Life's a Breeze...or Is It A Gust of Wind?

My last post was June of last year. Seven months ago. I feel like I've been to the moon and back.

You ever felt like you were caught up in a Kitchen Aid mixer set to medium high? Once turned off, life is a new mix. Am I truly back to blogging? I'm not sure, honestly. Blogging, editing, marketing take up a lot of time and head space that I find that I need to devote to my six children, ages 25, 22, 20, 17, 7 and 5. 

What will 2017 be like for you? I don't think you have any idea.

Thanksgiving 2016

Can you guess how long it took all of us to get outside and how many shots my best friend had to take to get this one? My daughter Maria (fourth from left) announced after an Thanksgiving early dinner that we had a 20 minute window before the sun was in the wrong place. "Be outside in 15 minutes and look nice!" was her commandment. For outdoor photographers, it's all about the lighting, I suppose.  

You see that tall guy on the end? He's our basketball player. Douglas is 6'6". In fact, that's one exciting reason why I haven't blogged in over six months. He has an opportunity to be recruited to play in college. Basketball season is now year round for me and involves a lot of driving. We enrolled him in The Regents School of Charlottesville, where he had played basketball the previous season as a home schooled student. I began driving him down to "The Dell" at the University of Virginia to work out with Coach Geoff Reed, a former private school coach and other potential high school recruits. I packed up the two youngest boys and drove Douglas up to Pennsylvania to attend a HoopGroup Academic Elite Camp. It was an introduction to the new world of elite basketball.

Not only am I a chauffeur, but I'm now a videographer and video editor for basketball games! Check out this highlight film that I made of his December 2016 games. 😊

I never wonder if the time, money and sacrifice is worth helping someone pursue their dreams. As African-American poet Langston Hughes said, dreams are a "blue cloud cloth" that one must keep from the "too rough fingers of the world". Do you have a kid with talent and the drive and desire to develop it? Help them. Do you have your own dreams on the shelf. Take them down. Sure, like me, you may have to put them back on the shelf sometimes, but if you live your life in the wind and trust that God has your best interests in his mind, then He'll blow them off that shelf when it's time.

I still home school my youngest boys and wow, do they have energy! For those of you raising kids under ten. Yeah, I know. It's real. It's realllllly tiring. It's mental. It's emotional. Some nights you sleep well; some you don't. I'm feelin' you.

But I'm not trading my days with those boys for anything else right now. 

By the way, here's a shout out to all of you young people learning about "adulting", which is the choice phrase of my young millennials. I have a draft of a post called "What Is Adulthood?" Maybe I'll get around to editing it, but I will say that watching the adult lives of my oldest three children is an education for me. When am I needed? When am I crowding their space? (#2 and #3 live with us right now) Should I share with them some suggestions without being asked? As a parent, am I still meeting their love language?

I'm grateful that my three oldest are still around so much. My oldest daughter, Christina, lives thirty minutes  away but spends many weekends here at home. God has given me spontaneous conversations with them that have shown me the the treasure-laden depths of their souls and the amazing dreams they dream. What can I do? Be their #1 cheerleader...well my husband and I share the #1 spot, Lol.

One last word before I begin my day as a home educator. Doug and I have been married for twenty-six years. We've had our highs and lows. My advice for all of you who are married and raising kids is: Be transparent. Be emotionally honest about your triumphs and your failures. Extend mercy and grace to your spouse, because one day you may need it yourself. Be an active listener. Take time to hang out and DON'T talk about the kids! Demand nothing and pray about everything. 

Try to hold your future plans or agenda loosely. Life has so many shifts. If you grip too hard, you may fall when they fall through. That's how I live my life these days cause' I really don't know where life's wind is blowing me. It's certainly not a breeze. But it's a blessing.

Matthew 7:24-26  “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Visit our other blog: My Father's Crown
New Post: Value of Believing Pt. 3 by Doug Webb

My Kids Need To Grow Up!

I looked at the woman reading peacefully under the tree at the park. Her kids were old enough to play by themselves and by the sound of it, were having a great time. Thoughts of envy blared in my head.

“I can’t wait until these two are old enough to play together”, I thought as I helped my toddler navigate the stairs to the platform. Once he was there, I ran around the playset to meet him at the slide where I waited to catch him at the bottom. A few feet away, his slightly older brother “drove” on the playground motorcycle.

A couple of years have passed since this scene at the playground. What I realize now is that the woman that I witnessed was probably having a rare but needed respite from two loud and adventurous boys.  Now, I’m in her shoes.

