Serious About Faith. Light-Hearted About Life.
If you are parent, it comes as no surprise that we learn A LOT of lessons from our tiny-to-medium-sized humans.
Like how you can eat 2.34 bites of yogurt and be “full…”
How loopholes can be a saving grace, especially if it ends in laughter: “I didn’t kick the dog. I touched him with my foot!”
And that sometimes, choosing to do something is the right choice. [Read more…]
When it comes to doing the “hard stuff” in life, I would say our society is a bunch of overachievers in the excuse-making-I-will-get-to-it-later category.
Wanna get fit and eat clean? I will start on Monday.
Ready to save some dinero? Maybe next pay period.
Jesus wants us me to do what now? Uh, perhaps when it is less scary/more peaceful season of life/you fill in the blank.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m totally not judging. Because I do the same thing. [Read more…]
Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
PS: After this post publishes, I am taking a brief spiritual pause from blogging– just for a couple of weeks. We are on leave (finally!) this year and I feel compelled to actively pursue my OneWord of Rest. I will be back soon… Thanks for the grace 🙂
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Confession: I rarely watch the news.
Sure, I try to stay semi-in-the-loop-ish when it comes to major current events, but the fact that we do not have cable in our house is no accident. I don’t even like to watch the news on the TV at the gym. All it does is stir up anxiety in my heart, make me roll my eyes and whisper under my breath, “Lord Jesus, if you come right now, it will be none too soon.” #HurryUpLord
Our fallen world is a mess. We witness heartbreaking news with every change of the channel or with every scroll of our finger on Facebook. Very rarely do newscasters seek out “eyewitnesses” to share actual GOOD news. [Read more…]
Recently I was hosting a leadership retreat for my sweet board of PWOC sisters. I intentionally carved out a bit of CRAVE time to just sit in God’s presence to see what He had to say.
Here is how He responded… And I wanted to share it with you, just in case YOU needed to hear it today. [Read more…]
Welcome to Wilco Wednesday! If you are a new around these parts, “Wilco” is Army-speak for “Will Comply.” Think of it as saying “Roger, God. Got it. Will do.” So that is what Wednesday here at 7 Days Time is all about– exploring his decrees and seeking guidance for what complying with Him looks like in everyday life. The best part? He loves us for who we are, not what we do. Remember: He doesn’t want perfection, just obedience. Joining us today is my dear, wonderful, beautiful and encouraging friend Kristen. Share. Enjoy. Interact. And let’s respond to God’s call with a hearty “Wilco, Lord!”
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My mother use to lovingly call me Eeyore, as in Winnie the Pooh’s gloomy detachable-tailed donkey friend. A cautious optimist from childhood, I can worry with the best of them over things yet not happened.
Perhaps the most devastating aspect I carried with me to adulthood was not the outwardly visible worrying, but the warped perspective about my importance to God. Not that God didn’t love me, but how much love I felt I deserved in relation to how important I felt others should be loved and cared for by Him because I’ll be honest, I was born to an upper middle class American Christian family. I’m not impoverished, parent-less, abandoned, truly on the battlefields of faith, my life is not daily threatened by the bible sitting on my nightstand. So I struggled with obedience to God’s plan because I failed to see how I really played a part in God’s plan. [Read more…]
I have never liked scary movies. Ever.
Maybe you are a theatrical thrill seeker and nothing makes you happier than a racing pulse as you watch a movie from your couch.
You can go ahead and invite me over to your house for a movie night, but just know that I will be in the kitchen raiding your fridge and eating all the popcorn reading a book.
I guess I just don’t understand the excitement of scary movies. Because their level of realism is about zero. “Oh hey, let me walk into this dark house by myself. Pay no attention to the crescendo of intense music in the background. And is that a trail of blood on the ground? I think I will follow it. Only good things can come from this, right?” [Read more…]
Welcome to Wilco Wednesday! If you are a new around these parts, “Wilco” is Army-speak for “Will Comply.” Think of it as saying “Roger, God. Got it. Will do.” So that is what Wednesday here at 7 Days Time is all about– exploring his decrees and seeking guidance for what complying with Him looks like in everyday life. The best part? He loves us for who we are, not what we do. Remember: He doesn’t want perfection, just obedience. Joining us today is my dear, wonderful, beautiful and encouraging friend Kristen. Share. Enjoy. Interact. And let’s respond to God’s call with a hearty “Wilco, Lord!”
