Tornadoes. Thunder. Disease. Wind. Sunrise & Sunset. Lightning. Waves. Light & Darkness. Life. Rain. Snow.

“Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” Job 26:14

Only the Unseen Hand can make it rain and make it snow. Only the Unseen Hand controls the colors of the sunset & sunrise and the time it does so. Only the Unseen Hand strikes the exact spot it chooses with lightning and crackles the thunder for the ears to hear.

You can never count the number of crickets in a forest singing at night or the number of birds chirping each morning. The wind blows where the Unseen Hand chooses and diseases spread just the same.

The Unseen Hand may not be visible to the physical eye, but the eyes of the spiritual can watch it move and work in ways many do not understand. “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power, His understanding is beyond measure” Psalm 147:5.

The Unseen Hand has not stopped the power He has over creation and the world we live in. The Unseen Hand “does not sleep nor slumber” (Psalm 121). He still sees you. He still longs to have relationship with you. The Unseen Hand still speaks peace, love and reconciliation.

When we believe we have control, stop and watch the sunset. When we believe we have control, watch the storm clouds roll in and try to stop them. When we feel we are the ones the world depends on, try to stop the rain from falling on the ground. Remember, the Unseen Hand is still at work. Still on His Throne. Still Unseen to many….

The Unseen Hand is directly connected to the Unseen God – the one who sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for all mankind – all colors, all peoples. Today, look for the Unseen Hand of the Unseen God in your life.

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death..” Romans 8:1-2.

We are living in a cancel culture. In a restrained culture. We are walking in days where you are not sure if you should smile, speak, ignore or embrace. Where touch and visually being seen in public is shamed.

These past few months have been anything but easy for the world. My home, much like yours, has been drastically affected. And now, the decision to send your kids to school or not, is yet another tool of destruction for our relationships.

As believers in Christ, our definition, purpose and placement has not changed. We are called to LOVE above all. We are called to be KIND. But for me the biggest battle is not allowing the god of this age to condemn me for every single decision I make. Good or bad. Obedient to the Lord or not.

We are called to WALK IN FREEDOM. Freedom definitely looks different today than it did last year, but our freedom is not measured by the constitution or by the US Government – our freedom is not a bill of rights. Our freedom came from the death of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins, delivering us into life – true life. Our freedom is the ability to set our minds on things above and not on earthly things. We see our freedom still in tact in the letters written by Paul as he sits in prison. Our freedom is not bound by walls or chains. Our freedom is based upon the ability to hear the Spirit of God and do what He says.

The fruits of our freedom bring love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. These are the fruits of our freedom, even when we don’t like or understand the things around us. These are the fruits of our freedom while we work, while we learn, while we shop, while we breathe on this earth. He has called us to live for more.

I love my country, but I know some day when this world passes away, it will too. I love the men and women who have died representing my country and the freedoms we stand for. Freedoms that allow me the ability to write this message. Freedoms that say I deserve an education and the ability to think and speak and question everything. Freedoms that encourage me to dream and blaze my own path. Freedoms that bring safety to the neighborhood I live in and to attend whichever church I choose. Freedoms that afford me the ability to go and cast my vote for who I believe my leader should be. Freedoms that allow me the ability to agree to disagree and face no harm because of it. Freedom. I am blessed to have been born and raised in the amazing USA. But my country’s freedom does not compare to the true freedom that can never be taken away. True freedom in Jesus Christ.

This freedom is given only by the Spirit of the Living God. May I walk in freedom. May I talk in freedom. May I live in freedom. May this day be a day that I remind my mind that true freedom starts there – in my thoughts. Today, freedom is the choice I am choosing to make.

Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self Control.

Every day is a challenge. Basic things that you never thought about, you now calculate every step and every impact. Do you push or do you stop?

Work equates to more challenges in an already obstacle-driven world. Days of parenting and endless hours of motherhood and wife-dom create more unbelievable days of exhaustion and cliffs to fall in like in Super Mario. Days of worship are now severed with screens and distance and then you realize it has been quite some time since you completed an entire song on you choir CD in your car because the only place you drive is to the grocery store. Do you push or do you stop?

So many around you need you. And yet, you have nothing to give. You just want to hide under the covers in your bed.

Ministry looks different. Loving looks different. Time with the Lord looks different. There are only so many hours in the day and you long, yearn, pray that the coffee pot brewing doesn’t wake up your sweet precious blessings who long to beat everyone out of bed to start the day. Do you push or do you stop?