Every step on this staircase of raising kids has its sighs of relief. “No more middle of the night feedings!” No more diapers!” “No more chauffeuring, they have their license!” But each step also has its challenges. “Lord, help them drive safely.”  “I’m not buying you a phone. You’re too young.”

When my four oldest children were young, there was another playground we would frequent.  On a particular occasion, a mindset changing thought popped in my head. “I’ll never have this moment in time back.” I remember looking around at my kids, each born around 2 ½ years from the previous one and making a commitment to relish each moment and each stage no matter what the challenges.

I decided to write this post not just to encourage moms and dads but to remind myself of this commitment that I made so many years ago. Child #5 is now old enough to care about how I cut his hair and occasionally tells me that he doesn’t like me because he has to do school work. Child #6 has decided to pick on his older brother as much as he can. The yelling and tears are ridiculous. Sigh. Just last week I thought, “Wow, it was so easy when they were younger and didn’t care about which TV show they watched before bedtime.” I stopped and caught myself. I shook my head at the irony.

One day these two will be as old as my first four who are seventeen to twenty-four years of age.   I am familiar with the upcoming road, its challenges and its joys. But in the meantime, right now, I need to make a decision. The same decision that I made over a decade ago: “I’ll never have this moment in time back. I need to relish these moments and understand the Father-heart of God through them as well as help my little boys discover God in them. I need to thank God for the opportunity to have children and steward them.”

So now my heart is tearing up. I do love my children. SO much.  Parenting has taught me more about myself than even marriage, which says a lot! So when the bickering starts, I’ll choose to look up towards heaven and breathe in deeply. When I hear, “I still don’t like you.” I will smile ‘cause I know better. And when they hug me from behind, I’ll pause what I’m doing and receive their clutch.

Cause it only lasts for a moment.

God, help me remember that in every difficult moment, you are my very present help. When I'm tired and frustrated, give me wisdom and peace. I surrender to the way you mold my character. Help me train my kids in the way that they should go. In Jesus' name. Amen.

A Mother Worth Mentioning

What her eyes saw – lack and death– suddenly did not matter. Her heart saw the reality of God’s faithful and protective hand in her life.

Mothering becomes more difficult when a husband isn’t in the picture. In the past two weeks, I’ve been struck by the mother in 1 Kings 17. Her courage to believe God's voice changed the outcome of her circumstances.

The widow was getting wood in order to prepare one last meal for herself and her son when Elijah shows up on the scene. Elijah wants some food. She lets him know that she doesn’t have enough food to share with him. In that time, it’s remarkable that she had food at all. Famine was present in the land and she was a widow. We don’t know how long her husband had been dead. The Bible calls her son “a child” later in the passage.  She was probably younger than thirty. Economically, this impoverished single mother had no hope during this drought. Circumstances beyond her control had taken over her life. Then she hears this stranger say to her: “Give me some food first and God will continue to provide for

you until it starts raining again.”

How many of you would listen to some stranger rolling up on your doorstep saying the same thing? Verse nine reveals that Elijah met the widow knowing that God had already commanded her to feed him.  We have no indication from her of this. We merely see her do what Elijah asks. She fed him first.

Her natural eyes saw lack in her home. Surely she and her son heard each other’s hunger pangs. As a mother, she’d probably been making her son’s last meal cakes a tad bit larger than hers even though she knew that death was inevitable for them both. Her visible reality shouted “Death!”  But in another human being’s words, she heard the voice of God. She trusted that God was speaking to her through another human being. Wow! That takes courage and faith.

Faith acknowledges the reality of the unseen.

I wonder if she had heard of Elijah and if so, if she recognized him when he approached her. Even if she had, it still took faith for her to believe in the creative miracle that he said would happen: the meal in the barrel would not run dry.  The oil jar would not dry up. What her eyes saw – lack and death– suddenly did not matter. Her heart saw the reality of God’s faithful and protective hand in her life.

Her supply would not fade.

I was impressed to use this passage as my Mother’s Day post. I believe God wants to calm the fears of mothers whose visible realities shout “Death!” There are mothers who may be facing crushed dreams or failed marriages. Others may be watching their children spin into the downward cycle of addiction or plummet into the merciless clutch of disease.  Many single mothers deal with economic lack. Despite the fact that the drought was to remain for a period of time, God’s intervention for the single mother of 1 Kings declared “Life!” Still, she had to trust God. What if she had turned her back on the prophet of God? What if she had not turned her eyes from her visible reality and looked into the eyes of the servant of God to see the invisible reality of God’s desire for her life? It took faith and courage to use the rest of the meal in and make three cakes instead of two.

