He makes all things beautiful

 And so, I flip my calendar page over again. October was an amazing month filled with travel and the awe of God's ever-impressive color palette change as he dotted the tree lines with gold, orange, and crimson under the bluest skies and the golden glow of cornfields ready for harvest.

My husband and I took a drive this afternoon to take in all the beauty as next week's forecast sets the tone for the landscapes to change.

Joel pointed out every single tree and bush of color, and as annoying as it was, it is one of his most endearing qualities - the way he loves creation. But mostly, how he loves the Creator. Seeing the Father's handiwork awes him continuously, and I'm here for it! His appreciation for life and all things beautiful is so endearing, and I will never get tired of him pointing out every color of the season at hand.

The highlight of the drive was passing a colorful meadow where a newborn Holstein calf lay on the ground while mama gave him his first bath. She had chosen to bring him into the world in a lovely spot under golden Maple speckled with reds and spurts of orange. The scene perfectly represented life vs. death, and how both are beautiful in their own way. The graceful exit of summer's bounty contrasted with the new life born under its thinning shade was a peaceful reminder of the circle of life. Seasons come, and seasons go, and so does life.  

The meadow scene demonstrated the reality of the Christian's hope for me. That tree will bud again and return to its splendor, and so will I when God calls me home. Life springs eternal for those who love the Lord. "Death is swallowed up in Victory!" (1 Cor. 15:55)

Today God painted the perfect picture of life and death together in one place, and I stand in awe to have witnessed it. He makes all things beautiful in His time.

How Sweet It Is

 It's been a long time since I posted a blog! Over a year in fact. Do people even read blogs anymore? My husband has encouraged me to post my articles on my blog. I've been writing an inspirational article called "Heart & Soul" in our hometown newspaper each month for over three years now. I love the task each month. It scratches my writing itch just right! My latest article was on confession. 

I've been practicing the ACTS prayer module in my quiet time. A - Adoration, C-Confession, T- Thanksgiving, S - Supplication. Each category is fairly easy for me....except the confession one. That is something God and I are working at together. Confessing sins daily is a new thing for me. An eye-opening thing, for sure. Forgiving others, especially those who haven't asked for it, it's not new for me. It's just difficult. Learning to recognize my own inadequacies every day and asking for forgiveness for them has helped me in learning to forgive those who have wronged me. Opening old wounds is becoming less. Turns out that confession, truly is...good for the soul. Here's my recent "Heart & Soul" article in the January '26 edition of Hometown Treasure. 

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The glass was broken. The ball was in his hand. And yet, my son had no idea how the windshield got broken while he waited in the car for my return. I allowed guilt and shame to do their work in my son’s soul until he finally confessed. This gave me the opportunity to extend grace to him and come up with a plan to fix the windshield together.

 

You see, Junior was more concerned with the repercussions than with remorse. What he didn’t understand was that, although I would be upset that I now had a windshield to replace, the act wouldn't make me stop loving him. He didn’t want to face the reality of his wrongdoing, so he chose to play dumb in hopes I’d be dumb enough to believe him. But he soon learned that the weight of guilt was heavier than spilling the painful truth!  

 

I recently heard this quote from my Bible study leader. If the practice of confession is superficial, then the experience of grace will be superficial. Genuine confession = genuine grace. Junior confessed – I forgave. Neither act was easy to do.

 

Junior learned that saying, “I’m sorry,” is difficult. Confession, however, is a two-way street: it frees you from guilt and allows the other person to extend grace through forgiveness. Likewise, when we confess a sin to God, He forgives and forgets. Phew!

 

It’s not so easy to ask for forgiveness from a human, though, is it? The anti-inflammatory concoction I drink each morning doesn’t taste good, but the benefits to my joints are worth it. The same is to be said of eating a slice of humble pie. It’s hard to swallow, but the benefits to my soul are well worth the humility.

 

But what if you’re on the flip side of this transaction, the one to whom someone is confessing? Well, you have an excellent opportunity to forgive and reconcile. Harder yet, what if you’ve been offended and the offender doesn’t apologize?  Well, according to this Bible verse, we are to forgive anyway.