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Dear Dad,
I was at PWOC this morning; we were evacuated – calmly, quietly, quickly, asked to leave. We’d been evacuated for a possible gas leak months ago, but this was different. All was quiet, no sirens. Chaplains and CID descended amid the surprising quiet chaos of a hundred women, mostly mamas waiting for their children to also emerge from the building unharmed.
I knew before I was told; I knew in my gut someone was threatening to take their life. The day, in fact the past week, had seemed to have a shroud of darkness over it. Not literal darkness like Northwest winter is prone to, but spiritual darkness. Besides ruining two desserts I was going to bring that morning I, like so many of the fellow women, had had weeks that just didn’t seem to have gone at all right. Husbands deploying or already gone, kids sick or gone haywire, messing up things we can do with ease; it was in the air. [Read more…]
Welcome to Wilco Wednesday! If you are a new around these parts, “Wilco” is Army-speak for “Will Comply.” Think of it as saying “Roger, God. Got it. Will do.” So that is what Wednesday here at 7 Days Time is all about– exploring his decrees and seeking guidance for what complying with Him looks like in everyday life. The best part? He loves us for who we are, not what we do. Remember: He doesn’t want perfection, just obedience. Joining us today is my dear, wonderful, beautiful and encouraging friend Kristen. Share. Enjoy. Interact. And let’s respond to God’s call with a hearty “Wilco, Lord!”
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I am a detail oriented, perfectionist, worrier, planner, general control freak, and penultimate spaghetti-minded woman. I must know before I act.
So, I make God small. I put Him in human sized boxes defining His capabilities on worldly measures. [Read more…]
Welcome to Wilco Wednesday! If you are a new around these parts, “Wilco” is Army-speak for “Will Comply.” Think of it as saying “Roger, God. Got it. Will do.” So that is what Wednesday here at 7 Days Time is all about– exploring his decrees and seeking guidance for what complying with Him looks like in everyday life. The best part? He loves us for who we are, not what we do. Remember: He doesn’t want perfection, just obedience. Share. Enjoy. Interact. And let’s respond to God’s call with a hearty “Wilco, Lord!”
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A bit of background for this first Wilco Wednesday Post: God has recently called me to fill the role at Spiritual Life 1st Vice President in our local Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC.) This was a message he placed on my heart for the vision of our organization. Not surprisingly, it applies to much more than our local PWOC– perhaps it applies to our personal walk with Christ!
I do not have a green thumb. I have tried all my life to grow various vegetation and the results were less than impressive. It was all I could do to keep Enrique the Spider Plant alive through college and Chloe the Peace Lily semi-sustained in the early years of army wife life. Fortunately, God hasn’t called me to a life of horticulture.
He has called me to a life of Jesus-culture, one that comes alongside other seekers and believers to encourage, build up and teach them as they find Him in their everyday. All my life, I have loved people, and in the last three and a half years in ministry, He has gradually cultivated a deep passion for the women who love Him. [Read more…]
Welcome to another week of our Everyday Jesus link-up. Be sure to link-up below this post, comment on your neighbor’s blog and share with your friends… Because Jesus is everywhere, every day!
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Do you ever wish we could just hit a reset button and start over?
I do.
Earlier this week, I was having one of “those mornings.”
I thought it was just me… perhaps I was just in a mood. Or better yet, my favorite excuse: hormones.
That morning, I was easily rattled. Tiny Human woke up at 5:14am. The 12-lb dog found the gate left open by my Beloved hubs and sprinted across the neighborhood, howling like a high-pitched coon dog. He quickly returned when he heard the tone in my voice (and the fact that my quest to never-ever cuss was temporarily abandoned. Don’t worry. It was only one word. I repented.)
Then Tiny Human was squeaking for breakfast and I tripped over the dog as I scramble to appease her. I was flustered, already sweating and begging God for a reset button.
We had been awake for 14 minutes. [Read more…]
It's been awhile since we have posted a fresh Factor of 7 here at 7 Days Time. We've done a few small ones over the last several months, but we wanted to share one of most recent random acts of kindness with you. Because it was fun. And hey, who … Interested? Read on...
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