I pray this Mother’s Day for mothers everywhere. I pray that despite our visible circumstances, we will believe in the faithful provision of our loving Father. I pray that we would be courageous and trust in God’s Word first even though we live in a culture that renounces biblical authority. Lastly, I pray that when a situation is shouting “Death!” to our faces, that we would look up and see God declaring “Life!”

Do Our Kids See our Past or our Present?

         An excerpt from my work in progress: Ages and Stages: The Book

I learned that we always need healing from something. Whether it’s the dog that chased me down the street when I was five or whether I perceived that I was being rejected by a loved one, I need to regularly do an inventory of my heart. If I don’t, my family is bound to be affected by my wounded soul.

All of us reflect the environments and cultures in which we grew up and the relationships that made impressions on us. As children, we are blank mounds of clay shaped by other people. Every human being is like a chisel, intentionally or unintentionally making impressions into the souls of those around us. The Bible calls God the Potter, and as a Father, His desire is for all of us to be initially shaped by parents who reflect His character. But there is no person on earth that perfectly reflects God’s character. Even adults who had great childhoods are indented with impressions left by people or situations from their past.

We inherit talents as well as predispositions to specific thought patterns and behaviors. I didn’t grow up in a touchy-feely home and I always admired families that I saw that were affectionate. As a result, I made a conscious decision to be affectionate with my children as long as they would let me, which usually ended up being until the age of seven. The downside of this was that because affection wasn’t my natural inclination, except for the nightly kiss goodnight, my kids went without much human touch from age seven until eighteen or older. I found out later that as teenagers, they wondered why we weren’t an affectionate family. They missed it but were unable to ask for it!

This is where I’ve realized that as a parent I needed to learn more about how human beings are made by God to function. I needed to read books about child development as well as adolescence. I needed to remember the yearnings that I had as a teenager and realize that those yearnings were not individual to me, but normal for all people. Everybody wants a hug at some point, even the teenage male who thinks he has it all together.

One way that we can grow in our aptitude to give and receive love is by tackling the issues that put a stopper in our love wells. It takes courage, patience and trust in God to deal with the soul wounds of our past. In 1996 our marriage hit rough waters. Doug aptly described this time as "individual hurricanes colliding to form one massive storm". It wasn’t fun.

But it was a needed season of learning. Although as young Christians we read a lot of Christian books and recognized a few areas in our personal lives that needed healing, we had no idea that our souls were icebergs. All of us can be blind to the deep issues within.

In order to work on our marriage, we needed to address many of the unseen areas of our lives. This meant doing inventories of the rooms in our soul. Consider the soul the realm of the emotions, the mind: memories and thought processes, and the will. Faithful ministers in our local church and a wonderful ministry called Freedom in Christ, founded by Neil Anderson helped us through this stage of our marriage.

That same year we also had our third child. If we hadn't seized the courage to "go deep" within ourselves, be humble, receive counsel, and change by God's transforming power, we would have lived a miserable life together and our children would have suffered greatly. 

I write this twenty years later and every now and then I ask myself, "Do my kids see my past or my present?"  While too much introspection can be harmful, this question causes me to keep my ears open to the whispers of my heavenly Father who knows me unashamedly, sees me completely and loves me unconditionally.  Philippians 1:6b says: He who begun a good work in you will complete it...Yay! 

Oh, what would we do without our faithful God! He is our loving Potter! His hands are gentle and his ways are gracious. We do not have to ever fear going to him with our issues. Because of His cleansing blood, we can carry no shame, no weight, and no condemnation. What we don't see, he shows us when we ask. He'll carry us through the pain of bad memories and difficult seasons. He'll set us down at his throne of healing and restoration. He is a faithful parent who loves his kids!

A few books that were instrumental in not only helping me model our heavenly Father's parenting but also helped me overcome my own obstacles that were robbing my children of a emotionally healed mother were: Seven Longings of the Human Heart by Mike Bickle, The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman, Victory Over the Darkness by Neil Anderson, The Root of Rejection by Joyce Meyer. A wonderful book I've recently discovered about the power of memories and thoughts is Switch On Your Brain by Dr. Caroline Leaf

Thank you for taking the time to read. 

Lord Jesus, help us to be convinced of your love for us. We love you because 
you first loved us. You extend love to us even when we sin. Your love covers our sins. Your faithful love reaches down and helps us when we don't know how to help ourselves. Give us courage to see and remove the stoppers in our love wells. Our desire as parents and caregivers is to love well. Thank you God.

