One year ago……


One year ago today I took a leap of faith and started this blog having no clue how to do it! What a blessing it has been to get to know some of you, my readers. I can’t tell you how much it has meant to have all of your support and encouragement. I look forward to another year with anticipation and prayerful expectation for what God will do in and though us all!

A special thank you to Elaine for your encouragement and belief that I could do this, and Abel who also kept after me at work, “Have you started your blog yet?”

I give God all the glory!

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. Proverbs 15:22

Love and blessings, Lori

God’s furious love…..


Are you struggling to forgive yourself today? Maybe for something you did in the past? Some wrong decision? A turning away from God? Something you have given yourself a life sentence for? Maybe your kids are grown and you see the scars they carry, scars you think were inflicted by you. Maybe you think you’ve failed God, blaming yourself for a failed marriage. You think your verdict is just, fair. You heard the hollow echo of the metal doors you slammed on yourself. You threw the key far away, out of reach. After all, you messed up, right? Here is what God laid on my heart the other day in prayer: “When you don’t forgive yourself you are making yourself into the God you think I am, but I am not that God, I have already forgiven you!”

So many times the guilt we feel is totally false. Useless. Destructive.
If the guilt is real, confess it! He will not only forgive you, He will forget you ever did it!

Our God loves us with a relentless love we can scarcely understand. We are so used to living in a performance based world that we think God is that way too. We even make our churches performance driven! The church should be a safe place. A place we can expose our imperfections, our vulnerabilities, our sickness, a place of reconciliation.

“He (God) is not moody or capricious; He know no seasons of change. He has a single relentless stance toward us: He loves us. He is the only God man has ever heard of who loves sinners.” Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

He loves us! Right now where we stand, without us changing one single thing about ourselves. When that love is grasped, really grasped, only then can we begin to live the life He calls us to live. A life that seeks to please Him, obey His commands, not because it scores us any points, but because we want to return the love that He has so mercifully shown us. We won’t reach perfection, but it’s okay. He will still love us, and there is nowhere His love won’t go to reach us.

His love chases us out to the desert wilderness like He followed a distraught Hagar, whispering His great mercy into her desperation. It sends Jonah to the Ninevites, even grows a shelter for him when he gets ticked because the Ninevites repent. His love is Hosea to our unworthy Gomer. Ultimately it went to a lonely hill and there it reaches us. Outside the gates……at Calvary.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Col. 2:13-14

No worries….


When we dwell on something from the past or worry about the future, our present is immediately snatched away. Worry about something we can’t change is a death sentence for the here and now and it renders us useless to ourselves or anyone else. Whenever I catch myself going down the rabbithole of regret over something that has already happened, or something I think might happen, I am no longer alive to the victory I have in Christ right now, today. In effect, I am putting myself back into a prison that Christ set me free from. The Bible says, “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” By worrying I am bringing life to something that Jesus has put to death. Why do I try to resurrect what God has put to death? As long as I have that mindset, I can’t live a life that glorifies Christ, and I am robbed of the peace of Christ. And if I allow fear and worry to rob me of the peace of Christ, I can’t give it to anyone else!

Thank you Lord, that I don’t have to waste time dwelling on the past, or bogged down by worrying about the future, for You alone hold the future in Your mighty hand. It is a hard lesson to learn, and I am still trying to learn it. Only with You is this even possible. In my head I know my future is secure and so is my present, help the lesson reach my heart. Thank you that I don’t have to fear either one of them as I look to You to breathe hope into all my days, for I know that circumstances always change but You never do. Amen

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Col. 3:15

Continuing the gratitude counting daily, weekly, monthly….#331 wise friends, #332 curling up with a good book, #333 furry companions who comfort, #334 babies that smile with wonder at the world, #335 air-conditioning to escape desert heat, #336 quiet moments in the morning, #337 children laughing, #338 public libraries, #339 good co-workers, #340 visiting with a long lost friend who I hadn’t seen in 25 years!
holy experience

Encouragement from Paul

Painting by Richard Serrin
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Col. 3:1-4

I can see Paul with his parchments in this cold, dank prison cell. Praying for his church. Praying for us all. This gives me encouragement today, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” people we may not even be aware of….praying for us, for the race, and at last the finish line…..”let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Hebrews 12:1

May you be surrounded by the peace of Jesus today….

To see more of the artwork of Richard Serrin go here.

