Birds in My Mustard Tree

This week I celebrated a birthday--my spiritual birthday. It's been years, but it seems like yesterday when I accepted the grace of Jesus. It was then that my faith started as small as a mustard seed.

However, the Lord has slowly grown my faith. My faith increased through trials, temptations and tragedies. But it has also increased because of God's incredible blessings in my life.

As I review my spiritual life, I am grateful for each small seed, each strenuous step. I praise Him for the blessings of my family who has traveled this journey with me.

My faith began as a small mustard seed, but God has grown the faith seed into a full-fledged faith tree, so large that the birds of blessing have come home to roost.

Thank you, Lord for Your faithfulness.

If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
2 Timothy 2:13 (NIV)

Look, See, Clap!

I spent the last week in Minnesota. It happened to be the peak change for the leaves on the trees to change. It was breath taking--remember I live in the desert of Nevada.

For every brilliant tree I saw, I wanted to shout, "Look! Do you see the glory of God spilling forth?" Please don't take His beautiful artwork for granted. Look, see, and praise Him. Don't miss the beauty of this season--open your eyes and clap your hands for God's unique handiwork. .

The Gerunds of Life

In the world of creative writing authors should attempt to steer away from gerunds. What is a gerund? Well, a gerund is word that ends with "ing". Editors state that a "ing" word slows the reader down. So they prefer, if at all possible, the writer reword the sentence to elimante the gerund.

Now I was thinking about this as I was finishing my next book manuscript and I thought my whole life is INGs. Throughout any given day I am:

cleaning
writing
grandma--ing
excercising
eating
shopping
talking
emailing
texting

Do you see what I mean? Everyday is filled with the gerunds of life. These INGs of life do not slow us down, they keep us busy. There are certainly times I wish I could elinamte some of them from my day, but I don't think it would slow me down. I would just replace the missing ING with a differnt ING activity. Life is busy!

Thankfully, besides all the busyness we can add to our list of INGs, laughing, resting, napping. Life is good, let go through each day enjoying it. Let's not let the gerunds of life slow us dowm!


But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

Debates, Debacles and Destiny

Last night I met with my Bible study small group. We are studying the parables of Jesus. We discussed the religious and political leaders of that time, which of course, led to today's leaders.

We discussed the debacle with the economy. We shared our thoughts on the candidates and the upcoming debates. All of us had differing opinions, except for one. The one truth that we agreed upon is that we serve the King of kings--the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is no debate on this issue for our group. This is our destiny.

For myself, I am blessed to be a part of Proverbs 31 Ministries. Proverbs 31 believes that everyone should have one destiny--eternal life with Jesus. I am proud to be a partner with this ministry and to give my time and money to help expand the kingdom of God.

At this time, uncertainty and crisis in our nation, why not cast your vote for something that will last for eternity? Help Proverbs 31 Ministries to further God's kingdom by becoming a monthly partner. Help us to bring God's peace, perspective and purpose to today's busy woman.

For more information to: http://proverbs31.gospelcom.net/index.php

Put aside the debates and the debacles for today. Let's further the kingdom of God, it's a destiny that is eternal.

America at Its Finest

Saturday night my husband and I attended a small town rodeo in St. George, Utah. It was packed with families dressed up in cowboy boots and big belt buckles. Snow cones, nachos and hot dogs were feasted upon with great enthusiasm.


Before the start of the rodeo they honored all of the U.S. servicemen who have given their lives for our freedom and they prayed for the men and women who are currently serving our country with honor. They brought out American flags and they sang the national anthem. The announcer prayed for the evening and thanked God for the freedom to pray and to play in freedom. Truly it was America at its finest.


Please let's not take our freedoms for granted. If you are not registered to vote, please go register. The freedom to vote in an election should not be taken lightly--vote. Let's keep America at its finest.

A Day Off ?

My favorite commercial on TV right now, is a State Farm commercial. (Of course, it could have something to do with the fact my husband is a State Farm agent.) Anyway, I digress. The ad is the one with the young woman sitting in the airport with her laptop. She's complaining about how busy her life is and then she says, "I haven't had a day off since the 3rd grade!" Oh my! How I relate to that statement.

Life is so busy all the time. Even when I plan a day off, something happens, like my water heater ruptures, the car breakdowns or someone invites us to something that I feel we just can't miss. Honestly, it's been like that since the 3rd grade.

Currently, I am holed up finishing up my next manuscript. For the next ten day, my life is married to this manuscript. Once it in the hands of my editor. I am taking a day off!

In Hot Water

Every time my husband is gone away from home for an extended time a "home crisis" occurs. Once the freezer in garage went out. I came home to discover blood running down my driveway from the unthawed meat! Gross! The list of these type of "trials" could go on and on.

As I said in my last post, my husband is in Milwaukee being a Harley biker. I'm tucked away writing the manuscript for my next book. Everything is calm and quiet. Until I trot out to the garage to get myself a diet Pepsi. Stop! Wait! Water is running through the garage and and down the driveway. Oh, great! The hot water heater ruptured--now I have no hot water and a soggy garage. Oh, well. What did Peter say?

"I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine (1 Peter 1:6,7 MSG)."

Okey, dokey! I will rejoice in the streams of hot water until the plumber arrives. Now what did I go into the garage for anyway?