By now we are two weeks into the New Year, and I don't know if you're like me but I've already broken my New Years resolution. I was going to go a month without bread because it is my sweet. I wanted to be a good example to my husband who struggles to give up his sweets and let him see self-discipline in action. Ha! By about five days into the year, I was chowing down on a nice fresh piece of sour dough bread smothered with homemade raspberry jam, and he was well into a box of chocolates. We laughed at each other as we settled back into our easy chairs for our favourite TV show. How willing the mind is making these plans on New Year's Eve aft...

YAHWEH-ROPHE​ Exodus 15:26 … For I am the LORD who heals you. Yahweh-Rophe means the Lord heals. This amazing gift of God will be looked at in the next two weeks. First from the Old Testament as God—our healer and next week in the New Testament as—Jesus our healer. Because we serve a triune God, meaning that the Father, Son and Spirit are one, and a God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, looking at old and new testament accounts are beneficial. The God we serve heals. He heals the physical, emotional, and spiritual sickness in our life. The title Rophe (Healer) was first given to the Israelites right after they had been deliv...

Who sets out on their wedding day with dreams of sadness, betrayal and adultery in mind? What, you say, that would be crazy? Yes, of course it is, but the sad reality is that way too many relationships have memories they would love to obliterate.That's the way I feel. I would love to pretend that I have a fairy tale life, a happily-ever-after, nothing but a happy-go-lucky existence, but that would...

I am sick today...a weak kitten sitting in my chair with nothing but time...a rare gift. Not the flu of course but the time.Given time I think about my blog site and how life has stolen most every moment working at a business I neither love, nor care to do, yet here I am stuck on a treadmill running way to fast. Commitment dictates I stay the course but...I ask God why? Why, when I would rather be...

Thanks for joining me while I work through posting a chapter of my book  called “Friendly Fire.” This chapter primarily deals with the difficulty of trusting in a good God when life is not good. If you have not read my blogs before, please go back to Part 1 and begin there for greater clarity.The hard work of accepting God's sovereignty began on those sun-drenched beaches of Australia, cradled in ...

Join me for the next few weeks while I post a chapter of my book  called "Friendly Fire." This chapter primarily deals with the difficulty of trusting in a good God when life is not good. If you have not read my blogs before, please go back a few weeks to Part 1 and begin there for greater clarity.November 8, 2008 (One year post revelation) Journal EntryI feel God’s direction, his hand in this pla...

The holidays come with expectations rarely met. The Hallmark commercials, the Christmas movies and carols ring out…“Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days of yore, faithful friends who are dear to us, gather near to us once more…City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style, people laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile…It's the most wonderful time of the year, the...

Journal Entry August 18, 2008 What to do with this thing called pride? It’s so demoralizing to face the fact that I wasn’t enough to keep my husband happy. I want to change my body, change my life and change my address. Instead God asks me to stay and work through the wreckage.This pride prickles beneath the skin, with Satan only too happy to poke away reminding me “of what people will think.” At ...

After a speaking engagement this past week, I have talked to numerous ladies about this very thing - huge life disappointments.I too am currently in the midst of a big disappointment. After a number of years of my husband looking for work or a new business, we finally jumped in. The business we bought has turned out to be all consuming. There are major problems to fix. What we were told, is not wh...

DECISION-MAKINGBefore infidelity happened in my marriage, I believed as most do, that the transgressor deserves all he or she gets, including divorce papers. Furthering this mindset was the fact I had repeatedly warned David infidelity would be a deal breaker. I was adamant that there would be no mercy for such disgraceful disrespect, especially considering what I had seen as a child.Splashed on t...

I AM IN SHOCK – WHAT NOW?Though healing has long since taken place from that cold October day when I first found out about betrayal in my marriage, in looking back, the startling vacillation of emotions depicted within one journal entry never cease to amaze me. What a variety of responses: shock, disbelief, anger, bitter disappointment, sorrow, grief, self-pity, and even empathy. Depression follow...

Without faith in the tough times...we bend and collapse under the weight of sorrow and disappointment. May this song bring hope to your soul and encouragement when you do not understand the circumstances of your life. For truly there are times when the "WHY" cannot be answered,the "WHEN" cannot be foretold ,and the "HOW" lies only in the power of God to sustain us.My prayer is that you have the fa...

Last week I touched on the subject of pain and suffering in this world and how we view difficulty. This week I will let Laura Story's excellent song called "Blessings" take the subject one step further. In her song she asks God a tough question, a question I agonized over. I wondered why I had to suffer and why God chose suffering (Jesus on the cross) to bring about salvation.  What was it about p...

  Psalm 147:3 boldly proclaims, “He (Jesus) heals the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds.”  Christmas holidays are beautiful unless…You find your life in crisis.At this time of year loss is amplified, it does not whisper, it screams. Loss does not carry muted shades of gray, but flows crimson red as if one bleeds from the heart.Loss strips color from our existence and demands we look...

HEAL OR REPLACE?After the betrayal of adultery a decision will need to be made.Will you choose to replace your sorrow with another relationship or heal from the pain FIRST?This is a simple but complex question.Simple because there is only one logical answer…and that is to heal FIRST! If you don’t, no relationship will work, not restoration of your marriage, nor any other one.The decision is also c...

LISTEN FOR THE STILL SMALL VOICE OF GOD IN THE MIDST OF ACUTE SADNESSThe following is a very personal journal entry written in the first few weeks after the disclosure of my husbands infidelity. I reveal it now to encourage you to listen. To stop all you are doing, to take a walk and listen for the voice of God in your circumstance. The Bible says the Holy Spirit will pray for us when we have no w...

When Clouds Roll In - When Life is Hard... The other day at work I generically threw out my token, how are you today?“I hate that question.” The customer barked.One look told me he was not joking.In that moment I was given the opportunity to react in one of two ways:One, determine that he was a grouch and make a quick exit or…Read between the lines and realize there was far more to his story than ...

When giving thanks feels near impossible...WHY BOTHER? A book entitled One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voscamp has beautifully epitomized the power found in taking the time to be thankful. I highly recommend this read.Interestingly enough, this book reinforced a concept God had taught me some years earlier.I understand fully how difficult it may be to give thanks in the midst of sorrow, but I also want ...