I’ve been a full-time caregiver for my mother-in-law now for the last 4 years. Her most recent hospital stay landed her in rehab again, this time for a more extended period. I stop in or call to check in every day. I want to know the people taking care of her are doing things right – i.e. the way I would do things!  I pray every day for the people who take care of her and there is a part of me that wishes I could be involved in their training. After all, I know her well and I want them to know her and love her the way I love her! I want to train my replacement caregiver.

Do you remember the line “Move that Bus” from Extreme Home Makeover? I want to share a story with you where we got to experience that very occasion. 

Ken and I were living in Illinois, and a contractor contacted Ken about helping him gather the community together and help remodel a home for a couple in a small community.  The wife had been in a car accident one night driving home after a double shift. She tried to crawl out of the car and in the process paralyzed herself from the waist down.

Before you groan too much, give me a chance to explain.  I too am tired of Christmas in July.  Goodness it was 100 degrees last week in east Texas, I do not want to watch movies with Christmas trees and I do not want to purchase Christmas decorations.  I don’t even want to think about purchasing Christmas gifts.  I like to think about all of that when the weather is much cooler.  But if you are a lover of Christmas in July, don’t let me rain on your parade.

Picking up our granddaughter at VBS she came running to me shaking a piece of paper yelling ‘Look Mimi, It’s all about Jesus!!’. I glanced at the piece of paper nodding my head in agreement of what was causing all her excitement. … Drawn in seven small squares on the piece of paper was the story ‘All about Jesus’, it truly was something to get excited about. At 5 years old, or any age, what powerful truth to learn.

For the last three years, I’ve been trying to lose weight, but I’m only partially successful. Although I’ve lost about 20 pounds from my weight when I started, I can’t seem to lose any more. I have not been on a particular “diet,” just trying to eat healthier and be more aware of what I’m eating and when. That made me think. Our spiritual life may need to be on a “diet” as well. Just as our bodies must have certain nutrients to be healthy, so does our spiritual life.

What is TRUTH? In today’s world TRUTH is widely taught to be whatever seems right to a person at any given time. Think about that. Could that thinking be any more deadly?

I’m God’s favorite. Every time I would make the proclamation to my friend she would scoff, “God doesn’t have favorites.”  

But there it is in scripture – Luke 1:28 “And he (Gabriel) came to her (Mary) and said, Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”

We live in a very small rural community in east Texas.  It is about 20 minutes from the metropolis of Jacksonville (haha) and I have been blessed to live here most of my life.  For the first two years of marriage, Greg and I lived in an apartment in town.  It was a great apartment and a good experience, but these two country kids moved back to the woods as soon as we could afford to. For the first three decades of my life, I attended Friendship Baptist Church, just down the road from our house.

On our spiritual journey, God gives us a beautiful life to live. It is full of adventure, learning, serving, crying, climbing to new heights, struggling, sharing, building, falling, climbing again, etc. While our soul resides in our skin, bones, organ systems, tendons, and muscles, our flesh can lead us to develop a big case of nearsightedness.

Often, we plan and think that things either go according to plan or get messed up. However, we fail to remember that everything is in God’s hands and He makes sure things happen for His plan. Check out Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” Many times we decide we want to do something or go to a certain place, but things happen at the last minute to make those plans change. Have you ever thought about what a difference that makes in life?

What comes to your mind when I say hospitality? Is it cooking a big, impressive meal for folks you personally invite into your home at a particular time and date? Perhaps a party with a theme where you go all out with decorations and food, and maybe even costumes?