Praises of a Wife and Mommy

 I was so proud of myself! I walked with my crutches through the downtown of my town — a longer walk than usual — and it felt so good to set a goal and reach it! The weather for fall was so beautiful as well and I wanted that Vitamin D so much!  Later that night, I had to make a Walmart run and thought, “Why not keep walking? No scooter tonight.” Well… once I got out of the car, I quickly realized how sore my hands were from all that crutching earlier.  So I humbly decided to embrace the Walmart scooters. Let’s just say… going backwards is so incredibly slow , but I still had fun! While zooming (or creeping) through the aisles, I ended up talking to three other people using scooters, too. One couple, probably in their 80s, completely made my night. The gentleman looked right at me and said, " Darling, never stop smiling!" His kind words and twinkling blue eyes just melted my heart. I instantly thought, Can I adopt them as my grandparents? You see, I didn’t have any...

 I finally decided to let some people decorate my purple cast—but with one very important requirement: you had to add scripture before signing your name . If I was going to carry this thing around, I wanted it full of life-giving encouragement! Plus, as a pastor, getting kids to open their Bibles and pick a verse? Total win-win.  Before anyone else touched it though, I had one big request: I wanted a crown drawn right on top. 👑 Why? Because I’d been thinking a lot about James 1:12 : “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” Thank you Baylee for doing  a great job on the crown!  It was a sweet time—laughs, Bible verses, doodles, and lots of love. But here’s the kicker: silly me, we decorated it on a Saturday and Sunday… and then Monday afternoon the cast came off.  All that beautiful artwork, all that scripture, lasted just a coupl...

I am loving this new concept of painting rocks and hiding them to encourage others.   They can keep the rock or share it or re hide it.   It makes going to the parks more and more fun in hopes to find some!  

GIVEAWAY!!!  CLICK BELOW to ENTER! DISCOUNT!!!   Enter " praises" when checking out to save 20%!!!   HOW AWESOME!!   Now you can start covering your kids in God's Word. We choose 10 verse that are short and easier to memorize but are still powerful and essential truths. We used the NIRV ®  translation for this pack, which is targeted for a lower reading level. You may even want this pack for yourself...we won't judge.                                                                  The List: Psalm 136:1   - God's Love Is Forever Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good. His faithful love continues forever. Proverbs 3:5  - Trust In The Lord Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not depend on your own understanding. Psalm 56:3  - Don't Be Afraid When...

I found this scripture very encouraging this week.   Habakkuk would have been one of those people who always had a hop in his step and a half full type of personality... in my opinion.  Habakkuk was wise in this moment as he had pure joy even when the Babylonians invaded- he understood that he could lose it all but would still find joy in the Lord.   "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation." What a lesson we all could hear as we are putting our fancy Christmas trees and expensive gifts.   Don't allow these things to distant you from praising and rejoicing our giver of true gifts- Jesus!   It seems that many people think they need the next best thing to find joy- they are chasing material items that leave them unsatisfied.   Habakkuk shows us that no matter we should focus on getting our Joy from God and when we praise and rejoice him even through the tough stuff we can be joyful in knowing our salvatio...

I am going to try to do a better job and putting some of my devotionals up.   I hope they encourage you with your walk with the Lord. So this devo happened through reading a kids Bible with my kids before bed.   It got me thinking more and more so I had to get my Bible out and do a little more reading.   2 Samuel 24:14- "I'm in a desperate situation! David said to Gad, "Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands."  Wow! David screwed up again and had sinned against the Lord.   God gave him three options for the sin and even though David didn't pick any of the three the Lord delivered the consequence- three days of terrible things- death of 70,000 people.  David must have felt a lot of pain and heart ache knowing his sin cause the death of so many people.  David though realized that God would still have mercy and after all of this heart ache David built a new alter.   ...

Stop the negative self talk and start believing truths about yourself. God made you, you are loved by God, you are fearfully and wonderfully made, you have purpose, you were made for such a time as this, you are royalty, God has a mighty plan for your life! Declare truths over yourself rather then negative self talk.... you are good enough, strong enough because you love and serve a good And loving God.  

Sometimes you just need everyone to read this... and live it! 

With the arrival of the most spectacular winter in years and Christmas only a night away, Princesses Joy, Grace, Faith, Charity, and Hope find themselves in the midst of a scene right out of a holiday fairytale in this newest adventure in the Princess Parables series A Royal Christmas to Remember. But then the threat of bandits in the village lead the king away from the castle on Christmas Eve! Suddenly, the bandits come crashing into the castle. Praying to God for courage and safety, the princesses are soon rescued by five brave knights and then do some rescuing themselves. The next day, the princesses go to the village to see how they can be of help to the people, discovering that the true meaning of Christmas is honoring and giving glory for the greatest gift of all. My Review: My 9 year old daughter has loved this series for awhile now and this book did not disappoint!   We truly enjoyed the princesses heart change during the story.   They were once focused on their ...

Book Description The bestselling My Little® series, with more than 2 million copies sold, is a compact collection of books that will have a big impact on the hearts of your children. My Little Prayers will help you introduce your children to prayer. My Little Prayers teaches children both classic and modern prayers surrounding subjects such as mealtimes, bedtime, playtime, time with God, and others as well as prayer for times when children are fearful, happy, or sad. New illustrations in the same perfect format for the small hands of your toddlers and preschoolers make My Little Prayers a wonderful gift for a variety of occasions, and it is just the right size to tuck into a birthday gift bag or Easter basket. Children will learn a big lesson from this little book: that we can talk to God any time we want and that He always listens. My Review: The cover has captured my heart, I adore the cute little pictures and the colors the illustrator used.   I am loving this ado...

Today as I was driving home from work and enjoying listening to the radio this verse just hit me on the head.                                              James 4:8a- "Draw near to God and He will Draw near to you."    I have had so many people young and old tell me some of these things, "Where is God, I don't feel him anymore."  "I don't think I'm a christian anymore because God is so distant."  "Why is this happening in my life, where is God."   That is something most of us have asked at some point. You don’t need to experience this alone. Reading Living Church of God reviews and other resources across faiths and denominations, you can always find somewhere to fit in and worship together. Now my immediate response is, "those are all lies from the enemy wanting you to feel those things."  Which I do believe is true but when I sit and thi...

“Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds.” ~ Hebrews 10:24 (NLT) Is there someone you can bless and encourage today?  Pray about it and go encourage and bless them!  

In case you forgot, JESUS LOVES YOU!!

Think about it? Are you producing good spiritual fruits or are you being a "religious nut"? This did make me chuckle at first but very true.  What fruits are you producing?