My Therapy

Since Hurricane Harvey entered our lives, leaving a lasting impact on our family, I have had a lot of time to think and meditate while spending my quiet moments with God. My family and I have been able to feel His presence and His peace and provision throughout all that has happened.  It has now been two weeks since my last post. It has been two weeks since I walked into my home which was filled with about a foot of water.  It has been two weeks since my heart completely broke as I saw all our belongings floating around our house.  At that time, the floodwater was continuing to rise in our home, as the rain had not ceased and would continue to come down heavily for at least one more full day. Eventually the water level inside our house would reach 23 inches and the water level outside our home would reach 42 inches. We evacuated our home on Sunday. We went back on Monday to retrieve some items. We would not be back inside our home until Wednesday afternoon, after w...

Last week as I was doing my usual bi-weekly huge grocery haul, I first found out about a hurricane named Harvey coming to our area. I don't watch the news or much TV, and I hadn't heard anything on the radio about this potential hurricane. The next day I had to go buy water and found it to be quite a challenging task. Needless to say, I started to look up this potential hurricane, which was supposedly forecast to bring a lot of rain to our area. I was still a little unsure whether or not to believe the hype of the media. Friday morning I found myself going to the grocery store early in the morning to find some canned goods and lunch meats to help us survive a few days without electricity. Never did I imagine the devastation that I was about to experience alongside my wonderful family.  When we first moved into our home in 2014 it was mandatory to purchase flood insurance for our home. Though we lived near a creek, our house was built on a higher foundation so floodin...

Since I was a young girl in my teens, I remember clearly never wanting to get married. Marriage seemed like I would always need someone else's permission to do something and I didn't want anything to do with that! I even remember thinking that if I ever had any children that I would only have one, and even then it would probably be a baby that I would adopt. Ha! Since I'm married today, with four kids, you already know that that was obviously NOT God's plan for my life! After I got pregnant with my fourth child, about eight years ago, is when I really began to get serious about submitting to God's will. I wanted to begin to live out the life which He created me to live. Even then, however, it was very challenging for me. You see, my desire to do His will was genuine. Yet, I wasn't reading my bible at that time. I had already started attending conferences here and there and it all sounded good but I was at a stage in my Christian walk where I was still fil...

Lately, God has been showing me signs of where He wants to take me and my husband and our family in the future. He has shown me visions of things that are to come.  And in these visions He gives me hope for the future, just as He promises in Jeremiah 29:11. Despite this, I can truthfully say that this journey that I’m currently on, heading towards that future, is not always easy and can even be emotionally draining at times. This road to redemption and restoration has me really meditating on my life before Christ and even on some of my decisions and actions since accepting Christ into my heart. Because you see, I am not perfect. I have flaws and I have made poor decisions, even since I started my walk with the LORD. There have been times when I didn’t want to be humble and when I didn’t want to keep my mouth shut. There have been times where I have known what I was doing or saying was wrong; yet I didn’t stop myself from doing it or from saying it. I’m human. I’m flawed. I...

What is a masterpiece? According to one definition, it is a work done with extraordinary skill . Ephesians 2:10 says that we are God’s masterpiece (NLT). Psalm 139 says that He knit us, every intimate detail of who we are, while we were in our mother’s womb. He considers us His marvelous workmanship. I know that many of you have read or heard those scriptures at one time or another. But how many of you have ever actually allowed those words to process in your mind long enough to begin to think of yourself as an actual masterpiece? Yes, you. Look in the mirror. That person staring back at you is God’s wonderful masterpiece. When I think of a masterpiece I think of a valuable piece of art. It’s a one-of-a-kind painting that is usually worth a lot of money. In fact, the owners of these wonderful pieces of art spend quite the money on protecting their investment. I tend to think of the movies with all the lasers which surround the expensive display. If the laser detects any...

As a kid, my family attended a Catholic church. I believed all churches were the same until I was invited to a Christian church for the first time. For a long time after stepping into a Christian church and feeling God’s presence, I felt that it was not necessary for me to stop attending my Catholic church. I felt that God’s presence could be found anywhere.  But the longer that I tried to deny it, as I began attending conferences and midweek services at other churches, something was growing inside me. There was something gnawing at my heart, something was calling my attention. I could feel God calling me deeper. Still, I remained consistent in my belief that I could feel God’s presence at my church. As I continued to be faced with difficulties and challenges, I eventually learned of a bible study at a Christian church I had visited a couple of years before. These bible studies eventually led to our family making that church our home church. There, I began to feel the mo...

In life, our focus can often times be misguided. There is a lot in this world that can change our focus. Focus is important. Focus helps us to see things clearly. Where our focus lies, will help guide our decisions in life. The world wants us to focus on the exterior. The world guides our focus to be on things that are temporary and fading. God is an everlasting God. His focus is to create lasting change in His children, so that we can then step into the calling for which we were created. God is omnipresent, meaning that He is with you and with me, everywhere and all the time. Though He is with us, it is still up to us to talk to Him. When we are angry, sad, hurting, feeling like a failure, feeling discouraged, it is up to us how we deal with those feelings, thoughts and emotions. Who do we turn to? What do we do with those thoughts and feelings? God is always with us but many of us still look to the world or to ourselves to overcome our struggles. That usually leads to un...

There is an old version of me--the B.C. wife and the B.C. mom. God has really brought me a long way.  The wife and mom I am today--transformed by God's amazing grace, wisdom and direction--has allowed me to help encourage other women along the way. For a long time I lived in mostly-voluntary isolation. I was alone a lot and sometimes it felt like too much. I felt as though I was being pinned down by a force much greater than me. Some days, I wanted to get up and fight but found myself filled with desire and lacking energy. On other days, I had no desire to fight and I was willing to stay down because my life felt too overwhelming for me to handle. I felt as though I was in deep water, paddling frantically, trying desperately to keep my head above water. Yet, I never drowned. I survived, every day trying to figure out my life's purpose. I had these four beautiful children, wondering why?  Why was I chosen to be their mom?  Why was I given this task and great responsibi...