There is a way to live unbound. It isn’t easy. In fact, it takes grit. Because what Jesus said is true, the only way to find your life is to loose it. When we yield our way and accept His Way, we get unbound— which begins a process of learning to live it.

Whatever God is whispering to your heart today, let it take root just as if He were planting it in fertile soil. Be aware of other issues of your heart that He may want you to address. Have you ever had a morning glory creeping vine sneaking in to your flower bed? It will wrap around large healthy plants until it entangles and suppresses it’s growth. 

Have you ever lived in the midst of a remodel? It takes a lot of patience and perseverance! This morning as I woke up, I was thinking of all the changes we’ve had and the major remodel and repair we’ve done on our property the last 4 years. That’s when I heard God whisper, “That’s exactly what I do, I am always at work in your life.” And right away I understood, as I said, “I never thought about it like that, I guess that means I am under construction too!”

If our life is like a book, then we are the main character. And no matter what the storyline has been, God is able to do some edits, do some rewrites, and change our story. I want to spend a little time today, following up on The Story of Your Life, my earlier article on the idea of our lives being like a book.

As God spoke to me about the benefits of rejoicing in Him, I had an opportunity to exercise this very principle in my life. I was struggling with my health and unable to function due to a severe migraine headache that I had suffered for over a month. I wasn't able to take care of my kids or even drive because of the dizziness associated with it.

When I was 25 and my husband was 26, we met a couple named Dick and Donna Sorenson. We had 3 sons, ages 1-8, and lived south of Caldwell. We had not been Christians for long but were leading a home group and participating in our church. A couple in our home group were experiencing some problems, the wife wanted to find a Christian counselor, and they asked us for help. I don’t remember who told us about Dick. I just know that we contacted him, took our friend to see him, connected with him and Donna at lunch, and from there, a lifelong friendship was formed.

Hi friends. I have been dialoging with the Lord about an experience I had recently where I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do or how I was supposed to feel. It has to do with something that I poured my life into in the past and how God used me. So, I pondered if I had regret at what could have been. But, I didn’t have any feelings of maybe I coulda, woulda or shoulda done something differently.

About six months ago, I began to think about my life as a book. Not as a book that I would write, but as a book that I have lived. I just kept thinking to myself, “What would some of the chapters of my life be called?”

As Christian women, we are part of a Great Company of Women – world wide. As it is referred to in Psalm 68:11, it says the Lord gives the command and a great company or host of women proclaim the good news. The word company or host is a military term in Hebrew, meaning a vast host organized for war or worship!

I have had so many people tell me that they want to write. Some of them have started and then stopped, and the rest have yet to begin their process. Even seasoned writers go through times of writing that are more fruitful than others. But they know how to begin again. Lets talk a little about how to begin writing!

Is it easy for you to verbalize your hopes and dreams?  We all have them. Either we call them wishes or we try to ignore them because we think they could never happen. 

What are you thinking about on this last day of 2018? I am taking some time to think about all that happened in the last twelve months. It is good to take a moment and consider what we’ve been through. It may be encouraging to think about what we have come through, or it may be painful to revisit some of those hard times. But as we bring this 2018 chapter of our lives to a close, let’s ask God to give us His perspective, exchanging our disappointments of yesterday with new HOPE for tomorrow.

I just love mixing up a fresh batch of crepes! If the thought of making crepes fills you with thoughts of running to the store for fancy ingredients and following step by step instructions of a complex recipe, then think again. Made with only a few ingredients, they are as easy as 1-2-3! Then topping them off with butter and dusting them with sugar and cinnamon makes this recipe as easy as can be.

This morning I had an early appointment. When I was half way to my destination, I had a fresh thought drift across my mind. I say fresh thought because I wasn’t thinking about anything but driving safely on the frozen road, meeting with other writers at my friend’s bakery and the list of things I needed to do today. Then suddenly, I was thinking of the sound of cheering. I imagined a crowd yelling, whistling, and clapping with exuberant expressions of excitement, and something deep within me stirred.

For as long as I can remember, I have loved baking bread. It is one thing I know I’m good at. I enjoy the process involved, the way the aroma of fresh baked bread fills the house and have never had a loaf not turn out. At one point, when I had young children, I tried to cut the process down by using a bread machine. But I was never completely happy with the result. It did save me time and it was bread, but it was not the same at all. I especially disliked the emptiness each loaf had right in center from the machine’s mixing paddle.

I don’t know if it always has to be this way, but it wasn’t until everything around me crumbled that I came face to face with the reality of my true worth. If you are living in the rubble of betrayal, ruined relationships, isolation and broken dreams, you are in good company. Not until I learned how to be a nobody did I step into the strength of who I really am.

When I was first married, I lived far away from my family. This was way before cell phones and personal computers, so asking my mom for helpful tips was something I could only do occasionally. I was only 19 and I had never lived on my own before. To help expand my knowledge I would pour through cook books and recipes I found in magazines.

As I came across Psalm 33:20-22 yesterday, God spoke to me about my heart. Here are the words that struck me 1.  OUR SOUL WAITS -Since I know my soul is made up of my mind, will, and emotions, the first line could read, “my mind, my will, and my emotion wait for the Lord”. But is this true in my life? Is this something I honestly practice, or do I let my soul run on ahead?

My husband once told me that as he watched me face physical crisis, it is as though I lean forward into it. I never thought of it like that, and he may not know this, but it was the biggest compliment he could have given me. Leaning into it is exactly what I want to do. It is not the same thing as accepting less than all of God’s promises for me. It is merely one leg of my journey. I don’t have any intention of camping out there permanently.

My husband and I have been married now for decades. But since the beginning, I would hear stories about his time visiting his Grandma Sissy in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and her legendary crab boil. The story goes like this… when my hubby was around 10 years old he and  would take a row boat out with shark bait that he caught to catch crabs. Then he and would set out the crab traps and be out all day doing this until he had a good haul. When he got back to his family’s dock, his grandma Sissy and his aunts took all the crab he caught and used it for a big family seafood boil.