GPS to a Joyful Marriage

I don’t know about you, but I’m glad that 2015 is over.  It was a difficult year for me.  Looking back, it has made me question a lot of my expectations of life.   I’m one who likes to know what’s coming.  I will keep on until I figure it out.  Unfortunately, this past year seemed to be full of too many unknowns which lead to ‘I don’t understands.’    I don’t understand why my list of friends I pray for, with cancer, continues to grow rather than diminish. I don’t understand why God would take a healthy baby girl from its mother in her fifth month of pregnancy and leave such a hole in our hearts. I don’t understand why one of my best friends from high school died unexpectedly.  I didn’t think I was old enough to be losing classmates already, but it’s happening too frequently. You start re-evaluating life when people your own age begin to die. I don’t understand why my closest friend, who is more like a sister than a cousin to...

JESUS CALLING – Jan. 18 I am leading you along the high road, but there are descents as well as ascents.  In the distance you see snow-covered peaks glistening in brilliant sunlight.  Your longing to reach those peaks is good, but you must not take shortcuts.  Your assignment is to follow Me, allowing Me to direct your path.  Let the heights beckon you onward, but stay close to Me. Learn to trust Me when things go “wrong.”  Disruptions to your routine highlight your dependence on me.  Trusting acceptance of trials brings blessings that far outweigh them all.  Walk hand in hand with Me through this day.  I have lovingly planned every inch of the way.  Trust does not falter when the path becomes rocky and steep.  Breathe deep draughts of My Presence, and hold tightly to My hand.  Together we can make it!                     ...

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there.  I believe that motherhood is the most difficult and demanding job, and does not get the credit it so richly deserves.  It can also be the most rewarding.   Because of the challenges and ignorance we face when thrown into this job called motherhood, it can very often overwhelm us, affecting our confidence and causing us to doubt our abilities.  It can raise our self-esteem one day, yet cut it to the core the next. We women have mastered the art of covering our insecurities, especially at first impressions.  Once you get past this initial stage, there’s usually a guarded heart that has been hurt too often.   We all tend to doubt our abilities based on failures from the past.  Most women I know don’t feel as though they are good enough.  We all know that we are more than worthy to God, yet we sometimes struggle to believe it in our human walk.   Maybe we grew up with a fat...

The horrific events of this past Friday seem to have been the focal point of most conversations and Facebook postings over the weekend.  It’s so difficult to understand.  We painfully grieve for the families involved and can’t begin to comprehend what they must be experiencing.  Who would want to?  And what is it with the name “Sandy” lately?  Please call me “Jo” from now on. Whenever there have been brutal acts of this sort, or I lose a friend or relative to death, I can’t help but ponder on this inevitable state we will all face some day.  One thing I know it does; it quickly puts my life into alignment, my priorities in order.  We begin to appreciate the family and friends nearest to our heart when we see how quickly a life can be taken.  We have a very selfish attitude towards death.  We aren’t ready to leave yet – we still have things to do.  We don’t want to lose our loved ones – the pain would be unbearable.  Go...

We as Christians are called to fulfill the plan that God has designed for our lives.  To know that plan and dream that dream brings great joy and excitement yet also comes with its share of frustration and heartache.     You may know the end result of God’s path for you, but the trails leading there sometimes seem non-existent.      Marriage often times feels the same way.  We know the end result we want, but it feels like we’re fighting through a pathless jungle to get there. I sometimes wrestle with trying to take control of my destiny.  I want to be in charge of everything, especially when God doesn’t move as fast as I’d like (and my husband).  I find that my biggest struggles appear when I get ahead of what God desires for me, whether it is in my ministry or in my marriage. Although I see the goal line, the place God planned for me, I have had to learn (the hard way) to allow God to illuminate the paths for me.  I ...

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY from Sheri Rose Shepherd: "If the devil can't make you bad, the next best thing he can do is to make you busy."  Colossians 3:1-4 says, “ Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly (worldly) things.  For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. ” The second verse says to set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.  This, to me, is the key to holy living and keeping your eyes on the path God has chosen for you.  Everything we do that is not of God distracts us from His plan. Verse 17 of Colossians 3 says, “ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. ” This verse is telling us not to do ANYT...

Last week, I discussed dealing with suffering, especially as we face the end times.  When we know God’s word and believe in His truth, we have no reason to fear what lies ahead of us.   We should “await His return with expectancy and anticipation” (taken from the following devotional). The words below come from the Presidential Prayer Team,  a devotional I receive daily that encourages people to pray for the president and other politicians, that they would do what is right for our country and according to God’s will. Sober Security Over 1,500 people died when the Titanic sank nearly a century ago. So, too, many more will be unprepared for the cataclysmic end-times events still to come because they did not hear God's Word or heed His warning. The common element - a sense of false security. "Let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation."    I Thessalonians 5:8 Think of it. Many people today...

I used to think that our goal as humans was to witness to others, to tell them about the glory of Jesus - witness to them by sharing the gospel and asking them if they knew they would go to heaven if they died that night. I struggled for many years trying to achieve this goal.  Many pastors preached from their pulpits the importance of sharing the gospel with others.  Some came close to equating it with our salvation.  You were not a complete Christian if you did not do this. Now I am a people-pleasing, conflict fearing, sweet mouthed, don’t want to offend anyone kind of person.  Evangelizing was the most unnatural thing for me to do.  I also remember, before I turned to God, how offended I was at others who tried to jam this information down my own throat.  I didn’t like it.  Nevertheless, I took classes, I prayed about it, and I cried out to God for boldness.  What was wrong with me that I couldn’t reach out to a stranger and tell them about...

I’m a little late in posting this today - just got back from a few days in Ft. Walton Beach. II Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad . ”  That is where I’d like to hear those wonderful words, “Well done, my good and faithful servant!” In Matthew 25:14-30, Jesus tells the parable of the talents.  Verse 14 says, “For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.” To one of his servants he gives five talents (in the form of money), another two, and another, one, all distributed according to their abilities. (Talent in this parable is looked at by many as actual talent or gifts the Lord gives us.) “Far country” in this verse represents the time that Jesus is in heaven between his first coming and his final return.  The three serv...