Ever had a late night fight with your honey? Your spouse? You poobear?

No? Well, I have.

It's a late night fight, but round 1 really started that morning before he left for work over something like the trash, he forgot today was my birthday, or....whatever...or maybe I just have PMS so I can?

I remember having serious arguments into the late of the evening. We were really trying to resolve our issues, but late night fights ended up turning into a mess. Somehow, when you are tired, you turn into 3 years olds that just want "MY way!" Right?

Well, maybe we are the only couple that has ever done that...

I remember feeling REAL despair with my spouse. Some fights can just seem like the grass has got to be greener in another pasture. Seriously, there has to be a better place than this. I have honestly thought that before. Have you? Maybe marriage is easy for you.

Don't we put on masks and look really good to the rest of the world while on the inside of our homes, our marriages might just be suffering? Certainly, if this isn't you, I am sure you know a family like this. Then, ONE DAY, "out of the blue," they announce, "we are getting a divorce."

What?

What is going on with marriages? Do we truly have "unreconcilable differences?" Are we just "falling out of love?" What is love and marriage anyway? Seriously y'all?

My friend, Marcy Priest says it best in a song she wrote, Runaway Train. She wrote this song in five minutes - you know why? Because it's so true. LOVE IS A CHOICE - we make it. We choose it and we keep it even when we see something better. It's a choice. When you feel like you want to ride that Runaway Train, Choose love!

Pray for marriages everywhere with me this week...my marriage...your marriage...etc.

Love,

sheri

Read the words below...Please listen to it on iTunes

Runaway train.

My love, my best friend
How I regret
so many times I withhold my love
weve seen some dark days
the messes weve made have hurt us both
and tempt us to give up

and when i feel like I want to ride
that runaway train
i get all caught up in the lie
that better times are in some better place

i listen to the voice inside
it does not change
it does not change
says love is a choice
love is a choice we make.

to live in lala land
where loves is easy and
it doesn't seem to cost a single thing

her comes a difference stage
where newness starts to fade and
discontentment moves in subtly

So I will stay in the high times
I will stay in the dry times
I will stay in the in-between
one day at a time, we will find
what forever really means!

WOW! It just encourages me!

Fear or Trust

My youngest child is learning to swim. We are asking her to jump to us and let go to swim for a few strokes.

She did great the first time. The second however, FEAR struck her. I watched her as she hesitated to jump to her daddy. She was so afraid that he was asking her to do something that she either couldn't do or something that would hurt her.

Her fear trumped trust in her daddy.

This is a great picture of our walk with Father God. He sometimes asks us to do things that seem crazy or scary. We may not be able to see Him, but He is going before us - lighting the way.

But fear - sometimes it creeps in. Fear is paralyzing. It can keep us from moving and from carrying out our calling.

Is there some fear you need to shut the door on and just JUMP and trust your Daddy?

Weed and Seed!

When I was a kid, a sales person approached my parents about attending a marketing demonstration. If you agreed to go, you were guaranteed to leave there with a prize – usually a weed eater, TV or a vacation. MY parents agreed to go in hopes to get a trip, but knew they would walk away with something we needed.

We went to this boring presentation about something – quite frankly, I don’t remember what it was! Anyway, my family walked away with a great prize – a WEED EATER!

We had never had a weed eater before. It was electric – so it plugged in to the outdoor outlet.

Once a month in the spring and summer months, my parents would get out that weed eater and use it all around the house. However, the cord was not long enough to reach the back fence line, so they would MAKE my sister and I pull the weeds back there. I hated pulling weeds. They were about a foot tall. The ground was usually hard and it was virtually impossible to do anything more than break them off – I might as well have used scissors.

I would sit on my rear end out there all day long and by the end of the day, I would have accomplished about 3 feet of weed pulling.

I was pretty mouthy and I would say things like this, “I thought we earned a weed eater and I don’t understand why we are out here doing this if we can just weed eat the things!” My parents were too cheap to purchase anything more than a household (brown) extension cord…no outdoor extension cord for our family… those are just for rich folk. We just didn’t have a cord long enough to reach they claimed.

To this day, I hate working outside. If my husband doesn’t do the work or we don’t outsource it, it just doesn’t get done!

My yard guy and I were talking one day and he gave me a great idea! You know those mailboxes with the plant boxes beside them? We have those. They are NOT a good idea for someone who doesn’t work in the yard and has no flowers. Mine were mostly filled with dead plants and weeds all year long. My yard guy suggested that I put in FAKE bushes or flowers!

Hmm…my mind was going 100 miles an hour. I could put fake plants… everywhere...yes!

On a very rare occasion, I thought to myself, “I can pull out those weeds in those boxes and put these 4 fake bush/ivy things I purchased in there.” It had rained for a week at our house and I had always heard that it is easy to pull out weeds when the ground is wet….however, in the past 25 years, I hadn’t bothered to try it. :)

Those weeds pulled out in about 1 minute! I was astonished!! I kept going. I then went to another flower bed (well, it’s called a flower bed, but it’s actually a weed and bush bed!). I pulled out weed after weed. Even deep weeds came right out because of the moist ground!

