My Father's Daughter

I was asked to share my testimony. For a long time I wasn't sure I had one. But really--- our testimony is just about His work in our story. So here's mine so far.... I don’t really have a turn on a dime story where everything changed. There is no time, really, in my life that I don't remember knowing God. I feel like I always knew God and knew Him well. And for that I am so very thankful. I owe my mother for that. She had that experience some of you have spoken of: being young and, for her, in catholic school just *knowing* there was more. She journeyed as an adult through all kinds of denominations, blessing me with her lessons learned.She struggled as a mom but she always pointed me to God. My first memory of God or anything related to Him was when I was very little. I was in the back seat of our station wagon and my mom prayed with me. Asked the Holy Spirit to be with me, to teach me. I had basic churched-kid church life. I attended different protestant churches, went t...

Ahhh. What a fall it has been! The fall Feast Days have finished. Rosh Hashana (Day of Trumpets in the bible), Yom Kippur, and Feast of Booths (Sukkot). It was a busy time full of study and celebration. It was beautiful. And I'm in awe at how my God is at work { read My Story here } . This walk has taught us so very much A little background - These are 3 of the "holidays" God commands His people to keep. They occur in the fall, starting on the first day of the seventh biblical month. It makes this seventh month a Sabbath month, full of times and appointed days to meet with God. My family and I have been doing our best over the last few years to learn about and honor these days. And truly I have never understood my God more. I'm not sure why it is but teachings on these days are non-existent in the Christian Church. But each of these set apart times points to Gods plan of redemption. The Spring is all about Yeshua's (Jesus' Hebrew name) first coming ...

Have ever noticed how easily the whole scene changes when your perspective is just a little shifted? Eyes can play tricks on us. So can our minds and hearts. It can be so subtle and many times we don't even know. Our bias, our eyes, tells what we're supposed to see, what we should see. But what if that bias is wrong? What if the eyes are lying? A few years ago I attempted to change perspectives, to look at things differently, to look at my faith differently. It was a nudge here and a new insight there. And then I felt whole philosophies of mine shift and then crumble. I suppose they weren't really my philosophies. It was someone else's eyes who had colored my view.  But suddenly I was aware I needed new lenses, a different glass, a new way to see. The old way was strange to me now, it just didn't make sense. The mirror was distorted, I saw all the flaws, the gaping holes. I had been given a better lense to see that was really there. And what ...

Five minute Friday...where some sweet writers write with a prompt for the love of it. Then we link up over at Kate's site and visit other FMFers, to say hello, to make a new friend. Today it's   I never used to think I had a story. I wasn't one of those Christians who was the end of it all and had God's grace come and scoop me up and change my whole life. I just grew up going to church and having my mom tell me God loved me. I'm not complaining. I am so very thankful for my mother making sure I knew who God is. But, it was status quo. I was a Christian. I taught my kids to love God. I struggled. I wondered when I'd get my spiritual life right. I hardly ever really found time to read the bible. I was overwhelmed, over worked, under appreciated. I didn't even know how my life could change. God's grace did reach down and scoop me up but it wasn't as obvious as some of those great testimony stories you...

I turned 35 last week. And that's the first time I've seen that in print.  Age is strange. It's a label and an expectation. 35 years. Three and a half decades...I've learned some things. I've had some successes, some failures. I've grown. Birthdays have a way of making us think, looking back and planning ahead.  Just this week I've learned a few amazing things, things I had forgotten or maybe I didn't really know. Last weekend was a teary one for me. I spent time praying and crying for all the hurt that I've seen cross the screen over the last few weeks. Rockets and bombs still falling, the utter devastation and practical genocide of Iraqi Christians, the Revelations-type violence being perpetrated against people for their belief in Jesus . It's horrifying.  I also cried for a friend, a sweet lovely woman who is an amazing example of steadfastness, a woman I met through a friend of a friend on Facebook. A women who, through social media, I...

Another week, another five minute friday (on a Saturday)...writing for the love of it. Writing without edits or worries. We write. We link up. We encourage. This week it's Tell them now while you can. Tell him how he's filled your heart, how he is made for courage and strength. Tell her how she can be mighty and beautiful and do great things in her Father's kingdom. Tell them who they are. Tell them Whose they are. Tell of all the wonders their Creator has done on their behalf. Tell them of all the ways you love them. Tell them of all the ways they are loved by Him. Tell them why... why you delight in them why you look forward to each and every day with them why even when days are so very hard you'd do it all again and again and again. Don't wait for another time or another day. Not was of us is promised more time. Tell them when you have their ear. Tell them before the world's voice grows too loud. Tell them in the still hours ...

