Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Grace. Joy.

Eucharisteo. Thanksgiving. Grace. Joy.

Happy Thanksgiving! Today, I felt the nudge to write about the word, “Eucharisteo.” The Greek word, Eucharist means, Thanksgiving. The word, "charis" means grace, and chara means, joy. So translated, Thanksgiving and Joy literally extend from the word, "Grace." We cannot earn it, we don't deserve it. But grace is given, generously.

Several years ago I read One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I highly recommend it if you have not read it. Of course if you have read it, you know it is worth reading, again.

Jamie George, my pastor in Franklin, Tennessee also did a message one year on Eucharisteo, and the meaning of Thanksgiving, Joy and Grace.

As I flipped through my Bible and found my scribbled notes in the margin, I smiled as I thought about the song, “Reckless Love.”

“I couldn’t earn it, I don’t deserve it, still You give Yourself away …”

Thanksgiving. Eucharisteo.

Thanksgiving is a lot of things to a lot of people. For some, it’s a holiday weekend. This year, the holiday looks different. Most of us are not traveling to see family or hosting family members in our homes, due to COVID. But we will still

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My Faith In Jesus Is Not Threatened By Muslims

Every once in a while when I want to get my stomach feeling really good and queasy and want to get myself all worked up and angry, I open Twitter and read what my fellow Americans are saying about politics.

Most of the time I can just roll my eyes and keep scrolling. Other times, I find my stomach feeling hot and I have to put my hand over my mouth to keep from throwing up.

Recently, the nauseating hot button topic for me was certain Members of Congress who claim to be Christians in their bios, fighting an unnecessary and nasty fight with Representative Ilhan Omar. First of all, no one is disputing the fact Representative Omar is a practicing Muslim. Second of all, we as Christians should act like reflections of Jesus.

What hurts my heart is the fact we as Christians

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Our Flawed Nutcracker

We have a Christmas countdown nutcracker. It has little blocks at the bottom that you can change each day, counting down the days until Christmas. The only problem is, the blocks are missing a few numbers. So some days, I can switch the block on the left to the right position, using the correct numbers, and vice versa. This does not always work out, though. Some days, the countdown is not correct, due to the missing numbers.

I still love this nutcracker, though.

As I was looking at it one morning, rolling my eyes about not being able to interchange the numbers and make it work, Terry asked me if I wanted a new one? I said, “No, it’s okay. We can just skip the days where the numbers don’t work, and I’ll be here to remind you (and anyone else who asks, or doesn’t ask) how many days until Christmas.”

Sometimes, I think

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I Found A Chocolate Babka!

After Michala’s wreck, she needed to be with us for a while, so we brought her back to spend some time healing at home. One evening we did a quick run to Trader Joe’s. As we were standing by the “bakery” section, we found a loaf of gingerbread. Since it was Vegan, I said, “Let’s keep looking to see if they have anything else gingerbread, just in case the vegan one doesn’t taste like gingerbread to us.” We were looking at all of the different baked goods when I saw a chocolate babka.

Now, I was in college when this episode aired, and it was truly hilarious back then. So as soon as I saw the chocolate babka on the shelf, I said to Michala, “Oh look! A chocolate babka! We better grab it while they still have the chocolate babka.” Of course upon saying this, I cracked myself up, laughing. Since Michala wasn’t laughing, I said, “It’s only funny if you watched Seinfeld, so you need to see that scene to get it.”

Still nothing.

So I turned to look at her, but Michala

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What If We, As Christians, Loved The Woman Who Had An Abortion?

If you have followed my page and read my writing for a while, you know my background. I minored in political science and spent years in politics. I used to be very quick to tell anyone who would listen, “Yep! I’m a Republican.” I worked on state level campaigns, Congressional campaigns and I even worked on President George W. Bush’s 2004 campaign.

The past few years I have been politically homeless. But as my mentor in politics once told me, “You can take the girl out of politics, but you’ll never be able to take the politics out of the girl.” Boy, was she right.

Even though I find myself without a political label these days, I am still immersed in politics. I guess everyone is.

