Warrior Mode Activated

  The past two months, my heart has been full to bursting. In May our boys were home...not all at once, but enough for this mama’s heart to be thankful. Their visits have stirred up a flood of memories: youth group shenanigans, mission trips, praise band rehearsals, and the little church band they started with their friends...Psalm 23. Over the years they’ve poured their hearts into serving alongside us, and I can’t imagine a greater privilege than worshiping and serving the Lord shoulder to shoulder with our own children. I’ve watched them grow into men here. I’ve seen them form friendships that will last a lifetime, fall in love with young women, who are beautiful inside and out, right here in this community, and begin new lives and families that are now woven into ours. Every memory...big or small...is resurfacing like treasures pulled from a deep well: broken bones, flat tires, late-night conversations, concerts, graduations. And with each one, my heart breaks a little more ...

A friend recently posed a thought-provoking question on Facebook: "If you woke up today knowing it would be your last day on earth, what would you do? Who would you spend your time with?" This question made me pause and reflect, as many of her posts do. She is incredibly kind, true to herself regardless of others' opinions, unafraid to try new things, and extremely intelligent and I admire her. Thanks friend. There is something I want everyone to know. I want my sons and their wives, my beautiful daughters-in-love to know. I want my future grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and all future generations to understand this without a shadow of a doubt. If you're reading this blog somewhere out there in the future, know that if there is one core message in this blog, this is it. Please, read this. All of you. Promise me that if you don't know God in this way, you will think about it deeply. If you are struggling because the church has treated you or someone you love po...

  "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." — Lamentations 3:22-23 Some mornings, I wake up feeling weary before the day has even begun. The weight of yesterday’s struggles, the regrets, the unanswered prayers—they all seem to follow me into today. And yet, in the stillness of the morning, this truth rises with the sun: God’s mercies are new. Every. Single. Day. No matter how hard yesterday was, no matter how many times I stumbled, no matter how heavy my heart feels—God’s love remains steady. His mercies don’t run out. He doesn’t look at me and say, “That was your last chance.” Instead, He meets me in the morning with fresh grace, with an unshaken faithfulness that is bigger than my failures, my fears, and my worries. What Does It Mean That His Mercies Are New? Lamentations is a book of grief, written in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction. The author, likely the prophet Jerem...

Sometimes, you just have to stop and recognize the amazing people in your life, and today, I want to take a minute to tell you about my husband. He is good to the core—fiercely loyal, endlessly kind, deeply loving, honest to a fault, effortlessly funny, incredibly driven, and insanely talented. Am I biased? Probably. But is it 100% true? Absolutely. And would anyone who really knows him agree? Without a doubt. He never stops thinking about his calling—always creating, learning, and discovering. I have no idea how he does it! I’ve often wished I had even half of his relentless drive—and his level of patience. Most nights, you can find him in his home office, creating click tracks, soundtrack videos, and discovering new music to bring to his ministry. We are opposites in many ways, yet so much alike in others—like most couples who balance each other out. I thrive on spontaneity, love changing things up, and admittedly have a quick temper. He, on the other hand, is calm, cool, and collect...

 You ever have one of those moments where you look ahead and think, I have no idea how this is going to work out ? Yeah, me too. Whether it’s a big decision, a tough conversation, or just the weight of life stacking up, it’s easy to feel like you’re stepping into the unknown without a clue what’s waiting on the other side. But here’s the truth I have to remind myself of— God is already there. “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; He will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” – Deuteronomy 31:8 God’s Not Just Walking With You—He’s Ahead of You I don’t know about you, but I like having a plan. I like knowing what’s coming next. But life doesn’t always give us that luxury. Sometimes, we’re stepping into situations where we can’t see the outcome, and that’s when fear and doubt start creeping in. But here’s what I love about Deuteronomy 31:8—it doesn’t just say that God walks with us . It says He goes before us . That means before you even get to...

  “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.’” — Isaiah 43:1 Lately, life has felt like a battle. Some days, it’s a quiet, internal struggle; other days, it’s a storm that I can’t seem to outrun. I’ve walked through adversity before—through pain, through loss, through sickness, through moments that have left me wondering how I would ever find my way back to normal again. And now, as I stand in the middle of yet another difficult season, I find myself searching for something solid, something sure. And then, I hear this whisper in my heart: “I have called you by name. You are mine.” The Power of Being Known There is something profoundly comforting about being known—not just in a surface-level way, but deeply, truly, intimately known. The God who formed the stars, who carved the oceans, who set the mountains in place— knows my name . He knows my fears, my doubts, m...