Daily 511

In my dream world I live in an enormous rustic home nestled into cozy mountainside overlooking a pristine lake.  I never have to worry about a mortgage or broken down cars (or broken down bodies!) And because I don't like to do things half way, I also weigh 70 pounds less, have a successful writing career and perfect blood pressure. We all need dreams.  Dreams propel us forward, energize us to work hard towards a goal and can make the world a better place.  I believe many of our dreams are God given and God directed.  However, if you're like me, many of your dreams are self-centered, idealistic and materialistic.  We see something we like on Facebook or Instagram or TV (often an entire lifestyle- I'm looking at you, Joanna Gaines) and we want the same thing for our lives. What happens, then, when real life doesn't live up to your dream for your life?  When illness, death, broken relationships, lost jobs, business failures intrude on your plans? ...

Friday morning, March 15th 2019, I was laying in bed, determined not to get out of my warm cocoon until the last possible moment, when my son burst in the room, "An FMC nurse wants to talk to you."  It took a few seconds to register, but then the alarm went off in my head.  The voice on the other end of my phone sounded worried, "We have Jay in emergency.  It appears he is having a stroke.  We have given him clot busting medication and are having him life flighted to OSU.  If you leave now, you may be able to see him before they take off." I don't remember getting dressed but I ended up in the ER just moments before they whisked him off to the helicopter waiting for him on the roof of the hospital.   Thankfully, my son was home from college on Spring Break and could drive me the 45 minutes to the hospital.  I was greeted at OSU by a neuro surgeon.  "Jay has a clot in his brain.  He will have the best outcome if we go in and remove ...

Grief can be beautiful. The world tells us that grief is sadness, pain, something to get through and get over. And grief IS sadness and pain but it can also be so much more.  I've lost a lot of loves in my life. I lost my first husband, Ken, 20 years ago and my mom just a few weeks ago. When you love someone deeply and your lives have been lived together, intertwined, their loss feels like part of you comes unraveled. You realize day by day, it's not just one loss, it's a  thousand little losses. Grief IS exhausting, painful and just plain hard work. We don't get to choose when we suffer a loss, but we can choose HOW we grieve.  The Bible tells us we can grieve as those with no hope- a path that leads to despair and brokenness- or we can grieve as those with hope- a path that leads to spiritual growth, hope, peace and even joy- that death does not have the final word. I choose to grieve with HOPE. HOPE that this life isn't all there is. HOPE that the love I ...

    Everyone loves a happy ending.  Especially when God swoops down and performs a miracle.  The child suddenly cured of cancer? Praise God!  The father healed from addiction?  Praise God!  I will praise Him right along with you.  Our God is mighty.  But sometimes, even when we are down on our knees begging God for a miracle, God says No.   As often as God says Yes in the bible (healing the Leper, raising Lazarus from the dead)  He just as often says No ( Job anyone?).  We don’t like the stories where God says no.  They don’t sell many books or make for a great movie.  It’s human nature to want the happy ending.      I was reading a wonderful post today about a woman whose husband beat 10 years of addiction by giving his addiction over to God.  I love those stories.  We need those stories of perseverance and hope.  Their happy ending was the miracle I had prayed fo...

About a year ago, I felt the need to have a unified mission statement of some sort for my life. If you're a wife, mom, daughter, homemaker or have a career, it can sometimes feel like we have all these separate roles or compartments we live in with nothing to unify the part into a whole. Earlier this year, my youngest son left for college and I eagerly (with the occasional shed tear!) anticipated more free time to pursue hobbies and passions. I have a lot of interests: reading, writing, humor blogging, an Etsy business, faith and religion, motherhood, home décor...the list seems to get longer the older I get! This diverse list of interests left me feeling... scattered. As a follower of Christ, I know what direction I'm heading and the values that guide me, but I felt I needed to write down something, perhaps a mission statement of some sort, as a unifying, more specific mission for all the various roles and activities of my life. After several months of trying out var...