This is a topic that has weighed so heavily on my heart for quite some time now, and I spent years seeking a way to make a difference, studying scripture and wrestling with God in prayer over how I could deal with this one particular subject that seems to be an extremely “hot topic” with regards to political issues. I have wept over this matter, and this is where

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Don't Confuse Me With The Facts

"I’m trying to think. Don’t confuse me with facts.” - Plato.

Then there’s, “Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.” - Mark Twain.

Boy. Do those two quotes speak volumes, or what?

With today’s political division so rampant, it is easy for people to get their blood pressure elevated with conversations. People who only watch Fox News or OANN will believe one way, where people who only watch CNN will only believe another. It seems to be more and more rare to find someone who actually digs into multiple sources to find the truth, hidden in the middle of the two extremes.

Remember when we were all taught to write research papers, and to include, “at least three sources.” Sometimes you needed to have far more sources than three.

The wonderful thing as lovers of Jesus? We have 66 books in the Bible to source

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We Need More Jesus And Less Us On Social Media And Everywhere

I have shared with y’all before about the little game I developed a few years ago. It’s called, “Let’s Invite Jesus to Play.”

You see, when I have to be around difficult people, or I am in the midst of a difficult situation, I visualize Jesus standing right there. Right next to the hateful person, or seated at the table where the difficult conversation is unfolding.

I have a smart mouth. A wicked, sarcastic mouth. And as funny as I often find myself to be, I know I should cling to my friend Lindsey’s advice to me many, many years ago, “Think it, don’t say it.”

Ugggghhhh. What I really need to do is not think it. But I am human. So of course I think it. I need to keep working on the don’t say it part. I am getting there, slowly but surely. But I slip up, a lot, too.

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” - Romans 12:18 (NIV)

With some people, I get it. It is just not possible to leave at peace with them. Bob Goff has a great saying in Love Does, “I don’t mean

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Devotion Announcement

Hi friends!

As you are likely aware, Facebook has had some major changes lately. When it comes to changes, my sister-friend Lindsey puts it like this, “I’m like a turtle. I want to pull my head back inside my protective shell.”

I do not do extremely well with technology changes. At all.

One of the things I have noticed the past couple of weeks is, not all of my scheduled devotion posts are actually posting. Some have been lost in space.

The only way I know how to remedy this is to try and post here, and link to Facebook for you to still read, if you don’t visit my website each morning for the posts.

We will give this a try and see how it goes!

Sending you all my love, big hugs and a reminder … Christmas is only 95 days away!

Sweet blessings,

Aimee

Christians Can Love Politics, But We Need To Love Jesus More

I am too young to sound this old, but I hurt for our nation. I was not alive during the Civil Rights struggle, and those decades of fighting, injustice and turmoil, so I cannot compare what happened then to what is happening, now. But I can read history and watch footage, and it feels pretty darned close.

When I was in college, the first day of one of my political science classes, I remember telling my roommate, Rebecca, “This woman is so liberal, I’ll probably fail the class because I can just tell she’s going to hate me.” This professor turned out to be one of my favorite professors, though. Yes, we had completely different beliefs and opinions, but she was fair. She challenged us. She pushed us.

I was meeting with her during one of her office hours and she had to take a phone call. As I looked around her office, there were photos of her with Bill and Hillary Clinton. Al Gore. I remember this hot feeling in my stomach starting to simmer, like a terrible conversation was about to take place, and she was going to tell me I did not belong in politics and would never fit in, or I didn’t have what it takes.

When she hung up the phone, I remember feeling how sweaty my hands were. She said, “Aimee,

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Are We As Christians Stinky Like Onions?

We usually work out earlier in the day. One day, however, we had some contractors doing some work outside. Things were not going like they were supposed to go, and Terry kept having to deal with them. (Seriously. Why even have contracts if people won’t honor their end of them? But I digress).

So as the hours ticked by, I looked at the clock and realized it was 4:45 PM. I was making chicken tortilla soup for dinner, and wanted to get it started and simmering. After all, with the rain that day bringing in the brisk, cool weather (it was about 87 degrees as opposed to 187 degrees. Alright, 187 might be a tad bit of an exaggeration, but y’all get what I’m saying) I thought a thick, spicy chicken tortilla soup was needed.

