Living in the Now

by Kelly Balarie | | 8 comments

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My mind has been set on a future dream. I can almost see it coming to life. It will be fantastic, magnificent and more than I ever dreamed.
I assure myself of this.

I will sip an iced tea on a screened in porch. I will have the ability to lay back a bit easier. I will head to the beach within a split-second drive. The weather will make me warm both inside and out. Friends will be abundant and hospitable.

I assure myself of this. Now God, you need to come through.

But, He hasn’t. He hasn’t answered my request. He hasn’t run to my rescue to move my dwelling place somewhere warm and somewhere south. He has been silent.

Don’t Scratch That Itch

by Gwen Smith | | 3 comments

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I woke up that morning with a spider bite the size of a quarter. It may as well have been the size of North Carolina for as much as it itched! I was half-tempted to scrape my arm off because the nasty bite was just begging to be scratched, but I’ve learned a thing or two in my forty-plus years, and this one thing I know for sure: it’s best to NOT scratch this type of itch.

It’d be like opening a bag of chips with the naive intention of eating only one. Yeah, right!

I knew that if I started scratching my bug bite, it would be nearly impossible to stop. I would regret having ever started.

Super-itchy bug bites

When The Devil Whispers “You’re Not Good Enough”

by Sharon Jaynes | | 4 comments

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It was my first large speaking engagement back in the ‘90s. Why I said yes was beyond me. I had never stood up in front of more than a handful of women at my Bible study or our church’s women’s retreat. Even then, I didn’t have to use a microphone. And now, five hundred expectant women were going to be staring me in the face. To top it all off, the theme was Unshakable Confidence in Christ. Laughable.

Two weeks before the event, I attended a luncheon where my mentor, Mary Marshall Young, was going to be sharing a short devotion. It was in a very prestigious part of town that I did not frequent. One of those gatherings

Blessings In the Pool

by Mary Southerland | | 6 comments

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It all started with a swimsuit. I had to buy one. Dan and I were joining our kids and grandkids for a week of family vacation in Charleston, South Carolina. The beach, a swimming pool, and water parks were on the agenda, and I wanted to do them all!

Ladies, I know you can understand my feelings of terror at the thought of having to find a swimsuit that actually fits and looks good on me. I had two days before we left, and both of those days were crammed full – appointments, meetings, and writing deadlines stared me in the face.

I prayed. Yes. I. Did. I asked God to help me find the right swimsuit. It had to

Take What’s Yours

by Sharon Jaynes | | 4 comments

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Have you stepped out in faith—fully trusting in God, but then began to stumble—errantly depending on yourself? That’s what happened to the children of Israel when it came time to take the Promised Land.

Moses led the people under the bloodstained doorframes of the Passover, across the dry land of the Red Sea, and to the front door of the Promised Land. He guided them with a fire by night and a cloud by day. God took care of their needs and brought victory over every enemy they faced. And yet, when it came time to march into the Promised Land, the land that was theirs for the taking, they cowered in unbelief.

“Send some men to explore the land

Finding Awe

by Kelly Balarie | | 15 comments

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Often I feel like I am living ground hog day all over again. I go through the motions. Wake up. Coffee. Bible. Work. Kids. Husband. Dinner. TV. Sleep. Repeat.

Days just are what they are sometimes. We have tasks we have to do, roles we have to play and agendas that simply need to be followed.

Some days, half of me wants to run away from it all, saying, “Come back again tomorrow: I am on a long term retreat with God that lasts forever.” I just want to give up and give in because I feel that all my doing is making me miss the greatest being ever – Jesus.
Do you ever feel like your busy is stealing the

What Happens When Love Leads

by Gwen Smith | | no comments

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“I’m a terrible mom!” Do you ever say these words?

I do.

And I did that day… the day several years ago when I was working in my office, minding my own business, when out of now where my son threw a paper airplane at the back of my head… on purpose.

Not one to normally welcome an air attack, I gritted my teeth, gave him the stern “mom voice,” and asked him to stop messing around. I told him I needed some private time so I could get some work done.

He agreed, and turned to leave.

Then he jumped around and threw it at me again!

Let me tell you, my grace-o-meter was reading pretty low at this point. I barked like

The Gift of Prayer

by Mary Southerland | | 2 comments

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Praying for the people we love is one of the greatest gifts we can give them. And letting those people know we are praying for them is an important part of that gift. I was recently reminded that this truth applies to children as well.

Two of our grandchildren live in Kansas City, so we get to seem them every few days. My husband and I love it and are always looking for opportunities to spend time with them.

We invited Justus and Hudson over to meet our new worship pastor and his wife who have a set of triplets and a little boy about the age of Hudson. We turned all of the kids loose in our fenced-in back

When God Calls Your Name

by Sharon Jaynes | | 6 comments

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What are you going to do when God calls your name?

When He taps you on the shoulder and says, “Hey girl, now’s the time”?

There was a kid in the Bible who had the right idea. Let me introduce you to him.

See, there was this prophet named Samuel, and God told him to go to Jesse’s house to appoint the next King of Israel. So, “Samuel did what the Lord said” (1 Sam. 1:4). (By the way, that’s always a great way to start your day!)

He traveled to Jesse’s house in Bethlehem and asked to see his sons. When they paraded by for inspection, Samuel was very impressed with the eldest right away. Eliab was tall, dark, and handsome.

But the

To The One Who Feels Unfinished

by Gwen Smith | | 6 comments

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It took four years of fresco painting for the Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, and poet Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, to finish the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Commonly known as Michelangelo, his time painting was mostly spent alone, on his back, lying on scaffolding. (How painful!)

The painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is one of the most remarkable in the history of Western art. One thing is for sure: the process that altered a ceiling from plain to fabulous required a lot of time, great discipline, and the hand of a master artist. The same is true for us. The journey from broken into beautiful is a lifelong transformation that requires time, discipline, and