Something Beautiful

I have been remembering a lot lately. There is something about Fall that causes me to reflect more, to remember more, to store up things in my heart and ponder them. I took a quick trip to the place where I spent my childhood this last week, a place where things are familiar, yet foreign. There are many memories that dwell in my heart from that place.        The Storm Bush* I have been thinking a lot about remembering lately as well. Remembering is important to God, very important. In Joshua 4, He tells the people of Israel to set up a memorial of remembrance for what He has done. In 1 Samuel 7, Samuel sets up an Ebenezer stone so that Israel might remember that God helped them. God wants us to set up memorials of remembrance.     The Lorianne Bush* But God doesn't just want us to set up memorials to Him. He also wants us to realize that He remembers us. In 1 Samuel 1:19 it says that God remembered Hannah (who became the mother of the prophet Samuel) and allow

There are a number of things that I get very passionate about. Most of the time I'm a pretty laid back person. It's difficult to get me really worked up about something, unless you know the things I'm passionate about and then all it takes is a word to set me off. Most of the time I'm just simmering below the surface, but when something comes up that hits me in that spot, watch out.  One of those things is value, and more specifically women and where they find their value. This applies to both men and women, but as I am a woman and feel called to minister to women, I tend to get more worked up about women finding their identity and value in God. In fact, I think that if more women were secure in who they are before God we would actually see a change in the men as well.  John Adams once said: " From all that I had read of History of Government, of human life and manners, I had drawn this Conclusion, that the manners of Women were the most infallible

"So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;   for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed;   none who go to her come back, nor do they regain the paths of life." Proverbs 2:16-19 I've been thinking about these verses this morning. I love Proverbs and how many nuggets of wisdom are tucked away in those passages. The verses prior to these verses talk about seeking after wisdom and searching for it, crying out for it and storing it up. One of the benefits of that is that you will be delivered from the forbidden woman. I was thinking specifically about how it says that any who go to her do not regain the paths of life.  There are five characteristics of femininity, they are: Mistress of the Domain, Helper/Completer, Life Giver, Lady Wisdom and Glory of Man. As a woman seeking after God, I am striving to fulfill all of th

Interesting fact about me #114: when I am tired on a regular basis, I become apathetic. (And yes, that is a number sign, not a hash tag.) apathetic: (adjective) showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern (I had to laugh because this is how the dictionary on my computer used apathetic in a sentence: apathetic slackers who don't vote. ) I try not to let myself get to this point of exhaustion, but every once in a while, I don't even realize that I have gotten there until I am knee deep in apathy and wondering why I've stopped caring about important things. That's why I am thankful and grateful for having people in my life who hold me accountable. Community isn't there for the good times we have together, although that is a benefit of community. They aren't there for when you feel like celebrating, but they do make celebrations more fun.  Community is there to hold me accountable. My community has been carefully chosen. I have surrounded myself wit

I serve a Covenant God. This has been an interesting journey for me to think about what that means, and I have by no means arrived. I am still learning more and more about covenant. I will say though when I first began to be aware of the power of covenant, I got super excited about it. It is an excitement that has continued to grow the more I have learned about covenant.  I read a book on the Covenant recently, so it has probably stuck out more to me because that has been in my brain. But today at church I had a deeper revelation of covenant because we were talking about Noah. There are several examples of God establishing covenant with different people throughout the Bible, and one of those instances is Noah. After Noah and his family disembark from the ark after the flood, God establishes a covenant with them and with all the animals that have survived in the ark.  I was thinking about that, and I realized that if you trace that covenant back, it really starts with the deep relat

I read an article this morning about how to train to finish a marathon well. While I don't think I will train for another marathon (the last one really was my last one), I still found the article fascinating because life is a marathon, my walk with God is a marathon, and I want to know how to finish it well. I want to finish strong, pushing through the last miles, straining for the finish line.  It inspired me because running a marathon is all about pacing yourself. You must pace yourself so you don't burn out in the first 18 miles. You must pace yourself so you don't quit when you get to mile 24. The same is true of my walk with God. Pacing myself is what it's all about. I don't want to burn out when I hit 40. I don't want to fall out of the race at 60. I want to be all in all the way.  I have always enjoyed the long run. When I was training, I loved my days where I did my long runs of 14, 16, 18 and 20 miles. In studying economics, I enjoyed studying and

There are many things that I love about my job, but I think that one of the things I love best is how I have lots of time to think and pray. I love thinking. I love praying. And I love when God uses my job to show me things about Him. Today I had to step out of my comfort zone. I love making people feel better, but my heart is to bring healing to people. I desire to actually make a difference in a person's whole well being, body, mind, soul, spirit, and heart. It is all connected. Wellness is about all of you being well together.  While this is my heart, the majority of the time I just make people feel better. And I have become comfortable in that. Where I'm not comfortable is when I actually have a client who wants treatment, who needs a specific type of treatment that I am not well practiced in. That's what happened to me today. I had to take a step out of my comfort zone. I had to do something that I wasn't familiar with. I had to do something I haven't done,

I've been reading a lot lately which always causes me to think a lot. I love reading for that very reason. It exposes me to someone else's thoughts, views, opinions, and ideas. It gets me out of my own head and into someone else's.  I have been reading several books, but something that stuck out to me that I was thinking on and turning over in my brain yesterday is from a book I'm reading on Esther. When I was little, the book of Esther was my favorite. I would read it all the time. I loved her story, and I still do. I'm not sure it is still my favorite, but it still speaks to me in a powerful way, so this book I'm reading is reawakening that love in me for this story. The thought that stuck out to me, that I was pondering was this: One should always enter the presence of a king bearing a gift.  We don't know a lot about royalty in America because, well, we don't have royalty. In fact, there aren't that many countries left in the world that do