Recently I became an indoor cyclist. Sounds fancy and awesome. Nah – I just started riding a stationary bike regularly. On this bike there is a button for your safety that reads “push to stop”. And while it says push to stop, I continue to read push or stop. When you are riding with some of the greatest athletes in the world through places that you only dreamed of seeing – the adventure is challenging. And your legs do not want to keep moving. And your intensity slows. And as my girl Nicole says “that last half of the interval shows what you are made of, adrenaline is gone”. Do you push or do you stop?

I think of the times when the apostle Paul was imprisoned. How many times did the god of this age ask him to stop? I think of the cries of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and how they longed to stop, and yet kept pushing. I remember Elijah, Esther, Moses & so many more that faced numerous opportunities to stop and yet they chose to push. The scripture in 1 Corinthians 9, “Run in such a way you win. Everyone who competes in the games, exercises self control in all things.” We as people, must keep pushing. And not the pushing in the form that it may sound – we just cannot stop. These days are difficult, sure. Will the days ahead be more difficult, most likely. But instead of choosing to lash out against one another and stop running the race at all we must push – push love, push peace, push unity, push joy, push forgiveness, push tenderness, push kindness, push humility, push patience, push tolerance for one another in love, push truth and only dwell on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good repute, anything excellent or worthy of praise.

And maybe the statement is not push to stop or push or stop, but maybe the real statement is push and stop. I know what to push, but what do I stop? I love the book of Hebrews and the message it brings – chapter 12 says “let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” What keeps me from breaking records on my bike in speed and endurance? What keeps me from exceeding my work goals set for myself? What keeps me from walking in the fullness that the Lord planned for me? What are the things that tie me down and keep me held captive and frozen? Every single time it has to do with the things that I put into my mind and body that lead to death – excess sugar, excess fear and doubt, excess complaining, grumbling or disputing, excess self love, excess pride & gossip and the list can go on for days. Today, I must push through the difficult and the obstacles that come and stop the whining and living in self defeat. Today, I choose to push through and fight for joy, unity, peace and love and stop hatred, dissension, gossip and chaos. The choice is always mine – how will I choose to live and be.

My girl Nicole of iFit said as we rode through the Utah mountains, “intense weather over a long period of time creates the most beautiful masterpiece in nature.” What is the beautiful masterpiece being created in your life?

This road leading to the garden where the fruit trees reside has been one of winding roads, uphill climbs with downhill coasts while the briars encroach creating wounds that penetrate yet heal.  Only on the journey with the Vine Dresser can I experience wounds that provide deep healing to the core of my being.  The garden is the space that breeds life from death.  The garden cultivates this longing for more within the paradox of complete satisfaction overwhelmed by gratitude and perfect peace.

Every branch, every root and every scene in the garden shouts creative work.  Creative.  From the moment of “let their be light” to the spoken growth of “let the earth sprout vegetation.” The evidence of our Creator is lively, flamboyant, vibrant and soothing.  Creativity is defined as the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work.  When you look all around you, original ideas and artistic works are everywhere.  When we stop looking at the world around us as a blank canvas to create in, we stop seeing the world for all of its potential and beauty.  Everything about the core of God the Father is creative – from the zebra to the giraffe, to the Blue Wonder Toad Lily to the Lithop plant of South Africa.  His nature is to create – and as a Creator, He cannot stop creating, ever. 

When we review the passage in Genesis 1:26, we see that God declared that He was going to “make man in His own image – in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”  And this very decision passed His creative abilities and nature to His creation.  He gave us the ability to create.  The ability to dream.  The ability to use our hands, our brains and our abilities to craft once in a lifetime splendors.  The ever-changing 7 wonders of the world reflect this growth in mindfulness in creative works of man.  To the Grand Canyon, not created by man, to the Internet, the wonders never cease to amaze.

It is overwhelming to think of all of the creatives in the world – authors, musicians, artists, photographers, craftsman, chefs, actors, seamstress, potters, engineers, architects, scientists, baristas, gardeners, farmers, entrepreneurs, florists and the list goes on and on and on.  In almost every genre of work, there is a portion of creativity required.  My personality type lives and thrives in the place of the unknown – in the element of faith and unpredictability.

