power

The Unspoken Code by Marja Norris – book review

by

Secret handshake. Good Ole Boys Club. Neither has anything over the network of women you will identify with in this book, The Unspoken Code. What I appreciated most about reading Marja Norris’ book was her way of making her points with no hint of poor attitude. Early in the book Norris describes what she calls the unspoken code. “The code is about understanding the behaviors that differentiate power players from the rest of the pack. It’s about exuding confidence from the inside out. It’s about building assertiveness and flexing communication …

Read more

Power Comes From Attitude

by

Have you ever made a commitment, then as the time approached you were overcome with fear or insecurity or dread? I know that feeling. What if, like me, the commitment was long term and you wondered how you would hold up through it and endure to the end? Maybe you haven’t been there and can’t grasp how that feels, but if you can, how did it turn out? I think God gives us almost unlimited power to change how we think, how we feel, and how we act. I’m not …

Read more

Stung!

by

Have you ever been stung by a wasp; a tiny little insect that flies joyfully and aimlessly through the air? Wasp stings can be painful and are often more dangerous than bee stings. Wasps don’t lose their stingers like bees and often repeatedly and mercilessly sting their victim.  The side effect could be redness, itching and – well pain. But for those sensitive to the venom, the effects can be much worse. How often do we let down our guard and say things we are sorry for later? Jeremiah 15:8 describes how …

Read more

Advent Week 3 Theme: Joy – Unspeakable Joy! Literally unspeakable.

by

What I love most about the Advent scripture today is that it talks about reconciliation, peace, and waiting on the Lord. But it also reminds us to recognize the power of God to do the impossible. We have to believe He who has all power to do great things, uses people who have unremarkable lives, but unshakable faith. The Bible says God doesn’t call the qualified who have everything figured out and mastered; God qualifies the called who have a teachable spirit and solid belief in His sovereignty.     …

Read more

How secure is your security blanket?

by

Yesterday we learned about Lucy. Don’t you love Linus? Let’s learn from him today. We are a blanket family. I’m literally mesmerized by stores where walls breathe thick towels, floors are spongy with throw rugs, and blankets spill off shelves. Blankets, though, entice me most and even though my family laughs at me, they are all blanket people too. I have a ‘grandpa’s rag tag quilt’ every piece of it stitched together by a cherished friend, Sandy Joyce – homemade contentment.  Walk into my house, it doesn’t have to be …

Read more

Comparison is the Opposite of Contentment

by

OK everybody up! Rise and shine! Good Morning Sometimes I struggle. Does that ever happen to you? Struggle? If we put our list of struggles side by side there’s a good chance there would be no matches, but we would all have something on our lists. I have a lifelong infatuation with the word ‘why’; not so much the academic, ‘Why does that formula work when this one doesn’t?’ but the practical, ‘Why did this happen when it’s not at all what I expected.’  We’ve all been there, navigating the …

Read more

What to do in Michigan when it snows

by

I was thinking about how beautiful summer has been after the long, unforgettable, treacherous months of winter.   I remember taking a picture of our deck wondering if we’d ever again wear t-shirts instead of parkas.  On that day nearly all the wood on our deck was exposed except for a telltale strip of snow to remind me that spring had not yet sprung. Then the very next  morning – a totally different story. I’m a generally positive person, but looking out at the snow covered trees with accumulations of …

Read more

Faith …. what about it?

by

In a few weeks, I will again be looking for a job to replace the one that’s coming to an end. As I was contemplating all that’s rolled up into that grueling task I thought about, what else? Faith! Faith and how little I think about it when life is basically predictable with only a few chokes and sputters to pull us back into our focus on faith.  It’s not that we lose faith; it’s there, but it sort of becomes routine….until we suddenly need to know there’s a power …

Read more

Refining Grace