Roe v. Wade. Everyone is talking about it today. I truly don’t understand why ending the life of a verified beating heart is such a controversial topic. It seems pretty simple to me. My God-based feelings of course say abortion is wrong, but setting that aside for a moment, it’s illogical just based on science alone.

When someone’s heart stops beating we declare they are dead. That is the singular event that ends a life, right? The brain or lungs or kidneys or legs can stop working and we have medical technology to step in to assist in those functions. But, when the heart stops, the life is over. We have a funeral and we bury or cremate the physical body and that’s that. The heart beat ends, and that triggers us that life is over.

I am going to hope and assume we can all agree to that universal scientific fact.

On the front end, when the heart starts beating, life should be starting. Right? If the heart stopping ends life, then it stands to reason a heart starting begins life. Life begins on heartbeat #1 and ends with heartbeat #__________ (who knows).

Life is life.

An unborn person cannot walk or talk or speak. They are still in the womb growing up — to be old enough to survive in a new environment. A 14-year-old doesn’t typically enroll in college and move into a dorm on campus. They are still growing up — to be old enough to survive in a new environment.  

Many born people cannot walk or talk or speak. But we don’t end their life just because it’s inconvenient to care for them.  

That’s my take.

P.S. You don’t just randomly get pregnant, you know. In most cases you can plan ahead, be responsible and this won’t even be a thing.

365 days not only comprise this calendar year, but also signify a goal I made and achieved.

I have some wonderful physical Bibles that I cherish, but I find the YouVersion Bible app so convenient, and the ability to search the entire text, read devotionals, created highlighted verses, and more makes it so useful at home or while on the go.

There was just one problem. The greeting at the top of the app always shows how many days in a row I have opened the app. I am certain this is meant to be encouraging and to keep the user coming back for more. Great! I love a challenge, and there isn’t one more important than being in the Word, but every few months I would get busy and not open the app, causing my counter to reset to 1. For a Bible tool that is meant to be uplifting, it became frustrating because I felt a little defeated each time I lost my streak.

Throughout every day I pray, and nearly every day I listen to a Christian podcast, watch a sermon on YouTube or read a printed devotional — always staying connected with the Word. So, I knew I was “okay” for missing a day in the app, but that pesky daily counter always kind of haunted me.

I have been a regular reader of the Bible app for many years, but just kept stumbling and missing a day here and there. Maybe I’m just too competitive. Nonetheless, around Christmas 2020 I decided the streak would not be broken again. As of today, I have opened and read in the Bible app every single day of 2021, and my streak goes back to a total of 370 days. Hooray!

I’m sharing this not just because I’m proud to have achieved this goal. Yes, it’s very rewarding to see 365 days on this year-end graphic, but what is even cooler is what happened within me all because I was making a conscious effort to click into the Bible app every day.

Of course, this isn’t a Bible reading contest and the point isn’t just to achieve a high number on the surface without any actual internal growth. The purpose is to invoke change in our lives, and I firmly believe that a simple task of purposely clicking into the Bible app every day this year has changed me. I inadvertently took that a step further because throughout most days I would click into the app multiple times just to be sure I hadn’t missed it that day. (I told you I was determined to keep my streak alive!) It wasn’t unusual for me to open the app 4 or 5 times every day … just to be sure. So, I would start to remember the verse of the day because of my repetitive viewing of it. The more I read the verses, the more planted they became, which helped form my battle armor for encountering the world that day. Some days when I had already read the same verse multiple times I would expand and read one of the many plans I had subscribed to, and that furthered my spiritual strength.

What happened inside me was remarkable and I can’t say that I totally expected it. There is definitely something special about being engaged in the Word throughout the day and I am so grateful my former streak-saddened self decided to not give up. Having the mental focus to make sure I opened the app every day caused the Bible to be on my mind a lot more than ever before. What better words to dwell upon! There is power in the daily connection to God’s Word and I can testify to the impact even a few consistent daily moments can have on your life. My spirit was more gentle, my patience was in greater supply, and my attitude was generous and tolerant.

Tomorrow starts perfect year #2 in the Bible app! I hope you will join me!

I saw a tweet the other day from a pastor I respect, and I have not been able to get away from it. I keep thinking about the short phrase he cast out to the ‘net, and the Holy Spirit keeps stirring up a conviction within me. Why? I have been breaking one of the Ten Commandments.

