Looking Forward to 2014!

Hello and Happy New Year to you!

I’m packing away all the memories and experiences of 2013 and embracing 2014 with both arms! I’m excited for the future and for all the ways God will spiritually grow me in the coming year.

Speaking of looking forward to the future…I just have to share what a blessing it is to work with the amazing group of ladies who contribute to CW Voice Magazine. We wouldn't even have a magazine if these sweet ladies hadn't been willing to take that leap of faith and join me in my mission to encourage women for Christ through this project.

Our new January/February issue will be out in a few days and once again, they have each shared their hearts in such beautiful ways. I just want to take a minute and share the love by encouraging you to stop by and visit the blogs of these very special women. I’m so proud of each of them and the many, many ways they allow themselves to be used by our amazing God. 

I'd like you to meet the ladies of Christian Women's Voice Magazine!

Robin Prater is a writer and book reviewer. She shares her heart at her blog, Robin’s Nest:

http://robinsnest66.blogspot.com/ She is currently working on her first novel. She is the wife to the man who stole her heart twenty-one years ago, mother to three blessed children and Nanny to two of the most beautiful grandbabies in the world.

Nancy Sullivan enjoys writing about life’s simple pleasures of faith, family and friends. You can visit her at her blog,

A Softer Voice,

asoftervoice.blogspot.com

Christine Wright, visionary behind www.Godsizeddreams.com, has a heart for broken women who find it impossible to believe God has a dream for them. Christine has walked a grief-filled road and believes the places her own heart has broken, are the places she can best help others. She is married to Mr. Wright and has four children, ages 17, 14, 8 and 3. If ever forced to choose a favorite between coffee and hairspray, she’s not sure which one would win. Christine blogs at: www.livingjoel225.com

Kim Wolf is a wife and home-schooling mom. She is a writer/reviewer and speaker. She shares tips from the kitchen and the art of frugal living. Drop by and visit her blog, Marmee’s Pantry at:

http://marmeespantry.blogspot.com

Heidi Avery is a wife and stay-at-home home-schooling mom. She is most passionate about Jesus and flowing out of that passion is a deep desire to write and encourage others. She is also co-founder of Mothers on Mission Ministries. Visit her at:

mothersonmission.org

Kelli Zaniel is a simple country girl from Marietta Georgia. She and her family have resided in Reno for the past ten years. She is co-founder of Mothers On Mission Ministries, the Castaway Motel Ministry, and is a free-lance writer. She struggles to keep goldfish and hamsters alive, put a balanced meal on the table, and raise godly girls in the midst of a crazy, messy world. Kelli feels like everyday life is a success if she can get through the day having spent time with the Lord, had a laugh with one of her kids, found a matching pair of socks, had clean underwear in her husband’s drawer, and made a stranger smile. mothersonmission.org

Dr. Rita Hancock is a Pain Management Specialist who practices in Norman, Oklahoma. She is also a Christian and regularly counsels patients on emotional and spiritual issues that relate to her patients’ pain and overall well-being. Visit Dr. Rita at:

www.RadicalWell-being.com

http://theedendiet.com/

www.RitaHancock.com

And on Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/RadicalWellBeing

I am Bethany Learn, fitness instructor, I taught pilates and yoga and step and cycling all through my pregnancies, but it wasn’t until later when I realized I had a diastasis recti that wouldn’t go away that I also realized I may have hurt myself. My births were strong, and my body was strong, but my belly was blown apart. Armed with the information and research that I’ve been tracking down for the past 2 1/2 years, I’ve created a whole website full of family-friendly routines that are TummySafe™ for those with who have healed from or who are struggling with abdominal trauma. Check out fit2b.com today!

Pamela Johnson and her husband, Jason, have 3 grown children. They work together in their construction business and she’s a Certified Health Coach for Take Shape for Life. Visit her at: Take Shape for Life, www.pamjohnson.tsfl.com

Kimberly Lomont is a wife of more than 25 years and a mother to her grown children. She resides in New Bern, NC, and enjoys the blessing of time spent in the garden. She blogs at Garden of Secrets:

fleur-de-li.blogspot.com.

I wish you every blessing in the coming year, sweet friend.

Love,

Debbie

When You're Hanging by a Thread

I pulled the ribbon tight into a bow and placed the package beneath the tree.

That’s when I saw the little ballerina ornament, delicate and suspended by her life-line among the branches…and I thought of you.

