dear daughters,
The school year has begun! Anki and Aimee are both in college now, and Latania is an “upper classman”! My how time flies! Each of you is in an important season of life.
I’ve been reading a book called The New Eve: Choosing God’s Best for Your Life by Robert Lewis. He talks about the seasons of life for women, even young women. I’ll share a little of it today and save the rest for later. Here are three things he suggests young single women do.
1. Envision what you want your life to look like when you are out of school and down the road about ten or fifteen years. Then figure out how to get there and take steps in that direction.
2. Pray for God’s best husband for you, and follow His leading to find that special one. Decide in advance your nonnegotiables. Know what to look for in a good man. “The best way to find a good man and keep him is to become a good woman.”
3. Develop your character by continuing to go to church, fellowship with Christian friends, and study the Bible. “Character is the ground floor of your life. Who you are will always be more important than what you do. Build your (good) character now rather than take on the harder work of rebuilding it in later seasons. The better your character, the better your life.”
living to love, loving to live,
momma b
Monday, August 31, 2009
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Remember the Rainbow
dear daughters,
Spring has long ago sprung, and summer has already begun. But today at my house the spring storms are still in the air.
Last night, the storms were so severe I was in the closet for twenty minutes! The tornado and fire truck sirens howled, and my dog Moo eagerly joined the alarming chorus.
The tops of several of our trees were sheared straight off. Huge limbs lay in abundance around our house in both the front and back yards. As my mother used to say about my room, “It looks like a tornado came through.” And it may have.
When the storms quieted down, Papa Jeff and I were left sitting in the dark without any electricity. So we decided to venture out in the car to see what damage had been done. Fortunately, we saw lots of standing water and broken trees, but no displaced people or broken homes. Many storms are far worse.
As we drove around, I looked at the back side of the ferocious storm that had left its mark on our yard. Surprisingly, I saw a beautiful rainbow. It occurred to me the rainbow wasn’t on the front or in the middle of the storm. It came on its heels, following behind after the intensity of the storm had passed.
In Genesis, God promised Noah he would never again destroy “all flesh” of the earth by a flood, and the rainbow was his sign of this promise. But there is an even bigger message in the rainbow. It reminds us that God is in control of every storm. It is a symbol of his power to limit a storm’s impact, to determine its magnitude and decide its end.
We all face storms and many are of another kind – life storms that move in our direction seemingly out of nowhere. Like rain storms, they are dark and scary. They are beyond our control. They can cause damage and even threaten our lives. We wonder if they will ever end.
When you experience life storms like failure, loss and heartache, I pray today you will always remember God is at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of every storm that comes your way. He is always present and always in control.
Next time you find yourself in a storm, anticipate the rainbow. It will surely come!
living to love, loving to live,
momma b
Spring has long ago sprung, and summer has already begun. But today at my house the spring storms are still in the air.
Last night, the storms were so severe I was in the closet for twenty minutes! The tornado and fire truck sirens howled, and my dog Moo eagerly joined the alarming chorus.
The tops of several of our trees were sheared straight off. Huge limbs lay in abundance around our house in both the front and back yards. As my mother used to say about my room, “It looks like a tornado came through.” And it may have.
When the storms quieted down, Papa Jeff and I were left sitting in the dark without any electricity. So we decided to venture out in the car to see what damage had been done. Fortunately, we saw lots of standing water and broken trees, but no displaced people or broken homes. Many storms are far worse.
As we drove around, I looked at the back side of the ferocious storm that had left its mark on our yard. Surprisingly, I saw a beautiful rainbow. It occurred to me the rainbow wasn’t on the front or in the middle of the storm. It came on its heels, following behind after the intensity of the storm had passed.
In Genesis, God promised Noah he would never again destroy “all flesh” of the earth by a flood, and the rainbow was his sign of this promise. But there is an even bigger message in the rainbow. It reminds us that God is in control of every storm. It is a symbol of his power to limit a storm’s impact, to determine its magnitude and decide its end.
We all face storms and many are of another kind – life storms that move in our direction seemingly out of nowhere. Like rain storms, they are dark and scary. They are beyond our control. They can cause damage and even threaten our lives. We wonder if they will ever end.
When you experience life storms like failure, loss and heartache, I pray today you will always remember God is at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of every storm that comes your way. He is always present and always in control.
Next time you find yourself in a storm, anticipate the rainbow. It will surely come!
living to love, loving to live,
momma b
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Lizards and Leaves
dear daughters,
The other day, Moo came running in the study and jumped up on the sofa next to me, barking her head off and hitting at my hand while I was typing. I thought she had to go outside. So I got up and walked with her in the hallway. There in front of me was this bright green lizard just staring at me. Of course I let out a blood-curdling scream!
I wasn’t going to touch him with my bare hands, so I got a big plastic cup, put a fresh green sprig inside it like bait on a fish hook, and tried to lure him. But I couldn’t tempt him for anything. He kept running away from my trap. Finally, I opened the back door and chased him that way. It worked! Outside he went!
We are a lot like that lizard. Sometimes we find ourselves in places we shouldn’t be. We go through an open door that wasn’t meant for us, and then we have this sense that we are not meant to be there. We run around not knowing what to do. There are choices in this place. There are temptations to try new things – like the cup with the fresh green leaves that look really good for eating. Or we can choose the open door of escape, to get back to where we came from, back where we belong.
This is just like life with God. When we go through the wrong door, we run around in circles; but God always gives us a way out.
This promise is in the Bible in 1Corinthians 10:13. “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
In other words, you’ll never be in a situation that others haven’t been in before. And God will never let you be in a situation you can’t get out of, because He’ll always give you a way out of your mess. He wants you living in freedom, not trapped in a plastic cup!
living to love, loving to live,
momma b
The other day, Moo came running in the study and jumped up on the sofa next to me, barking her head off and hitting at my hand while I was typing. I thought she had to go outside. So I got up and walked with her in the hallway. There in front of me was this bright green lizard just staring at me. Of course I let out a blood-curdling scream!
I wasn’t going to touch him with my bare hands, so I got a big plastic cup, put a fresh green sprig inside it like bait on a fish hook, and tried to lure him. But I couldn’t tempt him for anything. He kept running away from my trap. Finally, I opened the back door and chased him that way. It worked! Outside he went!
We are a lot like that lizard. Sometimes we find ourselves in places we shouldn’t be. We go through an open door that wasn’t meant for us, and then we have this sense that we are not meant to be there. We run around not knowing what to do. There are choices in this place. There are temptations to try new things – like the cup with the fresh green leaves that look really good for eating. Or we can choose the open door of escape, to get back to where we came from, back where we belong.
This is just like life with God. When we go through the wrong door, we run around in circles; but God always gives us a way out.
This promise is in the Bible in 1Corinthians 10:13. “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”
In other words, you’ll never be in a situation that others haven’t been in before. And God will never let you be in a situation you can’t get out of, because He’ll always give you a way out of your mess. He wants you living in freedom, not trapped in a plastic cup!
living to love, loving to live,
momma b
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
