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You were Chosen for This

  You were chosen for this. I’m not sure what “this” is for you in your life, but let me encourage you that you were chosen for it.  Hopefully, this little story will help explain what I mean. I once had a conversation with a good friend (a Godly, church-going-all-my-life type of friend) who was expressing to me a difficult part of her life. With all sincerity, matter-of-factness, and honesty-of-spirit she said it felt like when this difficulty came into her life, God opened up the gates of Hell and told them to “go get her.” 😳 I was shocked that someone could feel that and have the audacity to express that. I had not experienced her deep level of pain, so it took me a moment to gather my thoughts. Just then, it’s as if the Holy Spirit gave me the exact words to encourage her with - and a Bible example to back it up. I replied, “I know it may feel like that sometimes, but the problem with that is this: that’s not how our God operates. Remember the story of Job? When Satan cam...
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Telling the Truth is the (not-so-magical) Gift.

     If you have kids and they're anything like my kids, when they get really into something, they get stuck on it for a while. (Think: a book you've read 1,000 x's, a game they've incessantly asked you to play, a movie they've watched repetitively ...etc.) Well, recently, in our family, the "thing" has been the movie Encanto. Now, my girls were into Encanto back when it came out in 2021. Since then, we've watched the movie more-than-a-handful-of-times, we've bought the action figures & dolls, the Lego sets, and even the costumes complete with glasses, purses, accessories... yes, we're in that deep.     If you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you take a moment and watch it, so you'll have better context for what I'm about to write. But may I warn you? Watch it without your kids, especially if you have little girls. (that is, unless you want to be watching it like 100x's) I digress.     Even if you haven't watched the mo...
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Were it Not for Grace: Lessons Learned in a Courtroom

Lately, I've been going through a personal Bible study by Kelly Minter entitled "Nehemiah: A Heart That Can Break," and I have recently (within the last couple of days or so) asked that God would specifically break my heart for something that breaks His. Naturally, we all have those areas that touch a soft spot in our hearts, but this prayer I've been praying asked God to specifically break my heart for something or some area that I had not yet considered. In other words, I've been asking God to extend the borders of my scope of compassion. At the end of the day, I truly want my life and my compassion for others to mirror that of the heart of God for the world in its entirety. I'm not there yet. Not. even. close. Today, God very vividly answered my prayer for a broken heart for something that breaks His heart. But, as you can probably imagine, it came in a much different packaging than I originally anticipated (which, in itself, is a testament to...
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Change

Change  Have you ever gotten to a point in your life where you reckoned your plans with reality and said to yourself (maybe even audibly), "No, no, no! It wasn't supposed to happen this way"? I know I have.  Often.  Recently, even. I've heard it said, "The only thing constant in life is change." And boy-oh-boy is that true in my life these days. Change is all around me. Change is in my family. My dad now "works from home," sometimes. My mom is in the midst of "remodeling" our home. My oldest brother is now engaged. Another brother has twin baby boys! Another brother is pretty much traveling the nation this summer with his job. My sister seemingly gets promoted in the corporate world on a quarterly basis. And I just moved from Lynchburg, VA to Jacksonville, FL on a faith decision that God was going to work out the details of my life for His glory (job, housing, etc.) with no sight of what was and is to...
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