Unexpected Grace


Every now and then we hear of an individual who has the opportunity to display a wonderful moment of grace to another individual. It happened on Wednesday night when first base umpire Jim Joyce made an incorrect call that would have meant a “perfect game” for pitcher Armando Galarraga. I had to write about this because in the sea of “graceless” moments we see in our world today via the media, TV and movies, we need to reward those in the limelight who respond with grace.

After the bad call was made, Galarraga looked stunned and the crowd went silent. He quietly went back to work as the crowd started to boo. He later says this about the incident. “I say many times: Nobody’s perfect, everybody makes a mistake. I’m sure he didn’t want to make that call…..he feels really bad. The other umpires shower, eat, He was sitting in the seat and saying, ‘I’m so sorry.'”

Veteran Umpire Jim Joyce said of the hostile crowd, “I don’t blame them a bit or anything that was said,” Joyce said, “I would’ve said it myself if I had been Galaragga…..and he never said a word to me.”

The following day before the game, Galaragga and Joyce met at the pitcher’s mound. Joyce was visibly emotional and couldn’t hold back tears as he greeted Galaragga. It’s too bad the crowd didn’t display the same amount of grace as Galaragga did, for when they announced Jim Joyce’s name some boos were heard.

How many opportunities are there in life for us to be people of grace. How rare it is to find someone who reacts this way, so rare that we sit up and take notice!

Jesus is the ultimate Grace-giver. So many times people were surprised, bowled over by His grace. They expected judgement and harshness, as they got from the other religious leaders of the day. But Jesus gave love and grace instead. He still dealt with the sin, but always he accepted and loved the person.

Lord, help me be more of a grace-giver, an open door lit from within by Your grace. In Your Precious Name, Amen.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–” Ephesians 2:8

Also, we remember Phoenix radio personality Bill Austin today who passed away on June 2nd of cancer. He made us laugh every morning on 99.9 KEZ radio. He is already greatly missed.

Open to wonder….


“We get so preoccupied with ourselves, the words we speak, the plans and projects we conceive that we become immune to the glory of creation. We barely notice the cloud passing over the moon or the dewdrops clinging to the rose leaves. The ice on the pond comes and goes. the wild blackberries ripen and wither. The blackbird nests outside our bedroom window. We don’t see her. We avoid the cold and the heat. We refrigerate ourselves in the summer and entomb ourselves in plastic in winter. We rake up ever leaf as fast as it falls. We are so accustomed to buying prepackaged meats and fish that we never think and blink about the bounty of God’s creation. We grow complacent and lead practical lives. We miss the experience of awe, reverence, and wonder.” Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel

Lord, may I never lose my sense of wonder in the midst of this fast-paced world of endless information, knowledge gathering, and few real answers. All the answers mean nothing unless they point the way to You. The answer to the question is always, You.

“….always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:7

Elohim our creator

More highlights of the last two weeks….
Yosemite Falls, 2,425 feet 5th tallest in the world. I hiked this when I was younger. Most memorable moment of hike was when the hat that I had just bought blew off and my heroic Dad was about to reach under the guard-rail and get it, when God stepped in and blew it down the falls!
Psalm 24:1‑2
The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters.
Half Dome, my old friend. Hiked to the top when I was 14, 16 miles round trip, with an elevation gain/loss of 5,131 feet, elevation at the top is over 8,000 feet. The last part is reached only by steel cables….believe me, you need both hands!
Psalm 104: 24,30
How many are your works, O Lord, In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures…. When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth.
Houses bordering Yosemite meadow. Many years we have walked by these little houses facing the most beautiful view in the world and thought, who could be blessed enough to live here? This year we were treated to this particular flowering tree we have not yet been able to identify…..
Psalm 96: 12
Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.
The mighty Merced River, view from our balcony at Yosemite View Lodge. My folks and my brother generously treated us all to the 2 bedroom suite, what a wonderful gift! The first night, I thought the furnace was running so I got up to check, but it was the noise of the river, even with windows closed you could hear it!
Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities‑his eternal power and divine nature‑have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Yosemite is one of those places that is grafted into my soul, having spent so much time there growing up. I encourage you to go if you haven’t been….it is one of those places that you really must see for yourself. To hear the Stellar’s jay call, the sigh of the pines, their tops bending to the wind, the echo of tent pegs being pounded in as camp is set up, all against the backdrop of those wondrous vertical granite cliffs rising straight up off the valley floor….An experience like no other. Thank you for coming along on my journey!

