Beauty from Ashes - A Continual Process

I was murmuring to myself about the dark.  I was thinking about how I had to race home to run before dark, and now that's not even possible!  I ordered a reflective vest so oncoming cars could see me.  Tonight was the night.  The darkest run I've had so far, and my reflective vest came just in time - today!  That took the edge off of my murmuring mood and off I went. Now before you think I'm bragging about running, let me just say this.  I. Move. My. Feet.  And, I do this activity 3 times a week at best.  It's not that I am athletic!  Ironically, it actually helps my fibromyalgia pain.  Even when I feel yucky, I know that if I let too many days go by without a run, I will feel even worse.  So there are tons of lessons I learn from this moving of my feet, but tonight it's about the night . I noticed that I really enjoyed the run, and I think it is for a non-athletic reason!  I couldn't see how far I had to go!  All I...

Five and a half years ago while recovering from surgery, I spent a lot of time in my favorite book, Isaiah.  I thought one day I might publish my story.  I saved countless entries, and now I look back and see them as stone's of remembrance for me, to celebrate His work that continues in my heart.  I  read some journal entries this morning from 2010, and God blessed me.  So if you're an Isaiah fan, you might be encouraged here.  I am not a theologian, so I just read and pray and write. There are several posts listed by date.  His Word says " My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. "(John 10:27 ESV). Keep or toss. :)   ·        2/22/10      I'm reading Isaiah everyday, my favorite book.  This section is so good about trusting God, not people.  We can love people without fear because He is the one holding us.  ("perfect love casts out fear 1 John 4:18)  ...

This title is somewhat ironic, considering I struggle with cutting away the mind clutter!  But that's just the point!  Not to mention March Madness!  Today my mind is racing about all the racing, and it's a lot of good stuff that's racing through!   But. I'm. slowing. it. now.   There is too much information out there for me to process.  I can't possible drink it in.  I don't want this blog to be another "thing" that gets in the way of people really living!  I started this blog because I wanted to bring hope to people with anxiety.   I did not set out to prove that one can ask for, and have anxiety divinely removed.  I hope to share that when we surrender our anxiety to God, we can believe He will use it for our good.  We all have a weakness.  It can either drive us to God or away from God.  If it's not anxiety, it's something else...it doesn't matter what it is.   With the beautiful truth of Easter upon us , I ju...

Today the Bible app verse of the day is Malachi 3:10. I was just going to post the verse on instagram and facebook to encourage all of us to trust in His promises.  But instead God blew open my heart and filled it.  So I'm sharing because I had the time for some extra soul filling today, as well as time to share the nourishment.  So this is straight up from my journal, and I'm going to hit send before I think too hard: We tithe, give to You Lord, because You help us want to give, and You promise to meet our every need...   Never worry , didn't know God would take me to that place with this verse.  The worry place... where I need to go. Thank You Lord. This is my prayer this morning. Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner. Please hear my cry. I am sorry for a jealous, insecure, fearful heart. Not only should we tithe freely, which by your grace comes easy to me, BUT I should give my heart away freely, which is scary to me. I've come to Y...

My meditations today have been full of GRACE!  Do you ever let your sin keep you from moving on?  It can be easy not to receive,  in full, the grace that God offers when we repent.  Sometimes just plain yuck comes out of my mouth!  As I was reading Luke 6 this morning, which is packed with grace and truth, I came across verse 45.  It says, " out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." If yuck is coming out, then yuck must be renting space in my heart!  It doesn't matter if I only say it to the wall!  Just makes me want to sing "Create in my a new heart O God, and renew a right Spirit within me,"  taken from Psalm 51:10. I had repented to the Lord yesterday for speaking negative.  Life comes from speaking truth, grace, and  forgiveness, and who we are in Christ.  Ephesians 1 says that in Christ we are loved, blessed, redeemed, forgiven, chosen, accepted, and adopted!  Romans 8 says that the "mind of the flesh...

Psalm 51 has four precious sections to my soul.  God blessed me with this chapter many years ago.  I've been refreshed by it this morning.  One, our sins are always before us as David said, but they do not have to hold us captive.  Two, our sins are against God alone.  Three, we can pray for a clean heart and for His Spirit to revive us.  And four, we can praise even in the hard times.  Grace alone makes all this possible. I struggled with self-condemnation for many years.  I've shared in the past how I could not really believe I was forgiven.  I knew it in my head but my heart was restless.  I knew the passage, "there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  This did not bring relief to my spirit.  I prayed over this for a long time as God began to do a healing work in me.  I often pray "Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."  But I pray out loud, "I receive your forgivene...

I remember the white bunk bed, I got top bunk because I was the oldest.  My little sis would ask me to hang down my arm and hold her hand until she went to sleep.  We had a code knock with our brother who was in the next room.  3 knocks for "I love you,"  and one final knock for "goodnight."  That's a picture I'll always hold onto.  I loved that time of the day.  Sometimes we would all get the giggles and not be able to stop.  It's still fun to get the giggles.  It's so rare as adults, but so fun when you collapse on the floor, tears streaming down, laughing so hard you can't breathe!  For a moment we let ourselves be little kids again. Well, that little girl in me would crawl up into that cozy spot and say my prayers.  I would confess my sins to God.  Then I would lie there in bed,  restless, until finally I had to get up and go confess my sins to my parents.  They didn't tell me to do this, I just didn't believe G...