 

Ephesians 4:31–32 (NIV)

"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger...Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you".

 

Because of Christ’s death on the cross, I have been forgiven and set free. The gratitude of this transaction should motivate me to extend grace through forgiveness and receive grace through confession.

 

Unfortunately, my motivation wanes when I have been wounded by someone. I’m more apt to fret, stew, and think ill thoughts. How about you? When it comes to confession and forgiveness, relief comes only when I remember the example Jesus set for me. On a cross. On the day he extended grace and mercy to a sinner such as I. But mostly, from the grace he gives me now every time I disappoint him.

 

It turns out that, contrary to popular belief…revenge is not sweeter…grace is!

 

A Reason, A Season, or Forever

 As we near the month of Love - I'm reminded of this article that I published in the Hometown Treasure last year. Who are these people in your life?

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Coming off the holidays, where I spent time with friends and family and moving into the "month of love," I've been reflecting on relationships. Conclusion - I've been blessed with a lot of them!

Some were in my life for a reason, some for a season, and some are in it forever. No relationship in my life has been wasted. Even if they ended, there was a purpose. I've learned valuable lessons, shared laughs, and loved.

There have been individuals in my life whose paths have crossed briefly with mine. They have been placed there for a reason. Past teachers taught me essential lessons or skills. I've encountered people in the grocery store that I'm convinced were there for a purpose. This is how I learned to pick a good cantaloupe!

Then there are those people who were in my life for a season. Classmates, parents who I shared bleachers with and cheered our children on together, or friends who moved away. We didn't part on complicated terms but moved on with good memories. I've also endured complex relationships for a season. I learned valuable lessons there, also.

Then there is the long-haul group. These forever people are my mainstays who have stuck with me no matter what. They are my parents, family members, spouse, and lifelong friends. These are the ones that have loved me through the thick and thin of life. These individuals have grit and grace, and I can always return to them when I've lost my way. Even if I try, I can't get rid of them (God love 'em) because their love is deeply rooted in my heart.

Where are you in the lives of other people? Who fills in these categories in your life?

God created us uniquely and desires us to be in a relationship with each other. He saw Adam was lonely and created another human being for him. In Galatians 6:2, we are instructed to carry one another's burdens. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says we are to encourage and build each other up.

No matter the status, there is a purpose in each encounter we make along the way.

Romans 13:8 (NLT) says: Owe nothing to anyone – except for your obligation to love one another.

Whether you are in someone's life for a reason, a season, or forever you owe them nothing but love. Easily done if you're in good standing, but more difficult if there are hard feelings. In time and through prayer, we can have love in any relationship. However, it must be sincere love, according to Romans 12.

This passage says we should be devoted to one another in love and honor one another above ourselves. It gives a list of how sincere love should look. This list applies no matter how you fit into someone's life.

Here is what sincere love looks like:

It is selfless, zealous, fervent, and service-oriented. It is joyful in hope, patient in affliction, and faithful in prayer. It's hospitable, compassionate, and giving. It blesses and doesn't' curse. It rejoices with the joyful and mourns with the grieving. It is harmonious, humble, and never conceited. Sincere love does not seek revenge but makes peace with everyone. It overcomes evil with good!

How many can you check off this list in your relationships? I’m a work in progress on many of them. Let us strive to love each other sincerely - whether for a reason, a season, or forever.

Popcorn for Adults

 

Give me a show of hands for those that love a box of Cracker Jacks. My love of popcorn began with a box of that caramel coated goodness. And let’s face it, what kid doesn’t root around for the “surprise” that’s in the box. My tattoo dreams came true many a day with a lick and stick tattoo I pulled up from the sticky contents of my Cracker Jack box. Oh, those were the days.

