Terribly Interesting

This Blog is updated each Tuesday. This picture is the bridge where Don Piper says he died and went to heaven in his book Ninety Minutes in Heaven . It's right here in Trinity, Texas. I wonder about his story as I stare down the path as thought the Holy Spirit were still waiting there to tell someone else a profound mystery. Do I know if Don's vision was true? No. I do know, however, that it made him grateful. That's where I am at right now. I am grateful.  I stared at a picture from the New Orleans' mission trip and it made me thank God. There were concrete steps leading up to a house that wasn't there. Can you imagine? I don't have a home and I am grateful.  Leaning on the generosity and kindness of the saints is a truly humbling thing. He has called us to pursue something though. There are times in my life that things I have loved have gotten ruined or lost. People have been taken away. Those times of loss change us. The letting go is a spiritual experience. ...

This Blog is updated each Tuesday. I love the song Come In From the Cold by Marc Broussard . It has made it to my current playlist with Lizz Wright, Mrs.  McCracken , and Ben Harper. Each time I hear those words, "come in from the cold," I feel my spirit longingly say 'okay' . . . even though it's 102 degrees outside. Do you ever feel like that? Perhaps you have been spiritually or emotionally out in the elements just a little too long and you are desperate to come inside to a warm, accepting fire and a cup of hot tea.  The clouds are like a sea of draping  chiffon dancing across the sky as I contemplate this thought. This has been the year of my undoing. Pride has been eaten up by deep gratitude. A new will to live has been issued. Creativity has taken over and quiet reflective prayer has become a refuge. Bread baked. Acrylic met the canvas. Tiny dress hand stitched. Love issued with depth and intention. Life . When I was younger I would wander around   Dabo...

This Blog is updated each Tuesday. As my Life Group watched The Truth Project this week, some interesting and wonderful discussion ensued. We discussed how Isaiah had an overwhelming encounter with God in Isaiah chapter 6. Isaiah saw the Lord on His throne as he was in the presence of seraphs declaring the His holiness . That made him realize how incredibly short he fell when compared to the glory of God. "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty." Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your sin is taken away and your guilt is atoned for." " Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I. Send me!" What if you sat...

This Blog is updated each Tuesday. (I hijacked this rainbow photo off Anne's blog. It was over us on the fourth of July) Each week as I set out on this blog writing adventure, I generally have no idea what I am going to write. I get out my journal, put on a hat (to increase creativity) and I wait on whatever the Lord wants me to talk about. I wait.  ro · mance      ( rō -māns', rō'māns ')  n.   A love affair. Ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people; love: On the fourth of July my husband and I chased a rainbow in our car. As I stare at the expanse of clouds and the beauty of nature, I find myself thankful to God for the great measures He goes  to in order to allure us to Himself. He sets brilliant stages and works miraculous things together in order to lavish a sweet healing love on us. The romance of God is overwhelming. Do you take notice of His sumptuous display? Have you allowed your heart to receive the beauty God is trying to offer to you? This i...

This Blog is updated each Tuesday. It all starts in Genesis 1:1. "God created the heavens and the earth." Continues on in Psalm 139:13 "You created my inmost being." More than fifty times we can read how God created something from nothing. He creates. Do you? For the next thirty days, I want to issue a  challenge to you. Live your life. Veer off path and discover hidden things. It is time we left the box of our Christianity and  discovered God in His element. The rituals we  are so comfortable in are keeping us from discovery and creation. I like taking different routes home. You'd be surprised how this upsets your backseat drivers. Find Christ off the beaten path. There are side roads off main streets that hold things that are exquisite. Find them. To find Christ in unexpected places, you have to go to them. I have been thinking quite a bit about  forgiveness of late. In fact, I am consumed by it.  Last week I posted about people telling Gary Ridgway that they...

This Blog is Updated each Tuesday. I once thought Christianity was about being an advocate for "Christian" things. I signed up for all these "action" newsletters and so forth. They still come in my inbox and I usually delete them. The other day I got one about Praying the vote. It gave a list of what each of the Presidential candidates stood for so we could accurately ask God for the right candidate. What!? I stared at it for a minute and thought, "Didn't we try telling God what we wanted in a ruler before?" King Saul didn't work out too well for anyone. Don't you think God Almighty can pick the candidate most like His Son? Does HE really need us to go through a list of criteria for Him and judge properly so that HE can give us the best President? At the bottom of the email it said "so you can pray as one informed." Right. I told Denbigh it should say, "so you will be persuaded to vote according to our conservative right-wing ...

This Blog is Updated each Tuesday. On Sunday at Austin Baptist Church this video was shown. I loved it and want to see every Christian I know be so transparent and  glorifying to God. I thought of things that would be on my sign.  Lost:Found Broken:Whole Abused:Restored Attacked:Healed Another Miscarriage:Beautiful Healthy Baby Lost Second Brother: Redeemed Family Proud in Flesh: Humbled in Spirit  What would your sign say?  "Worship as warfare" has been on my heart this week. The Cardboard Testimony video seemed to echo that to me. What made that video so powerful in my mind was not that those people were sharing what they had overcome. The beauty was in them giving glory to God for victory. We worship most when we take the focus from us and what we have done and praise God for what He has done and is doing. We need to think about our testimony of Christ. We generally tend to tell lengthy stories of what we have been through and how we suffered and give God his 2.2 second pr...