Wondering how you’re holding up in this final countdown to Christmas.

Seems everyone these days is carrying so much inside. So much “stuff” standing between them and the true joy of the season; death, divorce, illness, loss, financial hardship and more. Sometimes all we have to offer is prayer to stretch across those lonely miles to comfort an aching heart.

And prayer…is enough.

When the whole season has been unwrapped and the remnants are left lying in messy heaps on the floor…when our bellies are full of feast and festivities and we’ve sung every last carol until we’re humming them in our sleep……when we’ve finally checked off every task from our many lists and reminders and the holiday specials turn their focus from Frosty and Rudolph to the New Year…when the last little one is sleeping peacefully and the tree lights are unplugged for another year….

we’re still left with our life line.

When we’re dangling by a thread of what’s left of us, the Word of God is what keeps us from falling and crumbling into something unrecognizable.

Jesus is the life-line that sustains us, keeps us afloat and whole.

His comfort, His unending love and power to save and transform…His grace and mercies…remain.

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our

God endures forever."

(Isaiah 40:8 NIV)

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas, dear friend.

Let Jesus be your life-line today and always.

Many Blessings,
Debbie

Falling in Love...Again

Well, here’s a little fun fact: One of my favorite shows is House Hunters (on HGTV). I especially love House Hunters International, mainly because it’s on each day during my lunch time (after Pioneer Woman/Ree Drummond) and I love to imagine myself in some of the far-off exotic places they feature.

A recent episode led a family of 4 to a quaint seaside duplex; a sweet and simple, humble home not big on light or space. Yet somehow, the cozy structure just spoke to me with its slanted ceilings and cute dormer windows. I imagined the warm glow of candlelight and festive greenery in the little window ledges at Christmas and could almost smell bread baking in the modest kitchen.

But what really caught my eye was a little out-of-the-way nook next to a window; still close enough to the fireplace, it was the perfect spot for a small writing desk, a fleecy throw blanket, a cup of coffee and endless hours of pouring one’s thoughts onto paper.

The perfect spot to reconnect with my love of writing.

Many, many things (including some wonderful, treasured friendships) have stemmed from my love of writing (7-8 years of blogging, freelance articles, my book, magazine publishing for the past 2 years and now my newspaper column). Though it’s become such a “public” thing, I never want to lose sight of the fact that it’s very personal to me. Whether the thoughts flow freely or I bleed out each word 1 at a time, they are the words of my heart.

I just want to encourage you today to reconnect with your passion. In this crazy, busy world of fast talking, fast driving and fast living…I pray you’ll take the time to nurture the dreams, gifts and passions God has given you.

1. Fall in love again with the things that make your heart sing; with the people and activities that bring you the most joy.
2. In the middle of ALL you do for others, carve out little moments of time for what’s important to you – you’ll be a happier you.
3. If/when you become bogged down with the stuff of life, reach out to the body of Christ and ask for prayer! Let’s be available to lift each other up.
4. Make time for God’s Word. A few moments spent in His presence has a way of clearing away the mind clutter.

“being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion  until the day of Christ Jesus.”

(Phil. 1:6 NIV)

Be blessed, sweet friend.

And as always, thank you for stopping by,

Debbie

Sunday Mornings are for the Deep Places

The flames flicker a bright dance in early-morning darkness; my favorite time of day.

Before words.

Before decisions.

Before dilemma.

When the day’s an empty canvas.

It’s my quiet, undisturbed heart-to-heart time with the One who calms and comforts. I think about how He’s brought me through yet another difficult week; a time of confusion and pull and demands. I think of how He’s been there from the start and how He knows every last detail and how it’s all worked together to bring me to this place of peace and contentment.

It’s taken years to shake off the dust and debris of the past.

It’s taken a mountain of faith to believe I could.

I run my fingers through my messy hair and rub the sleep from my eyes. The fire crackles and the coffee soothes and I settle into the blessing of the moment. And there lies my Bible, still open from yesterday’s “WOW moment” when He brought me to the perfect scripture:

“They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,”
    let Israel say;
² “they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
    but they have not gained the victory over me.
³ Plowmen have plowed my back
    and made their furrows long.
⁴ But the Lord is righteous;
    he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.” (Psalm 129)

And

“My heart is not proud, Lord,

    my eyes are not haughty;

I do not concern myself with great matters

    or things too wonderful for me.

