When my heart takes me back to that place where my heart was nourished ... where my body was fed ... and where my dreams were born ... I can hear the laughter yet around the kitchen table ... and the prayers that were prayed at family devotions.

That was home. My home. The place of my roots and my faith.

What is life, anyway?

What is life made of?

What makes life worth living?

What makes life worth celebrating?

I always look forward to my steaming cup of coffee in the morning … laced with just a wee bit of almond milk.

The taste is robust … yet gentle.

Invigorating … yet soothing.

I can joyfully choose to trust Him and all that He is while my world is shaking with unwanted and unexpected quaking.

I am head over heels in love with Christmas.

I love the season. I love the wonder and the meaning.

I love the miracle that Christmas has ushered in to the darkness and confusion of planet earth.

I love the joy that only happens at Christmas.

“In the central place of very heart, there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer and courage, you are young.” - Ullman

I determine to spend my days encouraging people and writing thank you notes.

I determine to invest the rest of my days believing for the best and not giving in to disillusionment or despair. A very wise man once told me, “It’s more fun to believe!”

I determine to lavish in the laughter of children, to wade in the gift of extraordinary friends and to drown in the beauty of creation.

Every difficult person that you encounter is an opportunity for you to reveal the character of Christ in your less-than-perfect body.

Don’t allow discouragement to paralyze your soul! Don’t give discouragement the pleasure of pressing “pause” on your ability to minister or on your deep desire to encourage others.

The glory of prayer is found in those words “I don’t. I can’t. I’m not”

Because He is!

I pray that this year… as August gives way to autumn… that you will choose to celebrate the
lavish goodness of our God.

God never asked Moses to be enough. He simply asked Moses to believe Him.

Now more than ever we as the children of God need to stick out like a sore thumb as we display the hope of our salvation.

One thing that I know for sure is that God doesn’t want me to camp out in either

extreme.

We might honestly have a day or two here or there … or a week from time to time …

when we are met with an extreme … but you just can’t live there!

Esther. Young. Lovely. Jewish. Forced to marry an older man who had absolutely no value for human life. Absurd! Ridiculous! Inconceivable!

God!! Where are you?! Do you even care?!

God does indeed, care.