Tag: Jesus

It’s Got to Be Like Planning a Party, Right?

faith, freedom, grief, memoir

Confetti, Hope and 3/16 My mom plopped down across from me in the nursery looking hurried and determined as she readied to leave my house. She and my Dad had stayed with us three of the four weeks since my son was born, but today they were rushing back home. It had been less than 12 hours since the phone call that changed our lives. They were trying to beat the news back to my Grandmother – my Memaw – so she could hear about the death of her only grandson from them instead of Channel 12. They didn’t make it, by the way. The story broke before they could drive the three…

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There’s No Such Thing As Annuals

Life Lessons, Spiritual Growth

My mom used to own and operate her own greenhouse. If having a green thumb is a thing, my mom is green head-to-toe – that woman can make anything grow anywhere! Recently, while sitting on my deck looking at the shriveling petunias left over from our 4th of July party, I was saddened by the fact they were almost completely dead. Brown, dry, crisp. With only a hint of their former green life remaining. Not that I hadn’t been caring for them, but Petunias are annuals, which means they only bloom for one season, one year, and then they die. They will not regrow or bloom again next year, their little roots cannot…

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Apple Seeds and Deep Prejudices

Life Lessons, Metaphors, Spiritual Growth, Success & Motivation

In the Spring of 2016, I realized I am prejudice. prejudice noun prej·u·dice \ˈpre-jə-dəs\ :  an irrational attitude of hostility directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics : an unfair feeling of dislike for a person or group because of race, sex, religion, etc. : a feeling of like or dislike for someone or something especially when it is not reasonable or logical All of these definitions fit my condition perfectly. But my prejudices have nothing to do with skin color. Home Sweet Home While preparing a message to give at a ladies luncheon at small church in Southern Kentucky, I got stuck. When I booked the event,…

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Connecting Santa and the Savior

faith, Guest Blogs

Jennifer Moye – Guest Blogger of the Month Around this same time a couple years ago, our boys were sitting in the living room floor creating their Christmas lists to send to Santa. The lists consisted mostly of cut out pictures from the Toys-r-Us catalog pasted sloppily with glue sticks on poster paper. They jumped up and down with excitement with every page turn as they found a new must-have toy. In all the fun of that day, I noticed that our oldest boy had only 3 things listed on his paper. An IPad, a phone like mommy’s, and crutches. Crutches? Yep, that’s right. Those were his must-haves of that Christmas. As Christmas…

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The Other Brother

faith, freedom, grace, Life Lessons

I can pinpoint the exact season(s) in my life when I have been the prodigal. The rest of the time, I have been really, really good at being the other brother. Feeling like I deserve things because I’m “the good one”, the responsible one; I follow the rules, I make good grades, I make good decisions. I’m REALLY good at being good. But notice the character for whom the story is written. The reason it’s recorded in history. It’s called “the parable of the lost son”, not “the parable of the really good son”. God LOVES the prodigals. They bring Him so much joy! He loves to celebrate them!  It’s not that He…

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Woman Camp

faith, freedom, Life Lessons, Spiritual Growth

Recently, my church held a camping weekend woman’s retreat, they called it “Woman Camp”. Ten years ago, if you had told me I would be signing up for a camping trip for 500 women only – voluntarily – I would have thought you were crazy. Sure I had attended plenty of women-only events… out of sheer obligation, but not excitedly. And I didn’t really feel like I fit in when I was there, I just didn’t relate. In case you don’t know me, I am exactly equal parts fashionista and tomboy; which means you’re just as likely to catch me barefoot as you are in AWESOME stilettos. My best friends had almost exclusively…

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What Business AM I in??!

freedom, Success & Motivation

A few weeks ago, Facebook released a promotional tool for “business pages” housed on their site. It’s a video that starts with, “we are in the business of….” And gives a very brief overview/description of your business.  Like a 15 second mini-commercial. I followed the link to create my own for my writer/speaker page.  Facebook did all the work for me, I just had to fill in the blanks and make my selections and it would spit out a professional marketing tool.  I picked all my favorite pictures and clicked “next”, then the tagline pops up: “We are in the business of…..”  I sat staring at the blinking cursor in the empty text…

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A Pressure-Cooked Reminder

marriage, relationships

It’s funny, in the last few weeks there have been so many things going on in our life – MAJOR life changes: my husband quit his job and now works from home, I started a professional speaking career outside my current job, my editor got back to me with all the changes I need to approve in my book, we bought a house….. It’s been overwhelming. I’ve been overwhelmed. Stressed to the max- I can feel it in my body (and so can my chiropractor!) Naturally with all that going on, tension has run high in our home. My husband and I have been bickering and even arguing a lot, which is rare…

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Amazing Amazing Grace

grace, marriage, relationships

“The thing I find most amazing about amazing grace is the chance to give it out; Maybe that’s what love is all about.”  – I’m Not Who I Was, Brandon Heath This past week, I ran across the poetry and memoirs I wrote during the whirlwind five month romance that lasted from the day we met, to the day I married, my ex-husband. It was ironic, and a little heartbreaking to read. What I wrote most about was all the good things I saw in him and how bright our predestined future together was.  I wrote about seeing him through God’s eyes, the way He had created him, and all the things he…

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