As I started prepping the soup, I diced an onion that made me weep. With every slice of the knife, tears began pouring out of me. I even said to Terry, “I’m not sure where Publix is getting their onions these days, but if I had to bet money, I would say somewhere along the equator.” Tears kept gushing out

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I Need To Be More Like Cooked Spinach

When I cook a bag of spinach, I am always amazed how much there appears to be in the bag, and then how little there appears to be, once it’s cooked. It is a fascinating sight to watch how that bag of spinach is piled into the pan, overflowing, even; and then cooks down to such a small amount. The nutrients, though, are still there and so worth it.

As I made Terry’s and my dinner the other night, I was cooking chicken, sliced potatoes and had them in the oven and then started the spinach on the stovetop.

As it wilted down into the garlic I had minced and cooked in a little bit of olive oil, I tossed the spinach with some tongs and added a little sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Slowly that big ol’ pile of spinach became less and less.

I added a little splash of prosecco (because I had some

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Let's Be Nicer And Love Our Neighbor

I just shared this with some friends yesterday, but September 10 and September 11 are some pretty significant dates in our minds.

Hurricane Irma ravaged our home on September 10, 2017. September 11, 2001 forever changed all of us.

The definition of bittersweet: Hurricane Irma. September 10, 2017.

Damn near killed Terry and me, rebuilding the house. That’s the bitter part.

But because of Irma, we grew closer to our neighbors. We met our insurance adjuster who is a precious, honest, Godly man, who fought on our behalf when the insurance companies didn't want to budge; and is now one of our dearest friends.

Day in and day out for two and a half years, Terry and I worked to

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Star Trek, Star Wars and The Word of God

So, I asked Terry a question the other day while we were on a road trip. I asked him, “I know I’m probably going to regret asking this. But what’s the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars? I mean, is there really a difference?”

Y’all. My mom has a saying. She says, “Common sense is not common.” These words are so true. I lacked total and complete common sense when I asked this question. Why I thought a quick answer would suffice, I do not know.

I have never seen a full episode of Star Trek and I really don’t remember any of the Star Wars movies since I haven’t seen them since I was a little girl, when they were first released. (Or any of the sequels/prequels, since).

41 minutes later, we were interrupted by a phone call, so the explanation ended. I kid you not. Terry talked for forty-one minutes straight, about the intricacies of Star Trek and Star Wars. And although I had a few questions here and there, most of that conversation was Terry.

Forty one minutes.

That’s right. Forty one

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Bring The Travels To Your Kitchen

I have noticed some phrases being used by an awful lot of people lately. “Remembering better days.” Or “Back when life was good.”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love walking down memory lane. I am an emotional sap. I love when my phone’s icloud photos randomly show me a memory or Shutterfly emails me and says, “Remember this from three years ago?”

As nostalgic as I can get, however, I do not want any of us to assume all of our better and best days have already taken place.

“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” - Romans 15:13 (NLT)

We cannot live our lives right now with the tunnel vision of pure bleakness. If we do, we are not placing our hope in the hands of God. We have

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We Will Survive The Pain

My precious daughter and I spent years in turmoil. Watching my terrible lead, we suffered in silence. Shame overcame us and guilt for allowing my daughter to endure what I endured often consumed me.

One day I wound up in the emergency room with internal bleeding from all the stress. In a moment of weakness, I actually prayed, “God, please take me. Just take me now.” As soon as I cried that prayer, the Holy Spirit wrapped Himself around me and whispered, “But Michala …”

I immediately wept and begged God for His forgiveness for that desire to just die. What about my precious baby? How could I selfishly wish for it all to end, leaving her to fend for herself?

That moment of weakness changed me and changed my direction. It changed my prayers and my closeness with Jesus, tremendously.

