Beauty from Ashes - A Continual Process

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...

The following is actually the text message I sent to my kiddos and hubby this am. Since I post my heart, I'm sharing it with you. Maybe just one of you sometimes gets stuck in the compulsive apology cycle, and forget that Jesus doesn't want compulsive, He wants real. Compulsive is when I am trying to do it all right, and fix it every time I do it wrong - IN MY STRENGTH. I don't like me when I'm stuck there!  It literally feels like a chain around my neck and a brick on my chest! GRACE is when I see my desperate need of a Savior Who forgives, and enables grace-filled living, dependence, and humility. So much easier and safer to rely on Him than me! So here is my heart split wide open again. Not going to think this one over.  I pray God splits my heart wide open with His Word every day until I'm with Him. Hebrews 4:12-16,  " For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, be...

I desperately need the Holy Spirit to take this heart, the one that needs grace in order to be joyful, and I need Him to throw down grace. I need to be hands and feet of Jesus right now in order to distract this human brain. This brain is so often tricked by what I see and know. God sees and knows everything, and has it all mapped out. It's so much bigger than these 24 hours/days/weeks...I know that DAVID wrote it out until the writing turned around. He never left a psalm undone, and we can never leave a day undone. His glory is reflected when His love flows through us to the broken, from the broken to the broken. He was broken for us, wasn't He?! How do I turn this around? It is selfish to just let it churn into the monster it can become, the aching empathy, the empathy that Jesus came to carry so that I would not ache from it. Yes, empathy has it's place, don't get me wrong. But there's place I know I go, where I have to say, OK, enough, TRUST MY MAKER! Why...

Swirling! That's my brain!  I have shallow thoughts and deep thoughts to share.  Don't read this if you don't want to race in a few different directions!  But maybe one of these trails will resonate with you?  I used to ramble only to my close friends, that was safe.  But God doesn't call us to safe.  And after we watch 21 men of God give their lives by bowing to none other than Jesus Christ, vulnerability in my blog is no where near dangerous!  But that's what I'm wrestling with, is my faith dangerous?  Do I live it with any risk?  That question makes anything I share incredibly safe.  I sit behind a key board in a warm home on an unseasonably cold winter snow day, and write out my heart.  That's why I am reading Radical again by David Platt, as well as The Life of George Mueller .  I'm hungry, that's good!  I want sell "it" all, the "stuff of our culture," and in place of "it" give a message of HOPE. My heart goes s...

The point isn't about the specific trial, but about His WORD, HIS PURPOSE, HIS GLORY.   THE WORD IS WHO HE IS!  AND.HE. IS. ALWAYS. AT.WORK. Isaiah 55:10-11 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 S o will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire," Already this year we have been encouraged by many verses that I want to pass along to anyone who needs a lift. Keep them coming.  Let's all keep them coming and going with each other because Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is full of living power..."  Jeremiah 23:29 "Is not my word like fire," declares the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"  John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was Go...

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...

I tripped over by own feet running a very slow pace yesterday!  A car actually pulled over to see if I was OK!  I waived them on, thumbs up, just a bruised hip and ego. I finished the run angry!  How could something I love to do make me so angry?  Well, for starters, I downloaded an app so I could map out different distances for running.  The app also tells me how far I've gone and also, what I already knew...I'm slow.   Over the years I've matured to not let it bother me.  But now it's right there in text after every run - stealing my joy!  I came in the house mad.  My sweet husband was expecting joy, but what he got was pity party!  Oh I threw a great one! "Well, honey, there's no danger in me ever being prideful!   I have nothing to tempt me to be prideful!   I can't sing, I'm a horrible athlete, I'm a horrible cook, terrible at math, unorganized!..." What's that about the enemy? He comes to rob, kill and destroy...John ...