I’m a grown-up now and prefer more sophisticated delicacies, i.e. Angie’s Boom-Chicka Pop. That’s right, Angie, the Popcorn Queen, as I like to call her, is the creator/CEO of Boom-Chicka Pop. It’s delicious and she has marketed many flavors. But my Sparky and I have a big obsession with the purple bag, The Kettle Corn flavor. We eat a bowl of it every night!  We purchase it in giant 1 lb. 9 oz bags that look like king sized bed pillows. We load up on them at Costco, sometimes 5 bags at a time. We do this because one time Costco didn’t have them. We cried real tears and friends felt so bad for us they were offering to mail us bags from their town. Costco always has them now. They claim it has nothing to do with the temper tantrum I had in the aisle there, but I’ve got me a feelin’!

Because of all our grown-up distinctiveness we no longer eat right out of the bag. We transfer our sweet snack to a big metal popcorn tin that sits on our counter. ‘Cause we’re just fancy like that! Even the dog knows the sound of the tin shutting and begs for his share of the goodness.

This morning as Sparky was leaving for work, he couldn’t find his wallet. We looked all over the place. He was sure he had put it on the counter when he came home from work. He retraced his steps from the prior night in his poor feeble little mind to no avail. Perhaps he left it at CVS when he stopped there on the way home. He drove by there and scoured the parking lot. I drove there when they opened for business and inquired if a wallet had been turned in. He prayed. I prayed. We begged the Lord to show us the wallet! Where or where could it be?

Once at work, Spark decided to view our Nest camera video footage. Ah the Nest cam – the thing I love to hate. I hate the thought that this camera is watching my every move all day long, but Spark is convinced that if ever there is a burglar – we’ll nab him! He texted me and tells me to look at the footage from 5:31 the night before. And there he is, as plain as day, pulling his phone out of his right pocket and his wallet out of the left pocket and depositing them on the counter as he has done for the past 30 plus years.

This put our minds at ease for the rest of the day, enough that we could get something accomplished.  The wallet had to be in the house. Once home from work, I pulled all the trash out, looked around the house again and watched over 3 hours of video clips from that @#$& video camera. Nothing. Never do I see either of us go back to the spot where the wallet had laid.

Having exhausted all possibilities, I sat down and thought long and hard about the night before. It was pretty boring actually, and not very fun to think about. As a side note, we need to get a life. Then it dawned on me, the only place we didn’t look was the popcorn tin. He did have his nightly bowl of Boom-Chicka. “Now, wouldn’t that be crazy if his wallet was in the popcorn tin,” I mused to myself as I lifted the lid.

And there…to my disbelief laid Sparky’s wallet amongst the fluffy kernels! What on
earth!!! That’s it, my husband is officially losing his mind. This is very concerning. I didn’t know if I should laugh, feel relieved or be highly concerned about his mental well-being. I quickly snapped a pic and sent it to him.

Relieved as he was, he was in shock and kind of thinking the same thing as me – is he losing his mind? However, he did remind me that I got popcorn after he did. Now the plot thickens.

I am completely baffled by this and although I was relieved to have found the wallet – the mystery now remained as to how in the world it found its way to the popcorn bucket. Did I put it in there? I was the last one to dip my bowl in the tin.

I logged back on to the @#$& video footage. I scanned through videos until I saw one of myself getting popcorn. I watched it over and over. I took the lid off, laid it on the counter, and returned it to the tin. I took the lid off a second time and got a handful more to fill my bowl up and returned the lid again.   

Now, Spark’s wallet is not a typical wallet. It’s actually a money clip. The clip is magnetic. It wasn’t until I watched the video a fourth time that it dawned on me – Hey, I bet I put that darn lid over the wallet, and it was magnetized to the lid. Sure enough, I tested out my theory and that is what happened. Somewhere along the line the wallet became too heavy and the magnetization gave way plummeting it into it’s sweet and salty safety net!

The moral of this story is that I’ve come a long way from a lick and stick tattoo in my cracker jack box. I’m now finding 4 credit cards, $50 in cash and a Five Lakes Coffee Card in my Boom-Chicka! Growing up has its perks! Welcome to my adult world!

