She Stands

    John 13:12-17   When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.  “Do you understand what I have done for you?”  he asked them.   “You call me ‘Teacher’  and ‘Lord,’  and rightly so, for that is what I am.     Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.     I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.   Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master,  nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.     Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them .  Washing the feet of others may not be what society considers serving, however in biblical times it was an act one's servant would do when guest where invited in. Jesus preforms it as a symbolic gesture of serving one humbly and unconditionally. He was setting an example ...

  The changing of life seasons can be joyous and yet there are some that can be difficult. I have discovered in this season of my life I am having a hard time finding who I am or finding my place I should say.  I am a mom, a title which will never change. However, my role has changed since both my girls are grown . No more running after children, homework, sporting events or sleep overs.  I am a grandmother who is blessed to witness joy in life through the eyes of my grandchildren and a newfound love that cannot be measured. I am a sister whose goal growing up was to make my younger siblings lives miserable with my constant grief- giving as the eldest. Now we are more than siblings. We are friends with a bond that cannot be undone.   I am a child, no matter my age, who shares my mom's beautiful strength. I am a friend who cherishes my deep-rooted relationships; those filled with loyalty, love and respect. But when I look in the mirror and strip away all those titles,...

  Colossians Chapter 4:6.   Let  your speech always  be   with grace,  seasoned with salt,  that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Speech with grace, seasoned with salt ...………… Admitting out loud the numerous times I have tripped and tumbled over my words in my younger years can be compared to eating a tablespoon of vinegar. Many times, my words have been less than desirable. Rank-smelling, mouth puckering, and eye-watering pain would be a better description.   They held no salt, only the salty tones of my utterance. My salty tones were not spoken to encourage, lift up, or be a positive influence. They were the back tones of my own emotional injuries that I had selflessly chosen to share like an arrow hitting a target.  Jesus tells us in Matthew Chapter 5:13. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underf...

 It was day 6 of my 21 days fast a few years ago when I discovered just how much I relied on social media for my daily encouragement. It's so easy, just one click of my mouse, and it's there for me to see. A short cut of sorts, a quick fix in a world, my world, that is constantly moving and changing. But when I dig into the word of God, when I take the time to seek Him, the encouragement is more. So much more. Today I am encouraged by the woman who suffered with the issue of blood. For 12 years she suffered a life of misery and in her culture was considered unclean. It was a chronic condition which means she probably had anemia as well as physical weakness. She was hopelessly incurable by the many doctors she had sought out for medical care. She had become destitute for she spent all that she had. Everything and everyone who she would come in contact with would have become ceremonially unclean making her shunned by all in society including her family. Her husband, if she had on...

  The  bible defines darkness as ignorance and light as knowledge. To live in the darkness of the world causes one to live in ignorance, but to live in the light of Christ allows one to live in knowledge. Whatever we give ourselves to, it will give back in the same measure we use. Are you giving in to darkness or surrendering to light?   - Pastor Ron Carpenter. I go back to those  words again and again. Their resonating sound in my heart causes me to pause as I take in a deep breath and exhale. I can hear the tapping of these words running through my mind. It can be so easy to slip into the world of ignorance, to trust what we choose to believe rather than what we know to be truth. Darkness or ignorance does not always appear to be what one would call red flags shouting for us to stop. Many times, it appears wrapped in a pretty package, clothed in what we believe to be real, and yet the true agenda is hidden behind the fal...

  In the story of Jonah, God instructs him to go to the city of Nineveh and preach a message of repentance. This charge was given to Jonah as a Prophet warning the people of Nineveh of impending judgement for its wickedness.  However, Jonah fled from the Lord and ran in the opposite direction. After being thrown into the sea and swallowed by a giant fish for three days, Jonah cries out to the Lord and is then spat up from the belly of the fish to go and do as he was instructed. Jonah Chapter1 verses1 through 3. The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So, he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarnish, paid the fare and went down into it to with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. I have such a time wrapping my head around the fact Jonah was in the belly of a ...