Live Loved and Thrive

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Thrive, P and Confetti
highs and lows, shilouette of woman facing ocean, sky is dreamsicle orange and blue clouds reflected on the wet sand

Highs and Lows

This week we continue to lean into the heart of the Father through the lens of music. We’ll take a look at the poetry-style lyrics and listen to the melody for further emphasis. I don’t want to mislead you; I’m merely a writer and, while poetry is writing, the only thing that would qualify me as an occasional poet is the fact that poems can rhyme. You know, roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you-type stuff. Thank God literally, that His faithfulness through the highs and lows of life does not hinge on my ability or inability. I simply want to point you to Him. He’ll take care of the rest. If you’ll let Him.

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God only knows, fogged mirror, fog is wiped away on the lower half of a woman's face revealing in the reflection of the mirror, the bottom part of her nose and mouth

God Only Knows

Although I’m a writer, my only attraction to poetry is through song lyrics. To me, poets say so very much with so few words. While a poem can be very deep, because of its brevity, I find myself skimming the surface and missing the heartbeat of the poet. This particular fact is not lost on me with regard to the things that God only knows about me and who He says I am to Him. There are times when I just skim the surface, and when I do, I miss the rhythm and deep revelation of His heartbeat for me.

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resolutions, staring up at the sky looking past palm tree tops and into a sky full of stars

Resolutions

We’re 27 days into 2020. How are you doing on your resolutions? I’m not trying to call you out if you’ve already thrown in the towel. I stopped making New Year’s resolutions because I rarely made it out of January before falling back into my old patterns, shamefully admitting defeat. That feeling you get when you’ve failed yet again is what motivated my final resolution to never make another resolution.

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His Love, sunset, woman facing the sun with hands in front of her face, making the heart symbol around the sun that is off in the distance.

His Love

One of the misunderstood things about love is that when truth is spoken in love, love can get a bad rap. Truth is not always warm and fuzzy, but it can be love nonetheless. When we use ourselves as the standard to measure the meaning of love, its reputation suffers.

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Joyful Noise, trees covered in snow, woman with snow dusting on her, red hat, camel colored coat and black gloves. She's facing away and has both her arms extended on either side of her.

Joyful Noise

Those of you who know me will get a kick out of this. I volunteered for the church choir during one of our Christmas services. You girls know that I will sing out loud, but you also know that I can’t sing. That Bible verse about “make a joyful noise unto the Lord” was for me. It’s the clause that provides a covering for me so that my songs of worship will be received based on the thankfulness in my heart and not the tone of my voice. 

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woman in a boat on a lake, blond hair, dark colored sweater, in the dusk of the day and is holding a kerosene lamp over the side of the boat.

Reality vs Truth

I have a precious friend who is a professional life coach. She’s been challenging my thought life. How sweet it is to have a friend who will challenge you, who gets you outside of your own head, and makes you hold up your beliefs for inspection. Is my “beliefs” the truth or simply my reality?

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Recovery Mode

I’ve been traveling non-stop for the last ten days. If I haven’t been in the air, I’ve gone from ship to land, vice versa, and from one event to another. Finally, a sweet friend and I made it into Norfolk International around 12:15am. Not by choice but rather directed by the airlines (who also let me know my bag is still in Paris). I staggered into my house at 1:30am, finally into bed at 2am. I’m in recovery mode today. Possibly the whole week. Even now, sitting at the counter in my kitchen, I feel the boat swaying.

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Missing Baby Jesus

A few weeks ago, I got out my Christmas decorations and opened a set of petite, white ceramic nativity figurines. I immediately saw that Baby Jesus was no longer in the set. I looked in the bigger box and could not find Him. I was missing Baby Jesus! Surely He had slipped through the cracks of the smaller box and fallen into the bottom of the larger one. I looked again. Still no Baby Jesus.

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Sin and Hell

Did you know that sin does not send you to hell? It’s true! But when I first heard it put that way, I immediately thought, “What hell are you talking about? Of course, sin sends you to hell—and there’s only one hell you need to be concerned with!”

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