Love & Joy

It’s been three years since my last blog post, yet at renewal time, I just couldn’t let my blog go. I was reflecting as to why I needed to hold onto it. I mean I had recently re-read a bunch of my old blog posts and cringed as I read them. I would write them so differently now. A little less preachy, maybe writing in the mess, versus waiting until I had cleaned up the mess. And it’s been three years since I posted!

On the Other Side of Keyboard

There is an awful lot of hate out in Facebook land these days.  From disagreements over SCOTUS rulings, racial tension, class wars, riots, fights between the right and left over just about everything: healthcare, immigration, gay rights, abortion, tax policies and foreign policy.  Add to it an almost daily announcement of some scandal somewhere, some crazy people doing something crazy somewhere, and updates on what is going on in the Middle East.  It is enough to make you crazy.

Where It All Began

Six years ago my life was changed by a call to wholeheartedly “seek peace and pursue it” (Psalm 34:14b).  I did not go looking for peace, I was just trying to survive a high-risk pregnancy.  But thankfully God knew what I needed to survive life.

For several years I prayed for peace, I studied peace, I meditated on scriptures about peace, and I read books about God’s peace.  In the process I learned that peace plays into just about every area of my life!

Just Breathe

Work is getting crazy.  This is normally my busiest time of year, but it has gotten even busier than normal.  I just finished filing our Disclosure Document, (a very fascinating read, it is required by the FTC, and about as interesting as reading a Mutual Fund prospectus.)

It’s sooooo darn cold… brr

I have a Facebook friend who is always urging people to stop complaining about the weather.  I will be honest, I normally roll my eyes.  I mean, it was -22 degrees the day he posted that.  NEGATIVE 22 degrees!  How could anyone not complain?

3030 Challenge

Lately I have felt far away from God.  Sometimes He seems so close that I can almost touch Him, other times the silence is deafening.   This time, a month, then two went by, and I hardly heard His voice, rarely felt His presence.

Not that He wasn’t there, He was.  He is.  But He just feels more like a whisper than a wind.

Resolutions Failed and Kept

I love making New Year’s resolutions. (I may or may not have a strategic life plan.)  But this year, when I went to make my annual resolutions, I just wasn’t feeling it.  As I re-read 2014’s goals, I found myself focusing on what I hadn’t accomplished.  To be honest, I felt like one big failure.

Keeping the Drama Out

A woman on the phone sat down next to me at the park.  Her conversation was riddled with DRAMA with a capital D.  As she was talking, I kept thinking to myself, “you don’t have to live that way!” 

Bye Bye Worry Lane

I used to spend a lot of time on Worry Lane. If my husband was 5 minutes late, I had already planned his funeral, panicked about finances and figured out how we would go on after his death. If I encountered a difficult situation, I would continuously re-play the events in my head. Many times I made myself physically sick by worrying about the “what ifs”.

Make it Stop!

Last night the power fluctuated.  When it came back on, the back-up sump pump alarm was going off.  There is no off button on the alarm.  It is a high pitched, piercing noise that can be heard in every room of our house.  We bought it 10 years ago, and it has saved our house a few times, but it makes me crazy.  Home Depot was closed, so there was no fixing it tonight.