Day Five - In the Presence of my enemies … My cup overflows.

Today’s verse is one of my most precious favorites, as well as one of my most difficult challenges, with the twenty third Psalm. This is one of those devotions with so many feelings, it runs a little long, so grab a cup of coffee and read it knowing I prayed over these words and your heart as you receive them.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” - Psalm 23:5 (NIV)

My precious friend Betsy sent the song, “Defender” to me a good while back. I have shared this before, so I won’t repeat myself. But Betsy knew Terry and I were dealing with some evil people doing some evil things. Betsy knew I would love the song. She was so right. The lyrics, “You go before I know that You’ve even gone to win my war. You come back with the head of my enemy. You come back and You call it my victory…” (Defender, written by Rita Springer and Steffany Gretzinger).

When we deal with evil and enemies, God has already gone before us and He won the war. He loves His children and He is faithful, over and over and over. We do not have to worry about our enemies. God is preparing

Day Four - Fear No Evil

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.” - Psalm 23:4 (NIV)

I am a worrier. When I was little, my parents called me, “Very Worried Walrus” based off the Sweet Pickles books by Richard Hefter. Trust me, I am not bragging with this confession. I have a long history of being a worrier and this is not good.

But I am trying more and more to be like David. So in doing so, I will fear no evil.

Oh how I want a heart like David. I want to remind myself every single morning, afternoon and night “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

A rod was used as an instrument of authority, but also by shepherds for counting, guiding, rescuing and protecting sheep. The staff was an instrument of support. So David, as a young shepherd learned what the rod and staff would do. But more importantly, when David was being pursued

Restores and Guides - Day Three

Restore is one of my favorite words. Because of the turmoil my precious Michala and I once endured, we have seen how Papa restores and we get to share pieces of our stories to reflect His goodness and mercy. A story neither of us ever wanted to share with anyone, yet we see how Papa restored our brokenness and weaved his beautiful healing as restoration in our hearts. How can we not share His goodness?

Today; day three of our journey together through Psalm 23, we get to focus on restoration and righteousness.

“...he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” - Psalm 23:3 (NIV)

The dictionary (dictionary.com) defines restore as: 1. To bring back

Our brother friend (like a sister friend, only he’s our brother) Steve (who is also our pastor) has such a beautiful saying when times are hard. He says, “I’m resting in Jesus.” Not long ago, Steve had to deliver a memorial service … for a newborn. We were crushed alongside them with this devastating news, and Terry and I ached for their loss. We knew no one better than Steve to bring the hope of Jesus during this unbelievably difficult time, but how heartbreaking to have to deliver a memorial service for a newborn. Terry texted Steve the day of the service and told him we were praying for him. Steve responded with gratitude, but said how he was trusting in and resting in Jesus.

Today’s verse reminds me how we need to rest in God.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,” - Psalm 23:2 (NIV)

I am not good at resting. I need to be busy to be happy and productive. This means when I get sick, I’m not very good at being sick. I don’t like to be still. As I have grown older, however, I learn the imperative need to rest.

As Steve taught us, “I am resting in Jesus.” I am reminded of how a shepherd

Every single time I sit down to write, I pray for God to give me wisdom. I want my words to honor and glorify Him at all times.

Today is no different. I felt so strongly The Holy Spirit nudging me to go through Psalm 23 with you, so I have rescheduled this week’s posts so we could walk through this chapter together this week.

Over the weekend as Terry and I would come together to pray, I kept feeling this nudging, “I am the Shepherd.” I began praying about it Saturday and asked Papa to reveal to me what He was saying. I began reading Psalm 23 and the notes in my Bible. There are six verses of this chapter. This week, you and I are going to walk through each verse, day by day.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.” - Psalm 23:1 (NIV)

During David’s time, “shepherd” was a metaphor used for kings. So David was saying to God, “You are my Shepherd-King.” Because David

As we practice social distancing, let us not distance ourselves, socially. First and foremost, let us not distance ourselves from God. We need to draw nearer and nearer to Him in prayer. Terry and I set an alarm to go off every hour, and for the past few days, we have been praying with a passion for God’s intervention, healing and restoration.

Secondly, social distancing is imperative. We need to stay home to stop the spread of this terrible COVID19. In this time of social distancing, let’s not distance ourselves, socially. We have this thing called social media. It keeps us social.