For the longest time, 34 years to be exact, I have viewed food as a controlled, must-have, element to life.  Preparing meals for my family and myself was a forced activity pushed upon me every day, multiple times a day, like clockwork – literally.  This was completely predictable.  Every day, my kiddos and husband were going to need dinner.  Predictable, a forced necessity.  Every Thanksgiving, I would look at the experienced women in my life and watch them make turkeys and I would think, “oh dear, someday I am going to be the grandmother and I am expected to do that!”  Panic would follow.  Until recently.  As many of you know, 2020 has been the year of the Quarantine.  The year of the virus.  The year that everything changed.  The year of the forced Sabbatical.  The year that created a sense of pause in society and hectic schedules.  The year that developed refreshment through stillness and rejuvenation through new eyes and new angles.   And so I felt compelled to buy a cookbook.  Not just any cookbook, as I walked through Target, alone armed with mask and hand sanitizer, Joanna Gaines called me into her world and said I could join!  Well done, Target, another unexpected and unplanned aisle purchase – good placement.  This is not a budget or stewardship message. As I begin to read – yes, I read the opening pages, I felt her speaking to me.  And not just her, but the Creator – the Life Bringer.  I heard her words, “a sweet reward of cooking is not only in what’s created, but also in the simple act of getting to create.”  And then it hit me – cooking is only partly about our body being designed for calorie intake, the entire other part is embracing the God-like ability to create in yet another way. 

The past two weeks have been filled with the desire to learn from the best, right now every recipe of Joanna Gaines.  And yet in following her instructions, I am becoming a creator in my own kitchen.  We are given the “simple act of getting to create” all day every day in every way.  We set the course of who we want to be and influence who we want to see around us.  We make decisions and choices that drive a Creative Work in our lives.  We enjoy the creative abilities of so many around us – through entertainment and even just design.  Think of your coffee pot that allows you to drink coffee grown in Guatemala.  How many steps of creativity is that!?!  And even still, as we celebrate Mother’s Day, we see the creative ability of God Almighty crafting little humans that look and act just like the ones who carried them or the seeds that sewn them.  Amazing creativity.

In this moment, we must look at the journey to the garden and through the garden with the eyes that shouts, “I am your Creator and I made you just like me!”  Live and create today.  Create life in words.  Create joy in peace.  Create gratitude in difficulty.  Create life in death and calmness in chaos.  Choose to create and enjoy every wild flower along the way.

The seasons in our lives are ever changing. We have our basic weather seasons: winter, spring, summer & fall. We have our sport seasons: baseball, football & basketball. We have seasons of change, seasons of joy, seasons of sadness. One thing is sure, with all of these seasons – they are always changing.

My dad once told me that life moves at whatever speed your age is. For example, if you are 10 years old – life moves at 10 miles per hour. If you are 30 years old, thirty miles per hour and 60 years old, 60 miles per hour. Boy, is that true. And not just is the speed of life that fast, but the experience and the change of each season moves that fast too.

One of the saddest parts about life is that you do not realize how great each season is, until it is gone. The fondest memories come after the moment is over. I think back to my awkward middle school and high school days and remember so much of it with the greatest joy and admiration. These days were full of whose house was I going to and who was coming over to mine. The fun of “holy rollers” striking with our toilet paper in the yards, summer youth camps on top of Lookout Mountain, dramas that were the very definition of me called “Late Nite” and squeezing life out of every single second. I think about how those choices and those seasons made up the core of who I am. The time I spent during my college years serving as a youth group leader in hopes of giving back to the next generation the same amazing experiences I once had. And those seasons changed.

Friendships forged in fire that I never dreamed wouldn’t be there, dissolved. Not that I couldn’t call at any moment for anything – but they are not the same as they once were. And then new seasons began – new jobs, the season of marriage and children, more new jobs, a new home, aging parents, kids growing way too fast, more friendship changes and more life moments of exhaustion and joy. Ministry moments of overwhelming purpose and moments of more questions than answers. Divine direction as clear as Christmas, and then yet, more season changes.

Through every season change, there is a choice. There is a mourning or a celebration. The choice lies with this question: how will I respond to my current season? Will I look at each moment and each relationship with gratitude and embrace the joy and the pain? Will I take time to pause in the moment and be still? Will I rush through it pushing to the next one? Will I look for the wisdom to be gleaned and the joy to be found? Will I follow the Divine direction in each moment of the season or just blaze my own path of destruction and defeat? Will I remember the passage “all things work for the good of those who love Him (God)”? In the many days where I want to choose to hide under the covers and pretend the day is not going to happen, what will my choice be?

Can there be both mourning and celebration in sync with one another? Can we mourn the moments of days past and celebrate the moments to come – all while mourning and celebrating our present? Is it easier to find ourselves secretly mourning and publicly celebrating? The changing of seasons produces so much – from fall to winter we see dead leaves, darkness, coldness. These dead leaves are a necessity to bring forth the life of trees and plants to arrive during the transition from winter to spring. And, of course, the fruit to be bore – the moments of rest on the land and in the garden. Every season building upon the last. Every season bringing a new set of beauty – but the dead must fall off first. If we try to hold the dead leaves on the tree, we will never experience the beauty of the next season. And there will definitely be beauty – and it will be there whether we acknowledge it or not.

