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  • More on the faithfulness of God

    You can pick up at the beginning of my thoughts on the faithfulness of God.

    Becoming a mother was an unexpected event for me. We were married 3 weeks and I was hit with heavy neasua all day. The first was born 5 weeks early. We learned I had an abnormal shaped uterus with a wall of skin growing down the middle. In effect making my uterus 3 pockets.

    With the birth of this child my life sped up. Now I was living with a husband and a child’s ADHD. And the exhaustion! No one told me having a baby would exhaust you for years to come. I wasn’t just tired from busy days and interrupted nights. I felt a bone weary tiredness.

    Looking back from here, where I know I’m an introvert, I know I recharge in quiet, peaceful environments, preferably alone. I understand why I was so exhausted. Other mother’s complained about always being touched, I didn’t mind that. I just needed time to think!

    In all of the hustle, exhaustion, and constant doing, I lost my connection with Abba. I could not think, I could not connect 2 sentences of prayer. I would fall asleep praying. But I knew God was there, He was faithful. When fear for my children gripped my heart with cold fingers and took my breath away, I would focus then, long enough to pour it all into my Heavenly Father’s hands.

    I held on. He brought me into this busy, hustling, going going bit of life. He would sustain me. He would see me through.

    In 2023 I discovered prayer journaling. This helped me hold my shattered focus. Day by day I drew closer to the LORD. And soon I saw that through all those bustling years He had been there. He had been there! He doesn’t walk away from us when life gets hard. If we drift away from Him he doesn’t walk away, he doesn’t turn his back on us. He holds our spot, if you will. He calls us back to him with a gentle, coaching voice. He calls us by name.

    Have you ever looked back on a difficult season and realized He was there all along?

  • @ Home in Florida

    Hello from the land of perpetual summer! We have seasons, they just don’t swing wildly from one to the other. Our seasons are more subtle, often judged by sweat equity. LOL, but that’s the truth! Here at our house, we cheer when we get a freeze. It helps to kill a few pesky bugs; mosquito, flea, tick, and flies! And we haven’t had a freeze for a few years. Our winter months run an interesting cycle, it warms up to the point you need your shorts & t-shirts again, then it rains, then wham, it’s cold & shivering again. Then we slowly warm up, rain, shiver. Here in Florida, we don’t pack our summer clothes away, and our favorite sweater is always close by.

    Today’s weather, September 20, 2025, It’s 85°, 90 is the high/ 71 the low. Clear. North northwest wind around 5 to 10 mph.
    With gusts as high as 20 mph.
    Humidity 59%
    Dewpoint 69°

    How do you know it’s Fall in Florida? It’s easy, just an intimate little shift in the overnight lows. When they drop into the lower 70’s fall has arrived. The mornings are cooler, the afternoons still 🔥 hot! But that’s where the “I wore my sweater to school, but carried it home” came from. And I sure did that often enough.

    A recent article of encouragement, on leaning into God to allow Him to do the heavy lifting.

    The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. — Judges 7:20

  • The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon. — Judges 7:20

    I use the Quick Bible app. It’s very simple, just the Bible in any of 100 + translations & languages, you chose what you prefer. You can highlight and bookmark verses, passages, and make notes for your self. If you want to highlight you chose from 12 + colors! It’s a very simple but useful app.

    One thing I love about this app is it’s devotional. There’s only one. Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening. The more I read from this devotional, I begin to feel my opinion of other devotionals slip. Mr. Spurgeon most have been a man after God’s heart.

    Charles Spurgeon lived in England, 1834 to 1892. Inside note: He died around the time my grandparents were born. He was a Baptist Preacher.

    I’m not sure when this devotional was printed. But today’s morning devotional must have been written for our past week!

    The scripture is from the book of Judges.

    Judges 7:20 (ACV) And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow. And they cried out, The sword of LORD and of Gideon!

    https://alkitab.app/v/ae95a824d2f3

    I’m not going to repeat the whole passage from the devotional. You’ll have to find a copy of Mornings and Evenings or download the Quick Bible app.

    This is the part that got my attention: Take the gospel to them; carry it to their door; put it in their way; do not suffer them to escape it; blow the trumpet right against their ears. Remember that the true war-cry of the Church is Gideon’s watchword, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon!” God must do it, it is his own work.

    Spurgeon’s message connects the physical battle of Gideon’s small army to our spiritual battles today, reminding us to rely on God’s power rather than our own.

    Further down he writes: We can do nothing of ourselves, but we can do everything by the help of our God; let us, therefore, in his name determine to go out personally and serve with our flaming torch of holy example, and with our trumpet tones of earnest declaration and testimony, and God shall be with us, and Midian shall be put to confusion, and the Lord of hosts shall reign forever and ever.

    Reading it again, I feel like the battle cry is echoing thru the ages and is just as meaningful today as it was almost 200 years ago.

    Be encouraged weary one, God will win the battle for you. You need only hold the torch, break the vessel, then Shout!