I didn’t pull out all the weeds because there were just too many bad memories that came up – so I left that task to my husband, but now I could lead him to a better time to pull those weeds! :)

As I pulled out the weeds, I started realizing why it was so hard to pull out those weeds at my house when I was a kid. It was because the ground was so hard and the roots were so deep.

I realized that it’s like the weeds in our own lives. Weeds are like past memories or lies we believe about ourselves or old labels others have placed on us and we continue to live out of those. The roots of our identity and the pain from some of them are deep! They are blocking our view of the beauty that God restores to us.

In the times of rain, praise God for all that He is doing because He is moistening your soil so that you can remove those old, deep weeds. You have to actually pull them out yourself – it takes a little bit of effort. We have to plant the truth of what God says about us to reap a harvest of beauty! We have to DO something.

When my child was 3, she planted 4 watermelon seeds. They grew like crazy, but could not bear fruit in that little tiny cup on the counter. I had to move it – replant it in a place that will help it grow. However, it still took a very long time before we saw the results of our labor.

The same is true for you… plant yourself in an environment that is healthy and will help you grow. The harvest will come, but it will just take some time to see the beauty of all that you have planted so do not grow weary.

The bible says that faith comes from hearing. Your faith in the truth that you plant will increase by hearing – so don’t stop feeding those seeds of truth you have planted! The harvest will come!

You will be pleased to know, when we moved, my parents invested in an outdoor extension cord so I didn’t have to pull weeds anymore! :)

Comfort Zone (repost)

I realized that in my comfort zone, I can do things (my routine) in my own strength. When I get out, I am weak, green and dangerous :O), but God is my strength (let the weak say I am strong).

When God gave Moses His direction that He didn't tell Him everything He would have to do - He didn't tell him that he would be in front of a sea with an army behind him. He didn't tell him that he would wander for 40 years or that he personally would never make the promise land. He didn’t tell him about the battles that he would engage in!

But, Moses continually stepped out of His comfort zone - 1 baby step at a time. BUT...because Moses was willing to say "yes," he was given a God-sized vision! Man could have never known where that was going, but God did!

The only way we can have a God-sized vision is to continue to get out of our comfort zone - God keeps adding rings. For example, picture a target with a bull’s eye. The bull’s eye is my comfort zone. When I step out in faith, God expands my comfort zone. Then, when He can trust me with the small things, He asks me again to step out. The next time I step out in faith, it's expanded again. The target just keeps getting larger as I am willing to step out and trust God.

In what way are you suppose to step out of your comfort zone and trust God for more?

Love Each Other

Tonight, our sweet waitress said that she went to the same church for 8 years, but it's been 4 years since she's even been to church.

We asked her why and she said that she was tired of church, but it didn't mean she didn't have a relationship with God.

What has happened to church? Are we truly living in the Acts 2 that all the believers came together and shared everything? Or have we become clickish - exclusive or loving only those who are able to love us back?

Do we really love each other the way Jesus commanded? He said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

I don't want to bash the church. I want to redefine the word "church." Church is the BODY of people that know God through Jesus Christ.

Are you loving one another as Christ has loved you?

Let me pray for you!

Hi sweet readers!

I pray that God will grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation to know Him more deeply and intimately. I pray that He will flood the eyes of your heart so you can truly know His love and who you are in Him (all of your inheritance as an adopted child!) and that you may know the power that is in and for you through Christ - the same power that raised Christ from the dead - that life giving power and that you will not miss a moment in your life to share Christ with a hurting world and that you will rest in God's great love for you even when you mess up. In Jesus name!

I want to know how I can pray for you! You can post here or email me privately.

Love you,

sheri

At the Movies...Night at the Museum 2...Part 2

At Night of the Museum 2, General Robert E. Lee was a character. He was feeling beat down because of his reputation in our country for losing 208 men in one battle. He knew he was only known for his failure and his surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant.

Ben Stiller needed Robert E. Lee to engage in the battle at the Museum, but Lee was scared. He didn't want to fail AGAIN so he was hiding from the battle waiting for it to end.

How many of us are afraid of our past failures? Are we so afraid that it has paralyzed us from engaging with others? Has it gripped us from truly living in this life? Are we usable by God?

I love what Ben told Lee:

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"The past is the past, this moment, right now, this is what you will be remembered for."

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It reminded me of Galatians 1 when Paul shared his testimony (see below - it's worth the read!). Paul was sharing how he use to kill Christians. He could have hid from his calling. He could have lived out of his past sins and failures. But...He didn't! He chose to be remembered for something else - something new. Check it out.

You have heard of my earlier career and former manner of life in the Jewish religion (Judaism), how I persecuted and abused the church of God furiously and extensively, and [with fanatical zeal did my best] to make havoc of it and destroy it. And [you have heard how] I outstripped many of the men of my own generation among the people of my race in [my advancement in study and observance of the laws of] Judaism, so extremely enthusiastic and zealous I was for the traditions of my ancestors. But when He, Who had chosen and set me apart [even] before I was born and had called me by His grace (His undeserved favor and blessing), saw fit and was pleased To reveal (unveil, disclose) His Son within me so that I might proclaim Him among the Gentiles (the non-Jewish world) as the glad tidings (Gospel) Gal. 1:13-16b

What are you hiding from? What are you afraid of? Ask Father to make you usable and embrace a new day - a new Journey!