While we cannot go to church, in that we are not in the buildings; we can be the church. We are the church. Our precious pastor, Pastor Steve painted such a beautiful image

I am one of those people who gets Star Trek and Star Wars confused. Terry watched both and loved both, multiple times. I saw the Star Wars movies when I was little, but not since, so I do not remember everything relevant about them. I do, however, remember Yoda. Or, I guess I should say, remember Yoda, I do.

The significance of Yoda was fascinating to me. Luke Skywalker went to Yoda to gather wisdom and advice. He was a special little guru to Luke and he talked funny.

I have never really had a Yoda, so to speak, but as I get older, I realize how passionately I am pursuing a life led by the Holy Spirit, and I try to only listen to wisdom and advice from people who speak the truth. God’s truth; not the world’s truth. Those are two very different things. The world tells us, “you must do this in order to have that,” or “you have to say this and shake your finger,” where God tells us, “you have to love everyone.”

If I had a Yoda in my life, it would be Bob Goff. Reading both Love Does and Everybody Always truly

One day several years ago, I was writing in Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee. I used to love to take my laptop and a blanket to a little spot I found, and I would write away, just enjoying the beautiful outdoors and my solitude with God. There’s an art gallery in Leiper’s Fork called the David Arms Gallery. It’s located next to Puckett’s, for those familiar with the area. I stopped in Puckett’s to pick up some water and a snack for Michala on my way to pick her up from school and had a little more time to kill. I wandered into the studio next to Puckett’s and was absolutely blown away from the moment I walked inside.

I knew a little about David Arms’ work from seeing it hanging in the homes of some friends, and I had a card of his artwork I thought was so beautiful, I kept it in a frame on my desk. There was also a famous bumper sticker everyone would see around town. It said, “IGBOK.” What it stood for: It’s Gonna Be OK.” David Arms and a friend of his, Lloyd Shadrach came up with

Our new normal is ... well, it's weird. It's more than weird. It's uncomfortable. My old college roommate, who is one of my best friends told me last night her youngest son will not get to experience a graduation from college this spring. They cancelled graduation. This is happening, nationwide.

Michala and her roommates are trying to figure out their new normal as school goes to remote/online classes. These young, brilliant minds thrive in their classroom setting, and it is all changing.

Restaurants are closing, and cooks, busboys, servers, bartenders, hostesses are losing their paychecks.

Trips are being cancelled, and businesses are suffering, financially.

People battling cancer need us to stay home so they can fight this disease without the added burden of more germs and illness. People with heart and lung disease need us to stay home so they can fight their daily battles and stay healthy and not need hospitalization just so they can breathe.

And now, in this crazy, scary time

Bob Goff said, “God doesn’t pass us notes, He gives us each other.” I replied, “I sure hope to be a love letter for people and not hate mail.”

It made me ponder the question, “What kind of letter am I writing to this world with my actions?”

I was recently at the pharmacy to pick up some prescriptions and remembered another one we needed refilled, so I stepped over to the “consultation” side. An extremely frail, elderly woman was speaking with the pharmacist, and when she was finished, she turned and looked at me and said, “Honey, I’m not ill. I don’t want you to think I’m ill, standing here.” I smiled and told her I wasn’t ill, either, unless you counted, “ill in the head at times.” This made her laugh and then she said, “Oh, I’ve been ill in the head many times. My husband was always the cause of it, too!” It was my turn to laugh and I said, “Yes ma’am, they can push our buttons, can’t they?” She smiled and nodded, then said, “They sure can. But what I wouldn’t give to have my husband back to make me ill. I miss him so.”

I reached for her shoulder and rubbed it and said, “I’m so sorry. I’m sure you do.” She continued, “But I’ll see him again.”

This made my heart smile. I said, “I’m sure he is waiting with Jesus for your arrival to greet you with a hug!” She stood up even straighter and said, “Oh yes, I’m sure he is. I can picture him at a table with flowers

For a long period, my sweet Michala and I both lived in fear. We lived on the third floor in our little apartment in Franklin, Tennessee, and being up high gave me a little bit more of a sense of security than if we lived on the ground floor. I spoke to the police officer who lived in our complex as soon as we moved in, and I met our neighbors. The police officer gave me his wife’s phone number as well as his and told me to call or text anytime during the day or night if we needed them, and if we did not get an immediate response to call 911, then try him, again.

At night, I would double and triple check the locks at the front door of our apartment as well as the balcony doors. Michala had a door opening to the balcony, so she would also double and triple check her door every night. Again, we were on the third floor, and it would be impossible for someone to have climbed up there (unless it was Spider-Man).