Grateful for our freedoms…..


“Lord, we pray for these brave men and women standing in harm’s way so that we can live freely and continue to enjoy the blessings you shower upon us in this land. May they all come home soon. Forgive me Lord for not praying for them more often, I sometimes forget they are still over there, but they are. There is so much we don’t see. So much of their daily lives that we have no clue about, the sacrifices they make for us. May we join with them in prayer today…..”

Counting the tremendous blessings of freedom and those who have paid the ultimate price with their lives, now and in years past. Their courage in the face of fear, death and destruction is unimaginable to me in my safe little life.

#323 walking about freely in my own neighborhood, #324 freedom to worship where I please without fear, #325 being able to sleep without fear of someone coming to throw me out of my own home, #326 free to live and work without fear of someone taking away everything I own, #327 free to shop in stores where food is plentiful, or to grow my own food…#328 being able to take a breath and know I won’t hear gunshots, bombs outside my window, #329 enjoying the freedom and privilege of learning and knowing our children can go to school unthreatened #330, being able to enjoy the luxury of time off and vacations……I wish those in the military could take a long one right now. They deserve it!

Most of all, I celebrate the true freedom we have in Christ today, for it is His grace, His love, His sacrifice, that makes us free indeed! What an unspeakable gift.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

Continuing the gratitude counting daily….
holy experience

How Big is Your God?


Even now, I can hear my former Pastor Gary Kinnamon’s voice ask the question, “How Big is Your God?” I had heard many messages before on that subject, but for some reason, he brought it home in such a way that I never forgot it.

Being human, I still let circumstances overwhelm me, threaten to make me forget that God is bigger than anything I can ever face, but I never really forget it for long. My prayer is that you will let this one thing sink in today. I have seen God move in ways and situations that I thought were immovable, and I am sure you have too.

He is bigger than:

Any addiction
Any broken relationship
Any illness
Any lost dream
Any circumstance life can throw at us….anything!
“Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me? Jeremiah 32:26,27
He is with you now, ready. Waiting in the wings to come to your aid….just ask. He may not eliminate the “problem” although sometimes He does, He will be with you in the midst of whatever it is you’re facing. We have that assurance in His Word! We can rest in that. “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life….” and “The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever-”
Psalm 138:7,8

The best gift….

Ready to go to Yosemite!

I didn’t know how she would respond when she saw me come down the escalator on my arrival. Being a special needs kid, you can never be sure. I was hopeful, I was expectant. Mom had told her I was coming and she said her face had lit up in response. She is my wonderful niece, Lauryn. Now 7, she was a late talker, and has some of the characteristics of autism, but is also very demonstrative, loving and engaged with those she is closest too, so no one is quite sure. She does have a fear of floaties in pools, balloons and popping gum and for a long while, men with beards.

One thing we know, she never misses a thing. She may not have a full vocabulary yet, but she makes herself known in every other way. Every new word she speaks is full of wonder for us all.

She saw me when I was at the top, coming down, and she ran to her poppa (Grandpa, her all-time favorite) excitedly. She was holding her doll, jumping up and down, running to and fro, not knowing what to do. When I got to the bottom she ran up, holding out her baby with her eyes closed, (what she does when she is embarrassed but still wants to make contact) and held her out for me to take, which I did, overjoyed to have received her most precious possession! I can’t think what would have happened if I had rejected her gift….left it lying, the thought is unbearable!

She didn’t say “I love you,” audibly but she gave me what was closest to her heart. She is very attached to her “babies” right now. They are not just dolls to her but her very own babies. She talks to them, feeds them, takes them everywhere….and she didn’t hesitate to trust me with them. I will never forget that one most precious moment at the airport.

On my last day, when I left her in her classroom, I wanted to wail like a baby myself. But I swallowed my grief for another time. The time was this morning….in prayer. We bonded again these past two weeks, her love is won with repeated attempts at closeness. At not giving up. Little by little trust is gained. I wait for the day she will throw her arms around me and say, “I love you, Aunt Lori” and hug me tight, I admit, I want that for me, when she is ready. But for now, I am happy with all the little ways she shows me.

God wants us too, when we are ready, to give Him our most precious possession too, our hearts!

Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”