Don't Sink

 Here's another article from my column in our hometown paper that was published in May. I hope this encourages you today...

Don't Sink

 

A sinkhole was discovered in the concrete parking lot of a local entity. The excavator who was called on to repair the hole was shocked at his findings. Digging 30 x 60 ft wide and some 9 ft down, it appeared the area may have been a burial ground for debris from the 1965 tornado. Amongst the treasures were an 8,000 lb. tree, a mangled bicycle, and a trailer hitch. Over 58 years, these items began to rot and shift, and air pockets were formed, causing the earth around them to give way, concrete and all.

 

A life lesson stared back at me as I stared into that big hole. Debris, buried and forgotten for 58 years, had caused considerable destruction. I imagine the farmer, who dug the hole, worked tirelessly to eliminate every reminder of that horrific day. Palm Sunday 1965 - when twin twisters ripped through our community, leaving a swath of death and destruction. He shoved the debris down into the earth and rebuilt his life.

 

I thought about past "storms" in my life and the destruction they've left behind. Have I buried that wreckage deep into my soul, thinking they will no longer harm me, only for them to be unearthed later? Or worse yet, do I occasionally go back to the hiding place and dig them up? The bitterness I haven't dealt with, people I haven't forgiven, unhealed wounds of broken relationships?

 

Can you relate? Do you have any past hurts that you've shoved down deep? The items in the sinkhole eventually wreaked havoc – will our hidden pain finally do the same in our lives? Well, I'm not a psychologist, but in my experience, anything that I have shoved down deep and not dealt with has eventually returned to haunt me. Why? Because instead of learning from it or getting rid of it, I have just stored it away in my heart for a while.

 

Sure, it's hard to not remember hard things that happen in life. The loss of a loved one, financial demise, beating cancer, and the list could go on. A friend once told me that she can forgive and forget but never forgets the lessons she learned from the experience. She doesn't want to. Those lessons are the fruit that has sprouted from the hurt we have planted. The lessons learned when cleaning up the debris from our personal storms is what propel us forward into a future filled with wisdom and hope.

 

When Israel became stuck between the past and the future, God revealed himself to them through Isaiah the prophet, giving them great hope. He says in Isaiah 43:10, "Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing, Now, it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland". 

 

This is a great word for me as I deal with the junk I have buried and refuse the lesson it speaks into my life. Dwelling on the former things doesn't do me (or you) any good. They may cause us to sink. Let our focus be on the hope that springs eternal from the solid foundation of Jesus Christ! He is doing a new thing!

 

 

 

 

 

Champions of the year

 

My friend coaches a youth soccer team. He instilled this fundamental principle into his group of young athletes, reiterating it often: "Champions focus on where they are going, not what they are going through."

Champion is a word that has never been associated with my name. I'm not an athlete unless you
consider sprints to the concession stand during extra innings, something notable. Don't let the word champion fool you, though. We are all champions of something. Champions for whom we believe in, for a cause, for the relationships we cherish, and some days, we may be the champion of laundry. Being a champion is to succeed.

This quote, stated so wisely by my friend, has resonated with me…big! I'm guilty of allowing my circumstances to take me down. Do you know what I have accomplished by staying in the pit, lamenting my situation, and wallowing in self-pity? NOTHING! Nadda! Zilch! Focusing on my circumstances gets a lot of mileage but gets me nowhere.

I don't know about you, but it takes up all my mental space when I'm going through the thick of something. It's my every waking thought; it determines the trajectory of my life at that time. Occasionally, I come to my senses and remember where my focus needs to be. And guess what? When I do this, inevitably, I have hope.

At a particularly rough time, I was commiserating with a friend. She said to me, "You're just in the waiting room. What are you going to do while you wait?" Huh? She added, "Girl, while you're waiting for answers, you gotta get busy!". She was right. I needed to focus on where I was going and actively pursue the mission in front of me. By doing so, I had purpose and perspective. My troubles didn't go away but focusing on my higher calling sustained me while I waited.