Still I checked.

For the first few weeks, fear all but consumed me. I would fall asleep, only to wake up half an hour to an hour later. I would get up, go check the door’s lock again, and look out the windows to see if there was anything suspicious or alarming. On the phone with Terry one night, he reminded me, “You need to be cautious, but sweetheart, you cannot allow fear to consume you

Yesterday Terry and I were running some errands, thinking of any supplies we might need should we be forced to stay home for a couple of weeks. Before we left, I looked at my hand sanitizers. I put a new bottle in my purse (we use these every day, anyway; but more so, now). I stared at them for a second and had this feeling to grab a second bottle. I argued with myself for a moment, “We won’t need the second bottle. I have half a bottle plus this one in my purse, and one in the truck.” But for some reason, I felt the urge to grab the second bottle, so I picked it up and put it in my purse.

We went about our long day, going to Home Depot, then picked up some items at Sams, but I also wanted to swing by Publix on our way back, because I needed onions and garlic. I did not need 40 onions, or 40 bulbs of garlic, so this made Publix an essential stop.

I also decided to pick up some chicken breasts and some ground turkey. It looked like right before a big snow hits, in Tennessee. The shelves were almost empty. A lady next to me and I commented how very few items were actually available, and how quickly this virus is spreading. She said, “I want ground beef but there’s only one package.” I was standing next to it and I believe she thought perhaps I was going to get it. (I wasn’t. I was getting Italian sausage because Terry requested my spaghetti). I reached over, picked up the package of ground beef and handed it to her. “Oh no, baby. That’s alright. You get it,” she said to me.

“No ma’am! I am allergic to beef, so I was just handing it to you before someone else comes over to get it.” We both noticed there was a little bit of damp, stickiness on the bottom, so I whipped out my hand sanitizer and gave my hands a good scrubbing. My new friend (who was wearing scrubs, and I believe was either a doctor or a nurse) told me, “I keep one here (pointing to the pocket of her top) but gave my last one to the spouse of one of my patients today.”

I opened my purse back up and grabbed the second bottle and handed it to her. “Here. Have a unicorn,” I told her. This precious lady held up her hands in protest and said, “No, baby. I can’t t

Terry and I went to visit a precious elderly woman we know and love who recently lost her husband. We took her out to lunch then we visited one of the state parks. I could not get over the massive size some of the trees were, as well as the vines that twisted up, around and all the way to the ground. As we stood, marveling at one tree in particular and how large one of the vines was, I commented how I couldn’t help but think of Jesus’ words in John 15: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” - John 15:5 (NIV)

If you study trees, you learn branches growing from vines are too weak to support themselves. Chilling, isn’t it? Jesus said He is the vine and we are the branches. Apart from Him we can do nothing.

As we walked along the path taking in the beauty all around us, I could not shake the scripture placed on my heart as we observed the tree with the beautiful vine wrapped all around it. The trees shaded the paths and although it was a pretty, sunny day; the trees made the area almost appear dark. But at one point, I noticed a bright patch of light on the walkway. I looked up and saw the sun

My mom is a leap year baby, so this year, she had a “real” birthday. This was cause for celebration, and Terry suggested we go up, get Michala and all of us go to dinner, together. Michala has such a full plate between her classes, internship, job, church and small group, so we had to plan this around her schedule. As it turned out, we were able to celebrate one night just a couple of days before Mom’s “real” birthday. The evening was absolutely perfect.

We had a delicious meal, but more importantly, we had a wonderful afternoon and night, together. As we were all talking and laughing, I looked around the table and wanted to take a mental picture. It was one of those great nights I never wanted to forget. At one point, I just reached over and squeezed Michala’s hand, wanting to take it all in, and freeze time.

I am a dessert lover, I’m not going to lie. But I hardly ever order it, anymore, because I’m always too full and just don’t have room for dessert. Every time I read a delicious dessert on a menu, I’ll tell Terry, “We need to come here for a date night just for desserts!” But this night, the desserts were served in small shot glasses, and let’s face it. Mom only has a “real” birthday every four years, so I decided to splurge. In fact, all of us ordered

Terry and I were victims of identity theft a couple of years ago, and it was a long, daunting ordeal going through and submitting all of the many fraudulent charges to the police. This was just an act of evil and a nuisance we dealt with and handed over to law enforcement. For many, though, you might be dealing with the biggest thief of all, and not realize it. We are all dealing with the master of identity theft. He is no joke and should never be discounted. Satan works around the clock, and never takes a break.