    Just like God fought for Gideon, he also fought for Moses and the Israelites. Want proof? Read Exodus 14:13-14

    Exodus 14:13-14 (KJV) And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

    https://alkitab.app/v/0ef9adf1218d

  • A thought on the faithfulness and goodness of God

    Just a short thought to share.

    Somewhere along the walk with God I hope you begin to see and understand all the goodness He wraps us in.

    And while we’re here, I’ll share what I’ve been learning about God’s faithfulness.

    in short, His faithfulness is everything, it’s life and living, it’s loving and giving. It’s there when we give up, or forget or lose hope. He’s there holding on for us, keeping our place right there beside him.

    Let’s go to the next read on God’s faithfulness.

  • Small Changes Big Relief: Conguring Daily Frustrations

    This morning as I struggled to get a lid off it’s container, I thought about stress. Little stresses that sneak into our days. Like that lid. Or that item we struggle to reach every day. Or the dog barking down the street.

    These little overlooked stresses are bad. They are like background noises we never notice or just accept. But we can change this. We can improve and smooth out our daily environment.

    First. Take time to notice them. Identify the culprits. How do you feel stress? My brow wrinkles when I get stressed – both ways, horizontal and vertical. Your head may hurt or your shoulders tighten up.

    Notice what stresses you and change it!

    Move the item used daily to a more prominent spot, easier to reach. Group the daily items together. Smooth out the flow of your daily activities. Maybe declutter a bit so you have room for your daily items. Think to the future; will the item be easy to retrieve from here?

    These stressors are the worst. They fly under the radar, unnoticed tiny points of stress popping up in our days, messing up our calm demeanor.

    Second. Our mindset may need to shift. We may not be able to change every stress. Like the dog barking, there’s something to be said for accepting our life as it is. Still, we must be alert to use action where and when we can.

    It may help to batch small tasks. Maybe just face off with these inconveniences and untangle the mess.

    Use humor. Laughing is a great way to dispell stress and see a task completed. Maybe that dog is having a bad day too.

    Keep your perspective sharp. Focus in and zoom out. Just how bad is it?

    Small steps can make big changes.

    Third. Remember it’s about the small changes we make to our environment and our mind set that add up to big stress relief. So, when time allows, notice what stresses you and change it up!

    Here’s to stamping out stress, smoothing out our days, being thankful and proactive.

  • Recalibrating Life, what does it look like?

    Being an introvert, I can get too much people, activity, and busyness in my life. I am a wall flower, I wear that badge, even a homebody.

    In May of this year, we will celebrate 38 years of wedded wildness. And it has been a wild ride, racing from one activity to another. When our children were young, I was known to lament that I wanted the merry-go-round to stop so I could get off! I found myself feeling that way again a few weeks back. And so, I decided-to get off. We are all adults. Take care of yourself. Moms not available. I wish it was that simple.

    Nonetheless, I have been sneaking in quiet times for reflection. And so far, my recalibration has been going pretty well. I have learned I can stop this merry-go-round whenever I need to; I can take a pass on some activities, stay home alone, and be better for it.

    Starting with the mornings, try to slow down and breathe.

    And I have learned more about myself, like how much I like a schedule. And I want to keep the schedule, thank you just the same. I had to explain this to Mr. B. We had a fair exchange of information; I learned new things too.

    Maybe you are also feeling the need to step back and find yourself again. We non-ADHD-ers can be exhausted by the sheer force of energy exuding from our hyperactive loved one(s).

    Honor yourself! Don’t wait for someone else to notice you need a rest. Go ahead and trot your tired self off for a much-needed quiet time.

    It is vital to stay true to ourselves. We can only run so far in daily life on someone else’s music. At first, it’s a novelty and even fun. But then, the fun starts wearing off, and we start to flat-line because we aren’t getting what we need to live happily. Life is full of give and take. No one gets to have it all. We need to remind each other that it’s okay to pull back, take a break, take a nap!

    And it might be time to reassess how much of an activity has to be done today. How small can you break a task down? I mean how small can you make it and still know you accomplished something? For instance, I am cleaning out the fridge. This week I cleaned the inside of the fridge door, wiped the bottles, wiped the shelving, checked dates and tossed a 4-year-old bottle of lemon juice. How? How does this stuff get forgotten? Life, that’s how.

    Life happens at the speed of, well, life. There are real seasons of life when cleaning the fridge isn’t a high priority. Those seasons when cleaning the fridge means wiping up spills when they happen. Done. Over it. And we move on.

    Move in the season of life you are in. I promise you it will not always be like this. Our children grow up. Our bodies change. Our work life changes. Life rolls on. Everything changes. And we are doing really good if we can realize the season is changing and start working into that new way of living.

    I’m cheering you on. You do you. Me do me. And shine brightly in your world. Even as introverts we can shine brightly. I inherited a really nice smile from my mom, my grandmother, and so on. I’m happy to share it. That’s me shining brightly. I have a sister who has a really sweet laugh, it’s a joyful laugh, she shares it lavishly. That’s her shining brightly. You do you!