As I was cleaning up my office earlier today I came across a paper with my Red Cross Certificate of Completion card printed on it. Has it already been a week since I took that First Aid course? Had the six days between last Saturday and today actually passed that quickly? How is it possible for moments and minutes to turn to hours and days in the span of a breath or a heartbeat? For that matter, how has my precious seven pound, first born baby girl become a teenager? Hasn't it only been the span of a breath since I was a child, a teenager, a recent college grad, a newlywed, a first time mother? The longer I live, the more I realize that human life is exactly like the breath that David describes in Psalm 144:4: For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow. - Psalm 144:4 Alarming? Not at all. In contrast, I find these thoughts exhilarating. One life. One single life, and whether my years are forty or ninety-four, every breath is a gift. Every … [Read more...]
Time Management – Examine Your Daily Priorities
It's amazing how life has dramatically shifted for me in the past five years. I went from being in college, having the world at my fingertips, and all the time I needed to do whatever it was I wanted--to being a wife and a mom with one glorious little portion of each afternoon designated to myself: nap time. For three years the question was, what to do at nap time? Most days I spent it working out and showering and fixing dinner. But I found that with the birth of our son, I had to become even more intentional about my time. Some people are really good at planning. Not me. In fact, if you give me a plan I take a little bit of joy in rebelling against it. I am awful at following homework to Bible studies, recipes for meals, run plans for half marathon training, diet plans for meals. Seriously. I've talked to Jesus about it, and I think I'm getting a little breakthrough. So planning out my time is hard for me. I take no pleasure in it. But as I've grown up, I've had to do it. It's crazy … [Read more...]
When Things Change
When I was a teenager I used to pray about my future; “Lord, whatever you have planned for me, I pray that I will love it.” I prayed that prayer for a long time and in truth, He gave me an attitude of joy and pleasure in whatever He brought my way. There were plenty of changes as I journeyed from my teens into my twenties but I was young (and single) enough to enjoy the variety of paths before me. Years later I entered the foreign mission field and in my heart, for twelve years, India was the last stop for me. Then the Change came. My plans changed. The plans I had for the rest of my life changed. Things change. If you have ever worked with clay, you know that it is pliable. It conforms to whatever shape the master potter chooses. Clay changes form. The Master makes the decision, not the clay. I am clay. I've found this truth to be comforting as my life has gone through drastic changes over the years. He is Lord. I am not. He gives the work, I work. There is a freedom in … [Read more...]
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