Our pastor, Pastor Steve Lawes constantly reminds us, “We have a real and present enemy. He is a thief. He is a liar. He steals from us and takes from us. Make no mistake, he does not ever give up on us. He doesn’t want us to experience the full and abundant life in Jesus! He wants to steal our life.”

I cannot stress this enough: the enemy is real. He is corrupt. He is evil. He is a liar. He is a thief. He is a murderer. He is the source of all things bad. If you can think of anything horrible, he is the author and owner

It is so hard for us to see the good when we are in the middle of the yuck and muck we sometimes face in life. But with time and spiritual maturity (I am not there yet, as I am a long work in progress), we can learn to embrace the hard times and look for the good.

When my friend Lauren died last summer, it wrecked me. I was absolutely devastated. When her precious mom called me to tell me the news, I was standing outside and had to grab the chair nearby to prevent myself from falling. It was as though my knees buckled and my legs had been knocked out from under me. I felt like I had been punched in the gut and my airway had been squeezed to prevent me from breathing. It was impossible to grasp, much less believe, my Lauren was gone. She was only 36 years old. As I tried to form my words, I asked Mrs. Lisa, “What happened?”

“Lauren slipped into a diabetic coma and died in her sleep.” she told me.

My sweet Lauren. Just 36 years old. More like 36 years young.

Terry walked outside and found me weeping. Lauren was such a precious gift in my life, and she was a mentor and like a big sister to Michala. How could I see anything good … anything good at all coming from her death? All I knew to do was pray for Lauren’s precious family and friends. Little did I know through Lauren’s death, new friends for life would be made.

Over the years, Lauren would

A lot of times when people travel, they like to utilize the safe in their hotel room or cruise cabin. Protecting valuables in a locked safe ensures their items will not be stolen or damaged. We put things in a safe or a vault, in order to protect them and, well, keep them safe. (Play on words, I know).

When someone shares something private with me, I want them to trust their secrets/concerns and heartaches in my presence. I want them to know I am a vault. Whatever they tell me stays with me. I only share it with God in my prayers. It is so important our family and friends know they can trust us to be a vault, not a faucet.

A vault locks things inside, where a faucet gushes them, out. I want to be a vault, not a faucet. And when

I have seen disaster, first hand. Several times, now. The 2010 Flood in Nashville was the first heartbreaking disaster I experienced. It was devastating. The smells were horrific and I can still remember them, to this day. As I helped my sister-friend Lindsey clean out the debris from her parents’ home, it was heart wrenching to have to throw away precious treasures and family mementos. It was a long, grueling process to clean, rebuild and restore.

In 2016, I saw disaster again. The Gatlinburg wildfires destroyed my parents’ home and the homes around them. Everything was destroyed. Everything. We did not have any photos to survive the fire. I have read some articles and I have seen pictures from other people who went through fires and they had items blackened; charred around the edges, but still in tact. We were

This is a little long, but it is an emotional journey and I wanted to share part of it with you.

My friend Alice texted me one morning and said she wanted me to pray about “Kinsman redeemer.” Just pray about kinsman redeemer for a few days. I know you know the story, but God wants to reveal something more to your heart. Not your head.”

Alice also told me she thought of me when she was reading in a particular study one morning and came across this: “Havilah ~A Hebrew word meaning “writhing in pain” and to “bring forth”. It signifies the making of something beautiful from pain. No God does NOT cause the pain. But ONLY God could bring forth such amazing beauty from such agonizing pain. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it does happen. Especially in those He calls His own.”

I have surely experienced “havilah” in my life. I am guessing you have, as well. I would c

Our pastor has done a remarkable job reminding us of God’s true character. God is love. Period.

God is not holding a long list of our mistakes and sins, just waiting to yell at us over our countless failures. In fact, we are the one holding the long list of our mistakes, and God just takes an eraser and removes it from His sight.

Something Pastor Steve Lawes said recently had tears streaming down my face. He told us Eve took sin from the tree, and that was the beginning of The Fall. (Genesis 4). But the beautiful thread of redemption is shown to us on the Cross. Jesus became sin for us, and put sin back on the tree … the Cross.

From tree to tree, we see where sin was taken down and where sin was put back up and dealt