Today, look at your existing season. Count the joys and acknowledge the struggles. Find the wisdom and the truth. Make moments to pause and take in the scenery, because one thing is for sure – it is definitely going to change and you may not ever know when or how.

The last five years, the last five months, I have experienced life anew.  When I close my eyes and look back to exactly five years ago, everything looks different.  We have a six month old little girl about to experience her second cleft repair surgery.  We are learning how to be parents and parents to a baby that looks different, eats different and may not talk and hear like others.  We are enjoying the life of a comfortable, normal family who works normal hours in normal locations.  We walk in a small community that loves and knows and encourages everyone along.  We have a family that all looks alike and appears to be much like everyone else.

“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”  Hebrews 5:8

I never knew or dreamed of what the next five years would hold for my journey.  Many of the normal things, taken for granted, disappeared.  The areas of consistency and comfort went away.  And while looking back to yesterday produces amazing thankfulness and perspective, I wouldn’t change an ounce of any of the days that the future would hold.

“Take care, brethren, that there not be any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”  Hebrews 3:12

Only God knew the amount of faith the journey ahead would hold.  And only He knows the amount of faith each next step will take as He asks them of me.

When I take an inventory of what I see today, here is what it looks like:

• A relationship with God Almighty that moves off of the page of the Book and into my feet, my heart, my hands, my eyes; and then, I pray, into the eyes of those around me for a momentary encounter with the One who created and still creates.
• A man, I call husband, who is gentle and loving.  Patient and full of faith.  A servant’s heart.  Who gives so much of himself to those around him for the joy of the journey.
• A daughter, who approaches six years old very quickly.  Who displays love in ways I’ve prayed for.  She is comfortable with uncomfortable and sees the simplicity of each situation through the eyes of the wisdom The Father has given.
• A son, who The Father knew intimately in the womb of his birth mother and chose me to be called his mother.  As he runs as fast as he can to age three, he is a passionate, adventurous, loving little guy who calls me “his lady”.  And sometimes his “poopy lady”.
• A mission for those in the most unfortunate places in my city who are looking for hope.  This creates a purpose for me – a purpose for the Kingdom and a purpose that fulfills.  Walking in purpose brings life to weary bones.
• A family that has experienced pain, struggle, unknown, forced to walk in faith and be constantly looking to the Book for our own encouragement and direction.  

“But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” 1 Samuel 30:6

• A faith group that looks to the Word and the Spirit for direction and motion.  A faith group that is learning what the Promises of God are and how to STAND on every single one.  A faith group not built on one man, but only upon the one true God.
• A job that I could only dream of, originating from a moment I affectionately call “The Great Ambush.”  While it ambushed me, it was not unknown.  A job that allows me to create a place for the greatest generation to be valued, admired, respected, honored and revered.  A job that values the associates with the love and excitement that most workplaces have lost.
• Two children just as comfortable on Magnolia at the motels as Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.  And passports stamped and ready to face the world – from SE Asia & beyond.  Who pray for a little sister that the Lord wants us to have.  Only He knows from where?!

In studying the numbers in scripture, you find that five is the number for grace.  Grace is God’s Redemption at Christ’s Expense.  I pray I have walked the last five years, the last five months, as a reflection of GRACE.  Do I know everything?  Absolutely not.  And never will.  Do I do everything right?  Absolutely not.  And won’t.  Do I stand beside the decisions made over the last five years, five months?  Absolutely.  And wouldn’t change a one.  Does life always make sense?  Never.  Do I wish for a world that loved more than it hated?  Definitely.  Do I hope that I reflect the love of God in the life I live?  With absolute certainty.  Do I wish that we could love through all things?  Yes.  

We live in a world where everyone believes that everyone must agree in order to have fellowship – fellowship at home, fellowship at work, fellowship at church.  Our love is not based upon what we can all agree upon.  Our love suffers long.  Love does not parade itself.  Love does not seek its own.  Love is not provoked.  Love rejoices in the truth.  Love bears all things.  Love endures.  If we have not love, we have nothing.  (1 Corinthians 13)

The last five years, last five months, the Lord has removed the idols from my life – “dumb idols” as Paul calls them in 1 Corinthians 12.  And I pray that my house and my family will always lead in love and follow every word in the love letter that He has written for me and is currently writing in me.