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My Declaration of Dependence

July 4, 2014
| 16 Comments
| Categories: Jesus

 

I’m focusing on celebrating the 4th of July with my family and friends today.  We’re talking about the brave independence we declared long ago and also our need for dependence on the Lord now.  Please enjoy my post from last year’s celebration!

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I love my country and the people who serve and have served me…us…with their lives.  I join today with others with thanks to God for our freedoms and our nation.  We are blessed, but I can’t help thinking on each Fourth of July about how…

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When You Think You’ve Been Foolish…

June 28, 2014
| 30 Comments
| Categories: Spiritual Growth

My kids giggle as I read from Proverbs 30.

“If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.

For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.” (verses 32-33)

I love it when my kids hear something that will stay in their mind because it made them giggle.  I giggled a bit too but not for long because what I really needed to do was to put my hand over my mouth.

So after the giggle we talk about the serious side…

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A Reason to Dance

June 20, 2014
| 32 Comments
| Categories: Encouragement

“Lord the Light or Your Love is shining,
In the midst of the darkness shining,
Jesus light of the world shine upon us,
Set us free by the truth You now bring us,
Shine on me. Shine on me….”

She danced without inhibitions.  Eyes closed and arms out wide, she floated around the room where, every Sunday morning before Sunday School, the kids sing worship songs together.  This three year-old danced freely to Shine Jesus Shine.

Maybe it wasn’t such a strange sight to behold on Sunday morning in a place where children were singing and music was being…

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Mercy Triumphs

May 25, 2014
| 16 Comments
| Categories: Spiritual Growth

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I have been enjoying the many layers of beauty in the iris. I fold back petals only to find more. It’s not just the layers of petals that entice me to investigate, but also the incredible detailed handiwork on the petals. Yellow fuzzy lines sit on the middle of each inner petal like sleeping wooly bear caterpillars.  Unexpected brown veins surprise me as they run through the the pastel smooth flesh.  The inner smaller petals defined by smooth straight lines beautifully contrast the outer soft floppy petals defined by perfectly ragged edges.  Just one…

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The Wonder of Your Life in Christ

May 7, 2014
| 8 Comments
| Categories: Encouragement, Who we are in Christ / Identity of a believer

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Do you ever wonder if you’re good enough or doing enough?

I do.

I have these thoughts quite often as I try to carry out my faith as a wife, parent, daughter, sibling, friend, parishioner and worker.  The list could go on couldn’t it?  All of the roles we take on in life.  When I think of them I get a bit overwhelmed.  Thoughts of all of the responsibilities come to me at once.  But what if simply being found in Christ and loving Him right where you’re at in your current situation…

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When You Need To Be Revived

May 2, 2014
| 42 Comments
| Categories: Encouragement

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Every spring we have one of those days.  Out of nowhere, the temperature drops and we get a great storm with hail.

The kids love it but I cringe at the thought of our fragile flowers being pelted by the ice.

This year it was the bluebells that were still standing, the lilacs and my gorgeous pink dogwood blooms.  The hail crashed down so hard, I figured the petals would be scattered all over the ground by the time it ended.

Somehow they withstood the beating.

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He is Risen! Alleluia!

April 19, 2014
| 16 Comments
| Categories: Jesus

 

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It’s been a messy week but in the midst of a battle with allergies, fatigue and a great lack of organization I was encouraged.

All I could see was the mess.  The school books scattered and miscellaneous items on the dining room table. Headbands, paperwork, mail and Legos scattered on the counter in the kitchen.  That sense that I would never get my head above water began to seep in.  Then my eye caught four small printed words on an Easter decoration scattered in the mess.

So who hasn’t always wanted an angel to come…

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On Revisiting the Past

April 5, 2014
| 25 Comments
| Categories: The Past

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The million steps to 35 years ago is literally just a few blocks away.

I live one street over from a house I grew up in. Sometimes I take my children down that dead-end road. We walk down the gravel road where I remember…like yesterday…playing in the puddles with my brother. Running his green Tonka truck through the brown sludge.

It was a dream home for our family. A house in town but in the woods. We could walk to school by taking a trail through the woods. There was also a cave…

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Welcome to Wasteland to Graceland

April 4, 2014
| 4 Comments
| Categories: Uncategorized

 

Ultimate Blog Party 2014

Welcome to Wasteland to Graceland!

If you are visiting from the 5 Minutes for Mom Party, here is a little introduction about my blog:

I’m a Christian, wife, mom (2 kids), homeschooler, and Christian Life Coach. I loved writing and illustrating stories as a kid.  I have grown up to continue that writing but now enjoy adding my own photographs to many of my blog posts.  An education in Theology, Christian Counseling and Christian Coaching impacts much of my writing and a Coaching business: Graceland Coaching.

This blog is about the fact that…

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God-based vs. Fear-based Decisions

March 29, 2014
| 18 Comments
| Categories: Fear

The Magic House…

A magnificent old house in St. Louis filled with everything a child (and adult) longs to play with but doesn’t realize yet.  There is nothing commonplace or boring.  Unique excitement awaits around every corner and in every nook and cranny.  A three- story slide, a secret room behind a bookcase, a shadow room, a static electricity ball that makes your hair stand up on end.  I could go on.

I’ve been going there since I was a kid and I just went with my kids and one of my mommy friends two days ago.  Every time I’ve…

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