 is vibrant and young and wonderful….we will see how I feel about it when it actually comes though!

I have shared about my friend Karlena here before. She was my best friend and her loss in 2010 was and has been so difficult for me.  Her death left a friendship void that was heavy on my heart.

Then last year I became a part of the God-sized Dream Team. I thought I was joining a group of bloggers to help launch a book for an author I respected.

What I didn’t expect was the community that would be formed and the friendships that would flourish because of it.

There is a group of us that stay connected through FB and Voxer – Voxer is such an amazing little app – it is basically a voice messaging system…you vox a recorded message to a person or group without having to call their #.  Oh if we had only had Voxer when Karlena was alive….I would have loved that!

Flowers 2

Two women in particular and I have formed, what is, a blessing of a friendship in my life. One of daily encouragement and prayer. Christine and Gindi are both amazing, Godly, women and I can’t imagine my life without them in it.

They are a gift to me every day.

And for my birthday they sent me these beautiful flowers.

Flowers 3

While Karlena will never be “replaced”, God has filled that void in my heart for relationship with encouraging women.

The flowers that they sent to me represent new life.

The beauty Christine and Gindi both bring to my life, the color and laughter, encouragement and prayer….I just can’t say enough how blessed I am.

While we live all over the country and can’t have “coffee” together – we share life, every day.

Today I am experiencing new life, and it is beautiful – just like those flowers are.

Gindi and Christine, You ladies are a constant blessing to me. It is a honor to pray for you and do life together. Thank you not only for the flowers, but for the gift you give me each day. I thank God for you both!