From Christy Christopher: It is so easy to fixate on what I am seeing with my eyes and feeling with my emotions. The temptation to hyper-focus on the waves and wind is almost irresistible.

From special guest blogger, Angela Donadio… an excerpt from Fearless – Ordinary Women of the Bible who Dared to do Extraordinary Things.

From special guest blogger, Becky Harling…Have you noticed? People are smiling again. In many states, as people have gotten vaccinated, the mask mandate has been lifted. I think many have wrestled with loneliness during the pandemic. Loneliness is the ache in our souls to feel connected and to belong. And you know what? That ache was given to us by Almighty God who wants us to feel connected to Him and others.

From special guest blogger, Jessie Seneca…What I realized was God was trying to get my attention with how many times in the middle occurred. From experiencing God in the middle of life’s experiences, to keeping Him at the center of it all, the middle became my focus for new teaching and personal growth.

I love America.

I am one of those people whose heart bleeds red, white and blue.

I have been patriotic since my 5-year-old feet stepped into the one-room schoolhouse in my small town. (That’s right … I am old enough to have attended a one-room schoolhouse!)

I’ll never forget the first morning of kindergarten in September of 1960 when all the children in every grade gathered around our new teacher’s desk. We placed our hands on our hearts and said the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the American flag that hung over her desk.

Discouragement never comes alone but often invites its first cousins whose names are “despair”, “hopelessness” and “sadness”.

Have you met this sorry family of uninvited intruders?!

And when discouragement lingers … you can bet that its difficult grandfather “Papa Negativity” will barge his way into your life as well!

Summer lasts for exactly 93 calendar days this year. The Farmer’s Almanac cites its onset as June 21, 2022 and lists its farewell on September 22, 2022.

93 days.

After only three short months of mosquito bites and baseball games, the beach towels will be packed away … the flip flops will be thrown away … and the lazy, hazy days of summer become a sweaty memory.

This world is such a harsh place, isn’t it?

What do we do when children are killed … and evil prevails … and anger boils?

What do we do?

We keep a tender heart.

What is it going to take?

What is it going to take to become the person that you have always wanted to be?

What is it going to take to leave your pain and regrets in the past so that you are able to fully embrace the joy that is singular to today?

What is it going to take to live with fearless enthusiasm and heartfelt passion?

When I was living during the darkest and loneliest days of my life, I developed an addiction.

I was in the throes of depression due to years of infertility and repeated miscarriages. I sent 5 babies to heaven when they had grown to between 12 and 20 weeks in utero. It was a time of non-stop grief, dashed hopes, and raging emotions.

In addition to being heartbroken over my circumstances … having empty arms month after month … and being in the throes of a dark and violent depression … it was then that I developed an addiction.

We are all growing older, aren’t we?

None of us is immune to the process of aging as the years pass … as the months fly by … and as the weeks disappear.

The reality of time is impossible to escape.

We are all growing older year by year ... month by month ... day by day.

As the old saying goes … “Time waits for no man.”

I think that one of my glaring weaknesses is that I tend to look back through the pages of time more often than is necessary or healthy.

My heart repeatedly flips through the memory book of yesterday … as I relive moments … savor past holidays … enjoy ordinary days … and recall the sweet sound of voices and laughter.

I pray that by your godly behavior … by your words and by your actions … by the way that you treat others … that you will leave a legacy that shouts, “One woman, who clings to Jesus, can make a difference that will leave ripples in the pool of eternity!”

If you have been reading my blog, “Joy for the Journey”, for any length of time at all, you know that my life chiefly centers around two immovable disciplines.

But today … during these last few pleasant days of April … I want to share with you some of the pleasantries that I have also incorporated into my life.

I was recently asked in an interview, “Carol, what exactly do you love the most about being a Christian?”

And, while the obvious answer quickly bubbled up in my soul and tumbled quickly across my lips, the piercing question caused the “philosophical me” to ponder its implications.