Is your road changing direction? Go with it.

I've noticed how when summer greets autumn the winds blows like heck around here. Parts of our yard become junk piles of broken branches. I guess these branches are too old to hold on. Their time has come. They won't see the next spring.

I am reading a book called "Permission Granted: To Do Church Differently in the 21th Century" by Graham Cooke and Gary Goodell. I've spent some time stuck in the Introduction because it is that good.

"Transition is an adventure into the unknown with all the attendant risks that the uncharted can formulate around us. Change provokes our hearts because it challenges the status quo. It makes us feel uneasy and vulnerable  because it takes us into territory where we have never been before. We are happy to talk about Abraham going out without knowing where he was going, simply trusting God to get him there (see Heb. 11:8). However, when it is our turn to make the journey of faith, it is a different matter. God has His own road maps for times such as these. The old ones are useless to us, and the new ones are completed as we go!
Every change involves a letting go of one thing to reach out for what is next. It is death by installments--the slow death of our mindsets, our attitudes, perceptions, and paradigms with apparently nothing obvious to take their place. That is, we see only the replacement concept as we journey. We don't just see it, though; we experience it. Sometimes our experience is first, and we go through something that we understand only in retrospect. It is important, therefore, if we are to journey with the Lord into new lands, that we build in time to reflect and review where we are and where we have come from."

Wow! That's good, isn't it! The thought that especially strikes me is: "The old ones (road maps) are useless to us, and the new ones are completed as we go!"

Those old tree branches are too old for buds to form and leaves to grow. They are too brittle to hold the squirrels and birds that need refuge. They are useless.

I love how God teaches us through His creation. Every new season and stage requires a new road map. The problem for us is that road map is only discovered as we begin to walk. This faith walk is emotionally and mentally challenging because not only are we creatures of habit, but we are people who love to know where we are going!

When the winds of newness begin to blow, we close our windows so that we cannot feel the breeze or we shut down our spiritual intuition until the change is already upon us. In those times we scramble to readjust because we know that we can't retreat. Yes, sometimes we move to a different church or dye our hair. Often we find some way to hold onto the hope that what we've become comfortable with and accepted will return. 

Some things are never returning.

As Christians we have but one promise to hold on to in Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. No matter what is before us, it is part of God's plan and we must hold steadfast to the truth that our good God makes good plans. It doesn't matter that the last child moves out next week or that today the moving truck comes to load up all of your memories. It also doesn't matter what topic our media is sensationalizing when it comes to the plight of a sin-stained world. God gives us a future and a hope.

Truly it must be His presence and His faithful words that set our feet to walking and keep us steady as we go. One day, the trees around our house will die and fall unless we take the initiative to cut them down before they fall on something we value.

What wind is blowing around you, breaking off withered branches? Is it time to cut a tree down?

"Lord, take my hand. I am reaching to hold onto what I know is the surest and truest reality of my life and that is you. I don't know what is ahead. But I know that because you exist outside of time, you are already in my future, waiting. Thank you Jesus for your faithful hand to guide."

Surviving Parenthood

Lately I've been thinking about parenting. That statement is kinda funny since I have six children between the ages of 22 and 2 and all of them still live with us (except for #2 who went away for college...but he'll be home during the summer) -- so really, parenting is a constant in my life. Despite that, it is a topic that is worthwhile for me to meditate on from time to time.

Through relationships, those of us who have been parents for awhile mentor our younger friends. We look at them chasing their toddlers or scolding their tweens for reading under the covers at night instead of sleeping. We smile and we understand their frustrations, their anxieties and their petitions for perseverance. Yes, parenting takes a lot of perseverance.

 In 2030, when my youngest is 18, I will have raised children from birth to that age for 36 years. As a home schooling mom, I will have taught almost all academic subjects for all grades for not just my own kids, but a few others. Whew! The thought makes me tired....and grateful for the opportunity and the memories. I do love my kids and despite the pubescent bouts of "I forgot to do my homework again", I do love teaching them.

I started my journey into the world of writing because of the topic of God as Father. My husband had been leading a family bible study and we sojourned into the land of Ezekiel 28 --- where God laments the departure, destruction and demise of a son He called Daystar or Lucifer which is Greek for Light Bearer.
Understanding the emotions and manner of God not just Creator, but as a Father --- a parental figure, our eternal relative -- a role that we know is so important to Him since Jesus came to introduce us to His Father: Abba, helped me understand how to better parent my own children.