This is a good kind of conviction because in being obedient to God I know that other areas of my life will fall into their proper place. Strangely, I feel joyous and relieved to become so aware of this sin as I never realized how much this one in particular rule mattered. In hindsight that seems foolish because when we read the list of God’s commandments in Exodus 20 they are all given equal weight and importance. There is no mention of a free pass for whichever rule we think is inconvenient, or a footnote that the odd number rules were more serious than the even numbered ones. All 10 are to be honored and obeyed. I feel like sometimes we pick and choose how or when to obey God, and determine the seriousness of His commandments based on how it impacts our lifestyle or happiness.

Anyone who knows me knows that I really love to work. I’ve been that way my entire adult life, whether it was working for large national companies or owning my own small business. I’m thankful that I love not only the art of working, but also that I’ve been able to do the type of work that I enjoy. Running a small business (as I do) in an industry that I am passionate about can become consuming and rewarding, but also extremely exhausting. The latter is something I often suffer from, and being so deeply engaged in business operations can leave me depleted and lacking energy, clarity and creativity, which is not good for me or for my business.

Thankfully, God knows best and already set up the perfect solution of rest and rejuvenation for my weary body, mind and soul … I just had to look up to find it.

Exodus 20:8-11 (NLT)
Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

In every week, we are to work for 6 days and rest for 1 day. Our bodies and minds need a break from the grind. It’s simple, but oddly something I never contemplated until I saw that fateful tweet of a pastor relaxing as he rested on his own Sabbath day.

So, beginning this week, I will not do any work for my profession on one day of every week. I will not check my work email. I will not ship orders. I will not be on work social media accounts. I will not do accounting. (Thank you, Jesus for that one!) I will not budget, plan, brainstorm or even think about my work. I will honor the Sabbath. Commandment #4.

I am putting my fate where my faith is. Not in my own abilities, but in God. After all, 6 days of my work with God is much greater than 7 days of my work without God.

God > Evil

There is so much evil in this world and sometimes it seems like no matter where we turn, the devil is after us as Christ followers. Have you ever felt like the closer you get to God, the harder life is for you? I have, too.

I picture the devil playing “hot & cold” with us … did you play that game as child? It’s where someone would call out “cold”, “warm” or “hot” depending how close you were to the target object, trying to lead you toward the pre-determined destination. I think the devil plays games with us – our minds and our hearts.

When we are far from God, the devil sees us as “cold” so he isn’t very concerned about us. In that proximity from God, we are already pretty consumed with living our life for ourselves, so we aren’t a threat to Satan’s evil plot. In essence we are already following the devil when we are not actively following Jesus. (Ouch!)

As we move closer to the Lord and get into that “warm” area, the devil takes notice of us and often this is when he starts his attack. His goal is to stop you from your move toward the Light and will bring back untrue and unhealthy labels to our minds, and tell us that we have no worth or value. He will remind us of the hurt we endured and try to persuade us that forgiveness of others is not required. He will encourage us to do what feels good and what makes us happy because our time on earth is short and he is full of reasons why we deserve to be happy regardless of the cost to our eternity.

Eventually when we gloriously reach the “hot” (and on fire ) closeness to the Lord, the devil’s fire alarms at Station 666 sound loudly, and he goes into full attack mode. The devil is now ruthless in his motives and will attack our integrity along with our confidence in who we are as a person and in Christ. He will stir up drama and trauma within our family and workplace, stopping at nothing to cause us to doubt God and His goodness. Satan will turn a joyous time of us drawing near to our Savior and attempt to turn it into dark days filled with depression, discouragement and disbelief. His goal is for us to fully question God and blame Him for these terrible tragedies. Worst of all, Satan will tell us God doesn’t even want us as His child and these bad circumstances are His way of telling us to take a hike.

Nothing. The. Devil. Says. Is. True.

The devil is an evil being, rejected and cast out of God’s Kingdom. Nothing he says is for good, so we can’t listen to him, believe a word he says or give him power within us. However, we do need to study his ways in order to know our enemy and know that he does have extreme power.