I'm reminded of the Mathew 14 account of Peter and Jesus walking on water. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the storm-tossed sea, he asked if he could come to him on the water. Jesus said, "Come." Peter did. However, the minute he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the storm around him, he began to sink. So, it is with us when we take our eyes off Jesus’ plan and concentrate on the storm brewing around us – we fall. 

A Hand-sized cloud filled with hope

 

A story in 1 Kings 18 of the good book will knock your socks off. The hero in this story is, of course, God, but his co-star is Elijah. I'll spare you all the details because reading it yourself is best.

Basically, Elijah gets into a showdown with the Prophets of Baal. He challenges them to a "burnt-offering" contest. The rules consisted of each team, The God Team and the Baal (false idol) Team, placing a bull on an altar and praying to their God to come and burn up the offerings. Not to spoil it for you, but as you can imagine, the Baal team dances and calls out to their God all day. The dead bull lay there patiently waiting for his cremation. Never happened.

When it is Elijah’s turn, he puts the bull on the altar and digs a trench around it. He fills it with water and douses the whole thing until it's soaking. He calls out to the one true God who wastes no time proving to the crowd who is Boss! He sent an all-consuming fire from heaven that was so great it even licked up the water. Many were brought to their knees to worship the one true God that day.

Now many of you may know this story. I had read it or heard it many times. But just as God does, when we open His word, he reveals something new that hits all the right feels at the right moment.

The rest of the story is what got my attention. After this, Elijah told King Ahab (one of the meanest hombres to walk the dusty trails of the Holy land) to prepare his crew because heavy rain was coming. With no clouds in the sky, Elijah climbs to the top of Mt. Carmel with his servant. He bent down to the ground, put his face between his knees, and began praying for rain. Six times Elijah sent his servant to the edge to look out toward the sea to see if there was any sign of rain. Finally, returning from his seventh trip to the edge, his servant reported seeing a cloud as small as a man's hand rising from the sea.

Elijah doesn't get up and go to the edge to see if his servant is telling the truth. He doesn't dismiss such a small cloud and starts praying for a more considerable cloud or drizzle. Nope, that tiny hand-sized cloud gave Elijah enough hope to trust that God was fixin’ to do something big. He then sent his servant to tell that evil, mean-spirited ol' Ahab to hitch up and head out 'cause a storm is a-brewin’!

Meanwhile, God puts on another show. The sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, and heavy rain came as Ahab's taillights diminished on the road to Jezreel.

I know enough miracles are happening in these stories to leave you on the edge of your seat. I don’t want to dismiss God’s mighty works here, but the real plot twist for me is that little hand-sized cloud and the big hope it gave Elijah.

Friend, how many times have you prayed fervently for something? How often, like Elijah, have you taken on a posture of prayer, pleading for a miracle and waiting expectantly for it to happen? I've got a list a mile long. But the real question is this; How many times has God given you a glimmer of hope only for you to doubt it’s happening? How many times does God give you a hand-sized cloud, and you sit crouched over, praying for a bigger cloud of assurance? Oh, friend, I am relentlessly guilty of this! "I see the hand cloud of hope you've given me, God, but what if…?"

Ditch the doubt, folks, and jump up as Elijah did and trust God will do something significant with that tad bit of hope. Cling to every tiny glimpse of promise He shows you, and don't look back. Run with it as Elijah did. Literally! The scripture goes on to tell us that after Elijah told Ahab to get the heck out of Dodge City, the power of the Lord came upon him; he rolled up his pant legs (or tucked his cloak into his belt, in this case) and ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. This assurance in God’s plan empowered Elijah to do something seemingly impossible. So can we do all things through Christ who strengthens us. (Philippians 4:13).

Elijah looked on that small cloud with complete confidence in God that he would bring the rain – GOD WOULD DO THE BIG THING ELIJAH WAS PRAYING FOR! And he ran with it – never looking back!

And He will do it for you also, friend! Pray…trust…wait expectantly! He’s got big things on the horizon for you!