In my book, Abba's Lament, Abba continues to pursue Daystar until it is evident that Daystar will not repent. That longing for renewed relationship reminds me of the father of the prodigal son, who kept looking out across the valley in the hopes that his son would return. "Is a lost child ever forgotten, when the departure was the child’s, not the father’s? " (Part II, Abba's Lament)

As a parent, no matter what our children do, it is natural, no, it is godly to wait for them, to long for them, to take hold of perseverance and wait for them to reverse their waywardness or resume communication, or come home.  As our children mature and begin to 'own' their Christian faith, we become not only their cheerleaders but their team mates who sit on the bench and watch them drive around the opposition in order to score a few points in a "game" that lasts a lifetime. As a parent, we are always for them, not against them.

Parenting takes perseverance and patience. That truth inevitably makes me turn my gaze upward and think of my own journey as a child of God and my relationship to my heavenly Daddy. How patient He is with me! How He persevered when I was a young Christian, zealous but ignorant. Truly, I had no clue, but His steering hand gently redirected my path so that I would always end up on His lap, in good times and in bad.

As I grew older, I became convinced that my Father in Heaven loved and adored me, despite my frailties. This is because as my children were born....I could understand this love and adoration for one's offspring -- no matter what they did!  .

Now, let me change course for a second. Do I believe in godly discipline? Yes. Do I believe in tough love? Definitely. But I must understand the Father's demonstration of "tough" love. I must understand what the Bible teaches about discipline for our kids depending on age and stage. Our heavenly Father certainly does not enable bad behavior...what He does is to allow earthly consequences to teach us. Always with us, He waits for us to cling to Him. This clinging is restorative. Forgiveness is healing. We cannot change ourselves. Wholeheartedly receiving His grace and kindness brings forth lasting change.

So whenever any of my children have needed and received "tough" love, my husband and I have never refused to also extend tenderness, availability, encouragement and direction. In those tough times, they need boundaries and biblical training from a parent whose demeanor is compassionate and gentle, not overbearing and critical. The Bible says that "loving kindness leads to repentance" (a change of mind, an about-face). Yelling will only make a child resentful, fearful and angry. Those emotions kill relationship.

Parenting isn't easy, but it is made easier when we take a moment and reflect on our Heavenly Father whom Jesus reflected in everything that He said and did. Sometimes we find that we see Jesus and the Father very differently and hopefully we realize that our image of the Father needs tweaking. Jesus said, "If you see Me, you see the Father."

Our Father, our eternal parent, is SO loving, SO gentle, SO forgiving, SO instructive, SO patient, SO persevering. For those who are His children, purchased by the blood of His only begotten Son, He is a way-maker, the soul-anchor, an ever-present help, and a constant friend.  For those who've yet to receive His gracious gift of redemption, He is the Judge who awaits the convicted to receive His pardon.

Such love.

So my fellow Christian parents, if you ever feel like you don't have a mentor--look up. Be the child of God who can sit on our Heavenly Daddy's lap and say, "Teach me, I need help." And He will.

My Tear-stained Shoulder

Check out my guest post on this website: Graceandfaith4u.com

Here is an excerpt:
Not long ago I sat on her couch, my arm around her shoulder, as she wept. The longing for marriage never left her. It only succumbed to temporary band-aids of divine longsuffering. My shoulder had been drenched with her tears many, many times. This time was no different. I sat and comforted her with my presence, my arm and my silence.
My best friend had no family on this side of the country. My family had become her family, despite that the color of our skin did not match. But God puts the lonely in families (Psalm 68:6) and soon after meeting her, Jesus bent down and opened our arms wide to match His. I learned in the second year of our friendship that the typical Christian catch phrases and scriptures did not really minister to the heart of a young woman who had waited, and waited, and waited. She loved God. She knew the scriptures. She knew God was love. But that ever-present question would dislodge from the depth of her soul and come out of her aching heart, “What am I doing wrong?”

Read the rest here: http://graceandfaith4u.com/posts/my-tear-stained-shoulder-by-tina-webb-2/

Welcome Joan Hutter

When you walk into Joan's home for 2+ hours of prayer and worship, you embrace a cloud of God's love and peace. Joan loves Jesus. Her demeanor preaches His grace. Her words are laced with His fragrance. This faithful daughter of God leads Women Abide, a gathering of women who intercede, worship and glorify the Lord. The Women Abide conferences are held in Charlottesville, Virginia. With pleasure, I introduce to you my friend, Joan.

