1 Thessalonians: 16-18 “Be joyful always, pray continually: give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Your world is falling down around you. You’re dizzy and not sure which way to turn. You are unsure of what decision to make. You’re impatient and life feels like  a continous wait and see game. You’re stressed out to the max. You tend to focus all your energy on solving the problem yourself. You worry. You lose sleep. You cry. Your stomach hurts. Your back hurts. You’re run down. In the midst of the storm, you forget to pray and for sure you forget to be thankful for…

One day, I was in the kitchen cleaning dishes. Braxton, my two year old was in the closet trying to put on a Minnie Mouse dress. She was crying, struggling, grunting and carrying on and on. She did not cry for my help; she did not call out my name. Like any good parent, I decided to wait and see if she could work out the problem by herself, after all she is a ” big girl.” She never called for help. She just continued to fight her own battle with the dress. Arm in head hole, inside out and backwards…it was a mess. Finally, I yelled out to her, “Braxton, Mommy…

  Have you ever thought of a friend that you haven’t thought of in awhile? Maybe someone pops into your mind out of nowhere. What about a gut instinct on something? Or thinking too much on whether something is the right choice? Perhaps, the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. When I ramp up on my prayers and bible reading, my connection to Christ and the Holy spirit intensifies. I seemed to be intuned. When I depend and trust on Christ for everything, my relationship deepens bringing a powerful closeness where I hear, feel and see God working in my life. Often times, the Holy Spirit speaks to my heart to pray for others. Sometimes I have powerful dreams.…

Frequently, I listen to the Christian Satellite Network, listening to great Pastors like Mike Kestler on his radio show called, To Every Man An Answer. To Every Man an Answer is a live call-in radio program that answers your questions about the Bible and the Christian faith. It airs Monday-Friday at 3:05 PM (PT) / 6:05 PM (ET) on CSN International. If you wanted to call in your question :(1.888.827.5276) It’s a great show that I listen to when I go pick up my daughter from her Christian preschool. Problem is that when I  pick her up, I always park near the dumpster in the back of the church; it’s easier. But when…

A small child collects ketchup packets and stuffs them into his backpack at school in hopes to make tomato soup over the weekend. During the week days at school,  he is on government assistance so he receives a  hot breakfast and lunch. But on the weekends, these packets of ketchup mean a meal.   How many times have we tossed a Happy Meal Bag in the trash with a few extra packets of ketchup on the bottom?  I’ve done it probably a jillion times. Never in a million years, did I ever stop to think that those packets are considered a meal for a child in Austin! How about the child that went to school with a backpack…

   A couple of weeks ago my sister in law texted me that she felt the need to pray for me, but what were my needs? My first response was to pray for me to feel closer to God. I know that seems silly, but sometimes I feel completely tapped in, a special connection where I feel like the Holy spirit speaks to my heart. I get strong thoughts for people, divine guidance from above. Then, there are other times when the hustle and bustle, the daily grind of routine get in the way, creating a barrier between God and me. My focus is off the Lord and off of prayer. My connection to…

Like most of us, from time to time, l veg out watching a documentary on the history channel or wildlife channel. Recently, I watched a story of a twin tragedy that occurred on August 12, 1967. When on the same night, not far from Heaven’s Peak at National Glacier Park, two college women, not associated with one another, were mauled to death and eaten by Grizzly Bears. After the attack, rangers and officials went hunting for the bear; only to find out later, not one but two grizzly bears were responsible. One bear that was extinguished was a mother bear with cubs with an injured foot. They identified dried human…

I plopped into  salon chair and wiggled my tiny sixth grade frame back. As she played with my long straight hair, the stylist asked my mom, ” What are we going to do today?” My mom said, ” I thought a pixie cut would be cute.”  Not knowing what a pixie cut was exactly, I trusted and agreed to let them chop off my mane of hair. Within in minutes, my long hair fell to the floor and  a sixth grade version of Carol Brady starred back at me in the mirror. The top of my hair was so short that you could not get the smallest of curling irons…

Last night I prayed before bedtime. A lot of times, I ask the Holy Spirit to speak me as I open a random page in the bible. I opened the bible to Nehemiah 1. The first thing I read was the bold letters Rebuilding the Wall. Nehemiah wept when he saw the walls of the holy city of Jerusalem were broken down and  unrepaired. His heart cried because his sacred city and its people were left defenseless and vulnerable. Jerusalem had no real direction. The city lacked  leadership and true government and lacked a plan for rebuilding  the physical walls. What was worse is that the people  of Jerusalem were spiritually broken.  How many of us are rebuilding walls in our live’s that have holes?  It could be a…

The last couple of weeks have been stressful on many personal fronts: financial, work,family and friends. Everything seemed to start piling on top of each other, as things tend to do for all of us. Despite my positive outlook and resilience, I get overwhelmed at times.  The motivation speaker in me says,  “Keep focused, we don’t have time to worry, pout or have regret. It’s time to focus on things that will get us where we need to be.” I give myself positive pep talks and more importantly I visit with God about my doubts, faults and concerns. ” I know you say…Don’t be anxious about anything, pray about everything. But can you help me with that? ”   …