So I began sharing this story a couple weeks ago. It's the one that is asking to be told. It's been my jouney. It's changed my whole world. It's the story of me, of all of us, the story of now and of the future. It's the story of who we are and Whose we are. It's His Story. Today I want to share the part of the story that tell where I am and how I got here. How my faith and my family's faith has grown and changed. How I humbly see that so many of us {myself very much included} have been so very wrong for so very long. How the steps to unlearn and relearn have helped our roots grow deeper (and stronger). I'll continue this story. His Story. This part is my tiny sliver of that story. My beginning, my now. I think it was 2008. I was googling "written teen testimony". My stepson needed to write his before his baptism and confirmation. And like in many things in life, I went to see if a google search could give me ideas I could share...

Five Minute Friday, early on a Saturday morning, but with a new host, Kate . Same deal: Word lovers write with a prompt for the love and the fun. No edits, grammar police or second guessing. Free writing for five minutes...And the heart of the community is that you visit the other lovely writers, to encourage, to make a new friend. This week is.... Go Fill instead of empty. Give instead of take. Pour and love and lavish. You'll feel empty. But when you frequent the well of the Water that always quenches you are never ever empty. Fill the hearts around with peace. Choose to avoid the chaos that expectations bring. Fill the minds with truth. Remember that the only truth is what is good. Something can be accurate but still not true. Fill the house with love because they won't really remember exactly what you taught them but they will remember how it felt to be there. Fill bodies with strength. Actual food and the infinitely more important Bread of L...

I had a different post planned, but last night at sundown began Tisha B'Av or the 9th of Av. And I just can't get the significance of this day out of my mind. Av is the 5th month of the biblical calendar. It's a holiday. But not a particularly happy one. This day and those right around it are even referenced in the bible. ...Should I weep in the fifth month [Av], separating myself, as I have done these so many years?  -Zechariah 7:3 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month ...came Nebuzaradan ... and he burnt the house of the L-RD...  -II Kings 25:8-9 In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month... came Nebuzaradan ... and he burnt the house of the L-RD...  - Jeremiah 52:12-13 This day is a day of sad remembering. Traditionally it is a day of mourning for the loss of both Israel's first and second Temple. Both. Because they both were destroyed on the same day of the year. About 700 years apart. It's also kind of mind blowing when one l...

There is a story in my head. It's trying to be told. It's the story of where I am and how I got here. It's the story of how I learned Who my God really is. THE story. His story. The story is as old as time. And it is relevant right now. It's a story of love and faith and grace. It's a story of rebellion and consequence. It's a story of returning. I think I'm going to tell this story, how this story relates to me, has been revealed to me. It may take weeks or months. Years maybe. But I'll tell this story here. Because really, there is no other story without this one. *** Right now as I type there is a twist in the current chapter of the story. There is a conflict that has grown more intense than it has in decades. It's over Israel.  This tiny piece of coveted space has been the center of war on and off for thousands of years. It's a conflict that began with Abraham's sons, Ishmael and Isaac. And it was compounded with Jacob and Es...

Five minute Friday, where lot of beautiful people write for 5 minutes with a prompt. We write because we love to, because we have to, because we can't not. We write without edits or rewrites, just letting the words go... Finish... Go I just read through words I haven't seen in a very long time, words that tremble a little at first. They are my words. It can be so strange to see a date from 8 years ago, to recognize a voice, but it not be the one speaking now, to read about a part of life that has finished. New things begun and then even they have changed, evolved, finished. So many times we think we know, that we have it figured out, but then we understand how we never did. That girl from 8 years ago, the one who just started homeschooling, she's me but not anymore. We grow and we change and we learn. If we're doing it right that never changes. We don't stop the growing and learning until it's finished. Until we are finished. And the One who is doing ...

Five minute Friday (early on a Sunday Morning). A whole bunch of word lovers get together and write for five minutes with a prompt. We don't worry or edit. Just write {and encourage}. This week is Bloom Go All these kids all this week. I've watched many of them grow from babes. They play in the sun. They smile and laugh. A best friend's daughter, seeing glimpses of a woman. Fist fulls of flowers...even if they were just clovers. Seeing tall boys on wheels, small boys with bubbles. Babies with bright eyes and big smiles. A house full more days this week than not. Blooming with life, noise, and a little chaos. Children grow. Friends connect. We laugh and work and rush...and love. Where exactly does the time go? It slips by so quickly. Babies bloom into children and then into these tall creatures on the brink of leaving childhood behind...But right now we play and feed them and send them through the sprinkler. This is just what summer is for. Stop. Join u...

I've heard an interesting fact. About sports. That's not really my thing, but it stuck with me. Coaching football or soccer (and I would assume many other sports) in the first half of the game is different than it is after half-time. The decisions are a little more carefully weighed, even if it's not intentional. The psychology behind it is that there is, relatively speaking, a lot of time left so the part of the brain that makes the decisions takes it's time processing and comparing outcomes of different strategies. In the second half, of course, decisions are still made as carefully as possible. But often in the presence of increased adrenaline, coaching decisions are made quicker and on more gut feeling than statistics. The coaches get to know the players' abilities on that given day, they got to know the opposing team and the weather. The decisions made begin to better reflect the current situation rather than "the plan". The coaches, in a sense, fee...