One Thing by Joan Hutter

One thing I ask of the Lord. This will I seek: That I would dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His presence. Psalm 27:4

One thing.  Just one.  To see beauty.

Not man-made, nor even His created beauty.  But to see Him.  To behold Him.  Our man in glory seated on the throne.  Our man in joy resurrected, made known.

David, the man after God’s own heart—the shepherd-boy-harpist-praying-Psalmist, anointed as king—desired only one thing.  He longed to remain in the presence of God, abiding in the shadow of His wings … that He would behold the beauty of the Lord.

He didn’t want to miss God.  He wanted to see, to delight Himself in the Lord, to contemplate His glory, majesty, wisdom, holiness, mercy. He couldn’t get enough of beholding. Seeing with the eyes of His heart.

Blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God. Matthew 5:8

When we behold Him … allowing Him to fill our entire being … we become like Him. We become the ones we were made to be.  When we see the beauty of God, desire for every other thing fades. He is altogether lovely. One taste and we see and know He is good. There is no one like Him in mercy, love, kindness, holiness and truth. He is delightful and when we delight in Him we are satisfied to the depths. He satisfies every desire. When we behold the beauty of the Lord Jesus we’re undone.

We lay everything aside. Remove all hindrances, all distractions. Fix our eyes on Jesus. Behold the Lamb on the throne. The King who is and was and is to come.

We want more of Him.  We consider His open heart, open door, living way by His blood. We marvel at His desire for us and respond with deeper pursuit, willing surrender. As a deer pants, our hearts beat for Him. We long for Him in a dry and weary land and when we behold Him there is no settling for another thing, vision, person, purpose, love.

He is all-consuming. He is all-encompassing.  He is all in all.

Pleasing is the fragrance of Your perfume, Lord Jesus. Your name is like fine oil poured forth. No wonder we love you. Song 1:3

I want to behold the beauty of the Lord, to abide in His presence all the days of my life, to gaze upon His eyes so pure, to breathe in the fragrance of His life, to know His love immeasurable, joy unspeakable, peace beyond understanding.

To gaze upon Him. To behold.

We all seek beauty. We build our lives and days after the pursuit of beauty. We were made for beauty.

But we settle for less. We are too easily satisfied.

God made us to behold Him. He created our hearts to gaze upon His glory… with our whole being.

More beautiful than glowing dawn after bitter darkness, more peaceful than quiet waters reflecting aspens and daffodils. More vibrant than flames dancing on wood, the crackle of evergreen branches folding into another manger season.

To behold life … and the flames of fire in the eyes of the son of man … to encounter meekness and a life surrendered for love … to gaze upon a heart abandoned in love and overflowing with joy … to know light upon light as he draws us near … to sense the gentle breezes of His presence walking in the garden of our hearts.

Beauty He is.

Full of grace and truth. Filling us as we behold. There is no one like Him.  And no place else I want to be.

May He fill your vision with Himself. May He fill your heart and satisfy every desire.  And may you be consumed with the pursuit of beauty. Desiring Him alone.

He first desires us. Pursues us with relentless love – unending, unfailing, undeterred, uninhibited, undaunted, undistracted … love.  Here we find our meaning. We were made to behold Beauty.

He is our One Thing.

You can read about the ministry God gave Joan here: http://womenabide.com/

To read about how the love of God was demonstrated at the 2013 Women Abide conference, click here:
http://womenabide.com/what-does-revival-look-like/

(I was there...it was totally amazing! - Tina)

Welcome Ada Brownell

It is my pleasure to introduce Ada Brownell to you.. At one time or another we all experience pain and loss. The story she shares below with touch your heart strings. I pray that we all draw close to Jesus during times of pain, as Ada did.

 Peace I  Couldn't Understand

By Ada Brownell

"The Lord is near."

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:5—7).

 I thought I couldn't endure the loss of a child. Yet, I heard the words every parent fears: "She's gone."

Only two months after the diagnosis of Burkitt's lymphoma, our beautiful 31-year-old daughter, Carolyn, who put up a valiant fight against the disease, slipped into the arms of Jesus.

An aching pain shot through my spirit as I accepted the loss. It's been 20 years, and I still miss her, and sometimes weep.

It's not that I weep as those who have no hope (I Thessalonians 4:13). She lived with faith, and went on her journey in faith.

Yet, while she was dying and sometimes in the early weeks afterward I wondered, "Do I believe what I always thought I believed?