And you know what? I not only survived it, I

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I Am An American, But My Citizenship Is In Heaven

I keep seeing posts about standing/kneeling for the flag. I have really been awakened this year to several things. I am so incredibly proud to live in this beautiful country; land of the free, home of the brave. I love my beautiful America and the freedoms we have. More than my love for this country and our flag, though, is my love for Jesus. I do not ever want to confuse my love for the two. Because my nationality is certainly "American citizen," but ultimately, my citizenship belongs in God's Kingdom. So it is more important to reflect my citizenship in His Kingdom than my citizenship, here.

Regarding standing for the National Anthem as our flag proudly waves, I agree, and having had so many family members who served and currently serve in the military, as well as countless friends, I am so incredibly proud to stand. But this year, I have really had a change of heart and perspective. While I will stand for our national anthem, I absolutely have a better understanding for some feeling a call to kneel. What I once saw as a grand disrespect, I now see as a peaceful demonstration and a desperate plea/cry for help and change. And if I were in a setting

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Our Invisible Enemy

Someone we love very much was recently diagnosed with COVID. He is not my DNA, but he is part of my family, and I would lay my life down for him.

The crazy thing? Because of his job, he had to be tested, and found out he tested positive. In other words, he was asymptomatic. Which, praise God, is so good. He was still whisked away and in isolation for 10 days.

The thing about this virus that is so scary, you or I could be walking around and have it, and not know it. We could have no fever, no symptoms, and still test positive.

As I have been praying for him (we’ll call him D) every day, throughout the day, I keep praying that he remains asymptomatic.

But as I am prompted to pray for D multiple times, I can’t help but think about how crazy it is that someone could have COVID and have zero

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I Picture Myself Sitting At God's Table

I am a visual learner. Because of this, I remember things better if I write them down, and read them over and over, as opposed to just hearing it. I’ll likely forget it if I “file that in the must remember category” in my brain.

When my sister-friend Jessica shared with me that she visualizes herself handing her problems/concerns to Jesus … It really changed my perspective. Like Jessica said, she visualizes whatever she is wearing in that moment, and she pictures herself walking up to Jesus, seeing herself in the clothes she is wearing, smelling the scents she smells, the sounds she hears, etc.

I’m a foodie, so I show love through food. I receive love, through food. If someone makes a meal or a dessert for me, I receive their love. When Terry takes me out to eat, I receive love. I love food and I love loving food.

Lately, I have really been struggling with some things about our lives in this current society and country that I just can’t quite grasp. So I become like Tita in the novel, Like Water for Chocolate. Spoiler alert: Tita is only able to truly express herself when she cooks. If you haven’t read it, I will leave it at that.

When I have been cooking lately, I spend extra

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Does God Mind If I Call The President A Jerkface?

There are days I feel like my eyeballs are going to get stuck in the back of my head. I’m convinced of it. I roll them so much (and so often) that I just know I’m going to scream out, “Terry! We have to go to the hospital! Preferably one with a neurosurgeon, because my eyeballs got stuck up in my brain, somewhere!”

These are the crazy things I think about when I wake up in the middle of the night. I think about something wacky, first; then roll my eyes. Then, because I’m half asleep anyway, I feel like my eyes roll too far back into my head and they won’t come back out front.

I know. I need help. But we can get to that, later.

Y’all. We as a people of God are not doing a very good job of doing what is good. And right.

No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. - Micah 6:8 (NLT)

Our pastor always tells us, “When you don’t know what

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Just Watch And Listen

At one of my first, big political seminars, I was truly overwhelmed to be there. It was my first federal campaign, and I felt like I did not belong. Everyone else was far more experienced than I was, and I just wanted to learn and do well. One of my newly made friends there told me, “you’ll be fine. Just watch and listen. Take notes. Before long, you will be telling someone else the same thing, when they’re the new, nervous one.”

I think of that advice quite often. “Just watch and listen.”

If the world is watching us and listening to us right now, what are they seeing and hearing?

Another excellent piece of advice I received while I was still in politics was, “When you are out in public, act like a camera crew is following you around. Because more than likely, someone with a camera is watching you. Make sure whatever they are watching would not embarrass you.”

This was even before everyone and their grandma

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