² But I have calmed and quieted myself,

    I am like a weaned child with its mother;

    like a weaned child I am content.” (Psalm 131)

I praise God today for the freedom found only in Him. My chains are gone and I’ve been set free! Great is His faithfulness to His children. We are co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Deut. 31:8)

And as I add another log to the fire, I watch the flames dance to the rhythm of my thoughts. I realize that my flame, my heart on fire for Jesus… will forever burn.

  

Amazing Grace - My Chains are Gone!

Hold Only His Word

I wipe the sleep from my eyes and jab the logs into flame. The first sips of early morning coffee warm me from the inside and I consider the day ahead.

And in that sweet, peaceful moment, I realize how contentment comes at a price. How a heart at peace; real, life-transforming peace, doesn’t just happen with the sunrise. It’s a choice. An effort. A conscious climb out of the pit and toward the Son.

This time of year, amid holiday cheer and merriment, emotions run deep. The piercing flame of deep-seeded pain, sadness, loss…memories and scars of the heart best locked away…somehow rise to the surface.

It’s in those quiet moments when the carols stop playing. When the lights no longer glow. When we’re left alone and vulnerable to the enemy’s best work. It’s in those moments we could either allow ourselves to be overpowered and overcome…or overtaken by the Savior.

The past couple of years I’ve known pain and anger like never before. I nearly drowned in hurt, frustration, anger…abandonment.

But God didn’t save me from sin

merely to spend my days consumed with pain and anger,

all the things that are not of Him.

He has better things in store for me…and for you!

It’s a choice.

It’s life with Him.

Or it’s defeat.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know!

(Philippians 1:20-22)

I think of holding God’s Word in my hands. I hold His laws, His promises to me, His truth. And through open fingers I allow that which is not of Him to run out. All the sadness, pain, anger, worry, even the memories aren’t there for me to dwell on anymore...simply because I've made a choice to reflect the love of God to those around me. He's saved me! He's brought me through! And He continues to do so each and every day!

I do pray you’ll join me in celebrating this season of our Savior’s birth. Hold only His Word in your hands and let the rest trickle through your fingers...washed away forever.

Be blessed,

Debbie

Photo credit

Great is Thy Faithfulness!

The voice that draws me to church speaks loud some Sundays. It’s the One behind the voice who knows my deep need to be still before Him in worship. To bring it all and leave it at His feet.

So, I brought the sin; the dirty, ugly reminders that still have me wiping tears… even after all these years. They’ve silenced my praises and stolen moments of joy; moments when I should have reminded myself that sin no longer owns me. Yet there I was heart laid open raw and weak before the cross. Tears streaming as the words of hymns and worship songs chased away the dark.

And then these words…

You’ve. Already. Been. Forgiven.

Why do I do that to myself?

Why does anyone?

Being “born again” means that I’ve been given a life of freedom with Christ because He, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Creator of all Heaven and Earth has forgiven me! His grace is sufficient! (2 Cor. 12:9) That sin is not mine to take back, so why relive it? I’ve given it over to Jesus and He’s already paid the price!

I brought Him my hurt, too. Pain from the deepest wounds laid open raw and strong. Pain and sadness that can’t be hidden behind strained smiles and “Oh, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”

Yes, that kind of pain.

I brought it all.

But the tears still come.

Tears of thankfulness for the mercy He has shown to unworthy me.

The unexplainable love. Faithfulness. Grace.

The many, many blessings

            …graciously given to unworthy me.

Yet!

 They seem to come in the early morning hours. All the fears, failures, worries, things left undone and needing my attention. They roll into my thoughts like annoying tumbleweeds gathering debris and strength; and joy for the new day is somehow lost in the haze of it all.

One by dusty one, they remind me about that unanswered prayer. That dream that hasn’t yet happened. That call or message not yet received.

But God’s Word…

“And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

(1 John 5:14-15)

I’m learning that there’s perfecting in the waiting. Assembling all the necessary elements of dreams and prayers takes time and that one little word: yet….is huge! By adding "yet" to the end of these frustrations, the control is taken from the enemy and given right back to God! 

Because of Jesus, we have a “yet”!

Because of His unending and undying love for us, our “yet” is always there…waiting to be revealed at just the right time.

Because of Him, I can rejoice because “It hasn’t happed YET!”

“I haven’t gotten to where I want to be YET!”

“He hasn’t quite answered that prayer YET, but I know He’s working on it.”

Because of Jesus, yet is a beautiful and powerful word.

Many Blessings,

Debbie