Here are the methods I use when the going gets tough …

1. Anything that does not align with God’s Word is not true or right. This is where spending time reading the Bible every day (all day, if needed) is crucial to know what God says about everything we deal with on a daily basis. The Book was written a very long time ago, but that doesn’t make the truths aged.
2. Confusion about #1 comes from the Devil. Don’t be persuaded otherwise by anyone, for any reason. Fact check!
3. Following Jesus does not exclude us from trouble. In fact, our walk of faith is what makes us a target, but we should consider it an honor to be attacked for our faith as it means we are on the right track for God’s purposes.
4. Prayer changes everything. There is nothing more powerful than talking with the Creator of the universe and how blessed are we to be invited into a personal relationship with Him. If He can breathe our planet and everything in it into existence, He certainly can change our circumstances today.

If you are feeling emotionally broken down and spiritually exhausted, just keep following Jesus because you’re actually being called closer to your true purpose.

I had always wanted to have a story. I didn’t think I was asking for much … you know, just something that would outline and define my purpose here on earth, and would clearly explain why I wake up in the morning, and what I do with my time once I am awake. Surely most people want to know their purpose in life, and for me it was being a mom, a wife, a business owner, a Christian and a friend. Not necessarily in that order. Apparently, in life I did not have them in the right order either. I’m pretty sure that’s the exact thought God was having when that one day happened.

It was the day that everything changed. Like you, I have had plenty of great days and bad days, but exactly one week prior, I had the worst day of my life. So as I was struggling to find answers to “why?” and “how?”, with nowhere else to turn, I got cozy on my favorite white-ish couch, clutched my Bible and on that quiet afternoon cried out to God for help.

I had hit rock bottom. BUT, God was the rock.

It’s amazing and almost surreal how God can change things in an instant. My entire life I had been a pretty good person. I prayed often and of course, I called myself a Christian because I asked Jesus to come into my heart in Kindergarten. After attending a Christian school for 14 of my first 18 years of life, I really didn’t know anything else, and hence I didn’t feel like I had much of a testimony. But on that one day, as soon as I threw up my hands and gave God complete control of my life, everything changed. The personal relationship I had heard about for decades suddenly came to life, and I heard Him actively speaking to me as if He were sitting right beside me. Such comfort comes from knowing that He really is right there with me, in the midst of the mess, with open arms and loving guidance.

Here are the 5 truths I saw clearly, and claimed boldly that day:

1. God wants to be first in my life. He doesn’t want to ride in the back seat; He wants to drive! For those who know me, I am a car girl, and sharing my cars is not my thing … at all. But, letting God ride in the back seat or passenger seat (or trunk!) won’t cut it because that leaves me controlling where the car goes. The only way to be assured I’m on the right path is to hop out of the driver’s seat so God can take the wheel. By the way, the car is His anyway.
2. God will never fail me. People will fail me, and unfortunately I will fail them, too. But, God is perfectly loving and gracefully merciful, so He alone is worthy of my trust and my praise. It is too great a burden to put my hope in another human being because there is no way any of us can live up to the expectations of another. God created us in His image, but we cannot come close to replacing Him, and disaster follows when we put too much emphasis on other people.
3. My worth was determined on the cross. Jesus died for my sins, which means I am worth it. Period. I am worth His love – I am worth His time – I am worth His life. Earthly circumstances can often make us feel like we are worthless and even cast labels onto us that diminished our self-esteem and erode our hope in life. God sent His only Son to earth to die so that I (and you) could be saved and restored, so what else could I possibly need to know? That is the ultimate and eternal form of hope!
4. Love like Jesus. In the midst of the most unlovely situations, is when I must show the most love. Gosh, if this isn’t the most difficult thing, though! I do the most praying over this particular topic, and it’s the area of my life I have seen the most redirection in. Showing love to someone who doesn’t seem to “deserve” love or kindness has become one of the most rewarding feelings I have ever known. It’s a pure form of joy that comes from following Jesus, and the key is to listen and obey to what He is telling you to do.
5. Boldly share my story for God’s glory. I have often laughed at myself thinking “be careful what you wish for” because I always wanted a testimony that would show God to others via my life, and boy did I get it. I am willing and eager to endure whatever comes my way because I know the Creator of the universe is walking with me and will use my unfolding story for His kingdom’s glory. Rather than having a bleak outlook because of earthly circumstances, I feel so blessed to be in the midst of troubles because that gives God a perfect platform to do His work.

This is [becoming] my story.