I feared the night, especially. I've had trouble sleeping much of my life.

I remembered a friend who said even before she became a Christian when her father died, she went to sleep whispering the name of Jesus prayerfully. The first night and many nights after Carolyn went to be with Jesus, probably for about a year, I whispered His name and quoted the scripture at the beginning of this piece when I went to bed.

I slept.

While reading the verses, I noticed the passage begins in the New International Version with "The Lord is near," and that added more comfort.

He came near to me. I experienced peace.

Fear told me I could not endure such a loss. But I became grounded in the truth. Death is why Jesus came. He conquered it and gives eternal life to those who seek Him!

When I worried about tomorrow, I had no peace about my fears. I could not borrow peace in advance. Yet, when I needed Him, Jesus was there and peace remains.

God is faithful and true to His promises, and I am so grateful.

Ada Brownell is the author of Swallowed by Life: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, written after the loss of her daughter. A former medical reporter, the author combines the spiritual and medical aspects of death and resurrection.

Amazon Ada Brownell author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001KJ2C06

Blog: http://inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com Stick to Your Soul Encouragement

    

Welcome Loraine Kemp

I'm so thankful that Loraine Kemp volunteered to share her story for my Book Launch. I'm taken aback by her testimony of God's mercy and steady guidance despite her diagnosis with cancer and the despair and anger that come from losing her brother to cancer. After you read her article, go to her artist Facebook page and be blessed by her beautiful illustrations. - Tina

Don’t Look Down!
by Loraine Kemp

            Plumes of black and gray smoke choked the hills surrounding our town. The firestorm of 2003 incinerated much of our forests and over 250 homes that lay in its path. Afterward, I suffered from severe chronic asthma. I was infuriated with God. Why had this happened?

            But God was hatching a wonderful plan for me, even though at the time it seemed like a disaster.

Finally, after seven long years when my health returned, I was able to slowly wean myself off the inhalers. However, that’s when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was devastated.

            I had no fight left, which was why my husband declined an invitation to attend a men’s golf weekend. I insisted that he go, but he insisted back that if he went, I had to go too. I surprised both of us when I reluctantly agreed.

            So there I was, a preoccupied and depressed bartender and caddie for five guys on a gorgeous golf course. At the signature golf hole, a canyon with a tiny green on the other side, I sat watching and wishing I could play. After many balls had careened into the gulley, the guys took pity on me and allowed me to hit.

            My legs shook as I stared down at my ball, thinking of the deep gorge ahead. What was I doing? Did I really need more stress? But God’s soft voice broke through my agitation.

            “Loraine, as in your cancer diagnosis, you can think of all the things that could go wrong, or you could look for me. Don’t look down! I’m waiting for you across the gorge.”

            An enormous shift in my faith had just happened¾calmness flooded my being. With a loud ‘crack’ I hit the ball. Much to the guys’ chagrin, my ball sailed over the gorge and landed mere feet from the flag.

            From that moment on, I knew God was in charge. Through all my cancer treatments, I was completely calm.

            A few years later, my brother was diagnosed with a much more serious cancer. Our family was crushed to learn he only had about a month to live. During that time I told him my golf experience and reminded him during every visit, don’t look down! He embraced his faith so much that at a family gathering, the day before he died, he shared our faith story and told everyone he was at peace. There wasn’t a dry eye.

            I was so touched and inspired, I wrote a short story. It was called, of course, ‘Don’t Look Down’ and was entered into a conference contest, Write Canada! 2013. I was shocked and humbled when it won.  http://www.thewordguild.com/2013-fresh-ink-winning-entries/

            My God experience was not meant for me only. That was obvious. Thousands have since read the story. Of course, God wasn’t finished there.

The journey from anger and despair to my present wonder in God’s loyalty was the seed for my novel Orion’s Sword. It too was entered into a conference contest, American Christian Fiction Writer’s 2013 in Indianapolis. My novel is aimed at mid-grade readers, but there was no children’s category. So I entered into the YA category, only desiring the judges’ comments. However, I was amazed to make it to the semi-finals, then to the finals. While at the conference, I was stunned when my name was called out as the winner in front of 650 people at the awards Gala! I was the breathless winner of the Genesis 2013 contest! 

http://www.acfw.com/about/press_release/acfw_genesis_contest_awards_honors_for_unpublished_christian_fiction

            Out of the ashes of the fire and the turmoil of breast cancer, I’ve emerged, scarred and battered, but stronger in my faith than ever. The gifts I’ve gained, God expects me to use “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Ephesians 4: 12.

