Soul Sister Time

            My friend took me to see the new Disney Pixar cartoon Inside Out.  I had no idea what it would be about, but she said I would love it and I did.  They did a creative job of illustrating how complicated and wonderfully made we are.  I loved the lesson that sadness has a purpose in our emotions and how everything breaks down when we don’t allow this particular emotion to do its work.             Processing sadness leads to peace if not joy.  Sadness is necessary in all of our lives.  Expressing sadness is the only way to true peace.  I don’t know how many tears I have shed over the last three years since my husband died suddenly.  God does. Each tear has been a gift from God to help me move towards peace and joy.  Each one is so important to God that none have ever gone unnoticed.  If I reject my tears, I won’t function properly.  I need to honor my tears and be grateful that I have them.  Psalm 56:8 says: Record my misery;   list my tears on your scroll—are they not in

            I can’t tell you how relieved I was to read in James 3:8: But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison .  I sure do have a problem with taming my tongue and now I know why.  I can’t do it.  It’s right there in the Bible.  God tells me I can’t. Just because I know why, it doesn’t mean I don’t need to be mindful of my tongue.  The Bible also tells me how important what I say is to God.  Matthew 12:36 says: But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken .  In fact, it is this verse that makes me feel so pressured about what I say.  I know it is important to God.  Try as I might, I continuously fail to speak only words that glorify God! The reason I have such trouble with my tongue is that I have to let the Spirit change me from the inside out.  I was challenged by my friend to set a goal of standing on my head.  I did it.  I can do most reasonable things I set ou

We had a wonderful celebration of my parents almost 80’s birthdays.  It was a great turn-out all four children were there, plus most of the grandchildren, their adopted adult child, and some great grandchildren.  Psalm 145:4 describes our gathering: One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.   It’s times like this that we recognize the work of God through families.  God’s first command to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply.  The fruitfulness of our lives can be measured in how fully one generation passes down the wonder of God to the next generation in families.  Sadly, many families have failed to multiply spiritual fruitfulness from one generation to the next.  God created this world to be filled with people through families who passed on how to connect to God.  I will always remember my dad’s parenting advice when I first became a mom: Do the best you can and pray about the rest .  My parents’ said that their greatest birthday gift

            As believers who experience the freedom of following God’s Word, it grieves our hearts to see our country ignoring the mystical wisdom of Scripture for the rational and practical choice as seen in the recent decision that all states must uphold marriage in a new way—other than between one man and one woman.   It’s sad because it is more evidence of ignoring of God’s wisdom that He gave us in Scripture.   It reflects our nature to doubt God’s goodness and find our own way to make life work.             This is not the first national decision that ignores God’s goodness in His instruction for life on this earth through the wisdom   He gave us in His Word.   Nor will it be the last.   The world doesn’t know the liberty we believers experience by following His precepts and guides for living.   The decision to grant marriage rights to those who do not know the love of God makes sense in our world today.   Why shouldn’t they have social security benefits, insurance cover