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God wants you to be holy

“I want a purity ring.” Hearing you say these words made me so happy.  Being pure is something to be proud of and I’m grateful that you know it.  I didn’t know it at your age. I was pure, but my friend sometimes teased me about it.  One of my friends joked about the” V” on my forehead, but I didn’t want to be like my friends who went all the way with guys who didn’t seem to care about them.   Over the next few years, not all of my decision were perfect, but still I waited. My mom was very open; more than I was comfortable with.  I remember visiting her at the bar where she worked one afternoon.  She was talking with some customers and said, “I used to have tits, but I gave them to her,” and nodded her head my way.   I felt time stop and wanted to crawl into a hole.  I was uncomfortable in my changing body and hated when my mom pointed out anything about it.  She often joked about sex with her friends and sisters. This made me more self-conscious, private, and never ope
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God's power

2 Peter 1:3-4(CEV) We have everything we need to live a life that pleases God. It was all given to us by God’s own power, when we learned that he had invited us to share in his wonderful goodness. God made great and marvelous promises, so that his nature would become part of us . Then we could escape our evil desires and the corrupt influences of this world. “We have learned that the satisfaction of instincts cannot be the sole aim of our lives.” I don’t have a problem with alcohol,  yet this principle from AA applies to me because for years I was driven more by my own desires than trying to please God. I was a Christian and member of a church, but I was often in pursuit of something or someone to find happiness.    I believed in God, but it took attending a new church for me to be made new in my heart and in my thinking.( Ephesians 4:23)  This allowed the Spirit freedom to work within me so God’s nature could become part of me.   I felt my spirit awake with a new hope tha
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Little By Little

Psalm 27:14 (NIV)   Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. When I want something, I want it quickly.  It’s why I love Amazon Prime. I find what I want, make a few clicks, and it’s delivered to my front porch within a few days.    My husband thinks it’s too quick and easy and a look into our pantry could prove him right. But despite the veggie spiralizer and some other unused items cluttering our shelves, I love this amazing service. But waiting for the things we really long for often takes much longer,  like when we are praying for our circumstances to change.  Sometimes the waiting hurts and leaves us questioning why.   Exodus 23 is a reminder that God’s ways and timing are better than our own.  God told Israel he would help them take back the land he had promised by sending His great power before them to force their enemies away.  He explained that this would happen slowly because  it was necessary for the process to happen just a little at
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First date

I shouldn’t be getting ready for a first date when I am 38.   I should be settled down instead of getting ready to meet someone brand new. These are my thoughts as I walk around picking up this and that, and worrying what impression this place might be making. Then I hurry back to the mirror again to see if my outfit and hair look right.  I get as close to the mirror as I can searching for gray hairs, another sign that I am way too old for a first date.   Suddenly, it hits me that this guy doesn’t want to go on this date, but he was too nice to say so.  My coworker, who set us up, is a mom of one of his basketball players and he was probably just too nice to tell her no. I start to feel bad for the guy for having to go through with it. Now I see why he suggested our date for a Tuesday night.  He said his weekends were pretty busy, but I bet he didn’t want to waste a weekend night on a mercy date.   Should I let him off the hook by texting him that we don’t have to do this, o
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My way, my way! Get outta my way!

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (ESV) “My way, my way! Get outta my way! ” my toddler says as she squeezes her way behind me on the couch.   “Say excuse me,” I remind her. “‘’Scoo me,” she says as she continues to push her way through, and the limits of my patience. Being a mom to a toddler is harder than I remember. I’ve been through these years with my older kids, but I thought this time would be a breeze with the experience of being an older mom.  However, her temperament is a  little more turbulent than breezy. My husband and I aren’t sure what will work best for her.  I think she needs limits and consequences and discussed the possibility of time-outs.  He didn’t like my idea and backed up his thoughts with an article explaining how punishment can be harmful to toddlers.   His parenting approach seems to put her in char
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Lead Me

I was 39 when my husband and I got married, but I still firmly believed in living “happily ever after”.  I thought marrying the right guy could make this happen, but it didn’t take long before I learned our marriage would be full of ups and downs.  Adjusting to each others habits and ways of doing life was hard and to add to that, my husband had to adjust to living with my two teenagers.   In our four years of married life, we have had great days mixed together with tough days.  We have had fun times when we feel silly and happy and other days when we’ve felt frustrated and annoyed with each other.  We have great talks and then times when neither of us can communicates what is bothering us. There have been days when he is concerned about low corn price while I am nagging him about remodeling the kitchen. Then I take it personally when he seems irritated or is in a bad mood.  It bothers me when he is quiet and withdrawn.  This has happened more as we’ve faced real challenges.  
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