            Are you also going through turmoil? Hold on. God never wastes a hurt!

https://www.facebook.com/loraine.kemp.3

https://twitter.com/loraine_kemp

www.facebook.com/LoraineKempArtist

#2013 Genesis winner

Welcome Maria Webb

It's my great pleasure to introduce my third child, Maria to you. She is a wonderful seventeen year old high school senior who loves music, reading, political discussions, bible study and her family. Her talents are many: below she discusses her interest in graphics and photography which she has explored during this last year of home schooling. Her photos introduce each month in the devotional: Selah: Daily Quotes for Daily Meditation. -Tina

Truthfully, photography is one of the hardest hobbies I have ever started. I began pursuing photography when I was around thirteen years old. I started off photographing basketball games, parties, and family outings. At the time photography was just a necessity. However, as time when on, I realized my greatest challenge: taking a single shot that captured the essence of an object or or a visual concept in my imagination. When I loaded pictures onto my computer one day, all of my frustration vanished and was replaced by nervous anticipation; all because of the edit button. “I can make these photos look any way I want!” It is the art of transforming a bland 2D picture into a digital moment that conjures a feeling or mood that excites me. God’s creation is so beautiful and unique. With every picture I attempt to amplify that beauty and capture the spirit of every object.  Even more so, I desire to reflect a little bit of the glory and awesomeness of God.

Like any Christian, my relationship with God has not been a walk in the park. However, it could have been a lot easier for one reason: if I had known how much He loves me.

I was home-schooled and grew up in the church. My dad was an associate pastor and my mom was a worship leader: the perfect beginning for a perfect Christian life. Unfortunately, I did not use the resources at my disposal and I subconsciously created my own idea of Christianity. As an eight year old this was my idea of Christianity: “God loves me and saved me. BUT, if I do one thing wrong I have to start all over again”. As a result, every night for about three years I re-accepted Christ as my Savior. However, I think the key problem was simply that I had never accepted God as my Father versus as my Master. I had the incorrect perception that God the Father was constantly trying to kick me out and Jesus His Son was the mediator constantly having to accept me over and over again. 

What finally helped me understand how salvation works was the reality that I could do nothing to earn it. Salvation is a gift and I accept it; that’s it! The next things I learned were 1) God is the One who sent Jesus to die on the cross to save me, and 2) that His love is unconditional. 

Ever since I realized those truths, my life has changed immensely. I used to suffer from feelings of depression, however, once I knew that the GOD of the universe LOVED ME unconditionally, that killed any feeling of depression that I had. I used to believe that God was pretty much in control of who lived, who died, who He accepted, and who rejected Him. However, finally using the resources I had, my parents showed me that everything wrong with this world came from Satan, and although he is defeated, humans are still able to give power over to him; unfortunately, giving him the right to hurt whoever he wants emotionally or physically. Ultimately, it is the Christian’s responsibility to take back what Satan has stolen, give life to what he has killed, and restore what he has destroyed. God gives us the power to do all of this through the Holy Spirit  who lives in us.

Next time something bad or negative happens to you or someone else, know that God has the BEST in mind for you and the world.

I am in constant of awe of His grace and love. Not only that, but in His unwavering love for ME! He calls me His daughter and rejoices over Me! No matter how many times I roll this over in my mind, I never really get over the thrill that comes to me. Every moment that I lost in past believing that His love is conditional and limited, is a moment compared to the rest of eternity I get to spend with getting to know Him more and more. I could probably go on for all eternity, but I digress and leave you to discover or rediscover the immense love that God has for YOU!

 

BOOK LAUNCH!

UPCOMING NEW RELEASE! JOIN ME FOR MY BOOK LAUNCH!

https://www.facebook.com/events/418670798258457/

Dec 1-4, 2013

I'm happy to host 6 great women as guest bloggers during the launch. Their topics will range from: the faithfulness of God, to their favorite scriptures, personal testimonies and other inspirational topics.  My daughter Maria, age 17, a home-schooler, will write a post about teens and faith.   An interview with my co-author, Sena Woodall R.N. will be featured and last, but not least, I will have a giveaway of our new release. It will be available on paperback and ebook.

Book Release!

http://www.amazon.com/Before-The-Beginning-ebook/dp/B00EBUKVF4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1375723718&sr=1-1&keywords=before+the+beginning.

Here's the link to my newly released book, Before The Beginning!  Woo Hoo!  (Coming soon on BN Nook too!)