The Dangling Shoe- living victoriously for God in an unpredictable world.

This one’s been on my heart and mind for many years.   I speak from first-hand experience.  Starting in childhood, this set the course for much of my life and my view of myself, my worth and even of God.   Maybe it’s familiar to you as well.   Healing can come, but it takes time.   The Enemy knows the triggers and will do his best to keep you in bondage.   That said, here we go… I'm fascinated by old houses.  Their character and charm intrigue me and all of the unique details, many hand-wrought, are something rarely found in today's construction.  I used to poke my husband and say "wouldn't it be amazing to get an old house and restore it?!"  He, in turn, would cringe and start to twitch...to me it was a work of art, to him, just a lot of work.  What I failed to see was so often the houses would have hidden issues, damage to the foundation, rotting wood from years of neglect and lack of proper care.  The damage wasn...

       Grief is hard.  Really hard.  Words can't fully describe the pain and any attempt to always falls short.  Recently, several friends of mine have lost loved ones, husbands, fathers, and even a child.  The deep grief and pain is almost crippling and watching them walk through this valley is so hard.  My heart hurts for them.  As believers in Christ, we know God understands, but sometimes that can feel distant and sound trite. I’ve been thinking about John 11:35 “Jesus wept.”  It’s the shortest verse in the Bible, yet holds a depth of meaning and significance that we often don’t take time to ponder.    On the surface, it confirms a bit of Jesus’ humanity, yet there is so much more to these two words.  What do they say to us? The context of the story is that Lazarus, the good friend of Jesus and brother to Mary and Martha was sick.  Friends told Jesus th...