Blended Life of an Educator

Fully Devoted: Surrendering in seasons of sacrifice  to God's Faithful Love. Sometimes when life get's hard we need to surrender our heart's intentions again... to His Faithful Love. We can recognize God is fully devoted to us, that Jesus paid the bill with His precious blood, that we're temples of the Holy Spirit... but if we're not fully surrendered to letting Him heal the hurting places as we go through challenging seasons we can lose touch with His love. He wants to touch our hearts, not just our minds. The past couple of months I've been reflecting on God's faithfulness to me through one of the most accelerated seasons of growth I've ever been thrust into. In one year's time I become a first time wife and automatic bonus mom to six children (then 2nd thru 6th grade), after leaving everything familiar to move to western Kansas... and one week after our first anniversary I birthed our daughter! Talk about HUGE CHANGES. That's saying nothing of...

Dreaming With the What if's of God:  Believing God's promises when the odds are stacking up   God,  What if you're better than I've thought, better than I've drempt all along?  What if all my disapointments, my tears, and my anguish disappeared when I woke up to the reality of your overwhelming goodness?  What if you're incredibly kind and patient and all this time you've been aligning a "royal-settup" that will literally blow my mind and grab the depths of my heart? I'm banking on the wild outcome-- a God outcome.  I'm dreaming with the What if's of God. I'm believing that my "YES!" to hope's invitation will result in a bigger breakthrough than I've ever imagined. And in the waiting-- this in-between space-- of hearing and knowing the truth,             and not seeing any possibility of that outcome-- the place where my faith has to engage, or I fall of the hope train... In this space, I am forging new depths ba...

 This time of year is filled with wonder, especially when seen through the eyes of a small child.  This Christmas season has begun with a sense of wonder as I've been gifted the insights of my 5 year old daughter.  She's   really been getting into the Christmas carols. Her yearning to remember the words to songs I've sung for four decades, as well as her eagernes to point out every lit Nativity as we drive around town, causes my own heart to return to the wonder of our Savior's birth. The awe of God becoming man and dwelling among "us" so we might know Him and learn the ways of the Kingdom is nothing short of a miracle. Even talking about the real story of St. Nick and how he loved Jesus so much that he wanted to gift those left fortunate, stirs my own heart to give with a renewed expectation that God will show up in a special way for each person I'm wanting to bless. Why not stop to ponder the miracle that made a way for us to receive fullness of life? We...

God of the Breakthrough Is At Hand.   Are you seeing His Light Breaking Through?  It's time to partner with Friend Holy Spirit to Open the Windows.  Not only has "Let The Light In" by Cody Carnes been on my daughter's top two favorite songlist for the past 2 weeks, so we've been jamming to it at least 2x a day, but it's also been coming to the forefront of my mind each day. Cool thing: It's teaching me the power of Our Great Light.  Let The Light In Lyrics: It's time for the sleeper to wake. It's time for the old winds to change It's hear the Spirit say, "It's time" It's time for the dead man to rise It's time for the great light to shine I hear the Spirit say, "It's time" Fling wide, you heavenly gates Let the King of glory in (x2) Come ride on Your people's praise Let the King of glory in (x2) I'm a full proponant of listening to the Holy Spirit because the Word says that when "he will guide yo...

 Yes, You Heard Correctly: YOU BELONG! The past few weeks I've been drawn to Psalm 23. I've been asking the Holy Spirit why I've been drawn to this passage of scripture and hear Him saying, "I'm unpacking treasures of my truth." So I've responded with: "Show me the treasures!" So here we are on this journey of unpacking some of the treasures packed in Psalm 23.  These truth-gifts all hinge on WHO God is to us and for us, as believers in Jesus. WHO He is, calls us into a place of BELONGING because He loves us and wants us to wake up to the full reality that we're His sons and daughters. In Psalm 23 God is our Best Friend, Shepherd, Lover, Restorer, Strength, Peace, Comfort, Anointing, and the One who satisfies our souls. WHO God is to us becomes clearer as we commune with friend Holy Spirit, whom Jesus sent to be our guide (Luke 24:49).  I am always your best friend and your shephered.  The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd.  I always hav...

Are you living connected to the Vine? The Lord has been wooing me further into His heart by drawing me to meditate on the truths about connected to Him. And He's always so timely, right?! I'm in a season of making lots of decisions that will impact the future so now more than ever I'm aware of my need for being connected to Jesus my  soure of my life and light! I believe He's calling us all-- whether we're homeschooling, working from home, or educating students in a private or public school, to live in life-union with our Creator, the One who knows our own hearts better than we do. (Isn't that a tender thought? I feel seen, loved, and heard by my Father God just considering this truth. See Psalm 139)  Mathew 11:28-30 TPT says,  "Are you weary and carring a heavy burden? Then come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis. Simply join your life with mine. Learn my ways and you'll discover that I'm gentle, humble, easy to please. You will f...

 "The imagination is the seedbed for faith." Wendy Backlund, Igniting Hope Ministries I love this quote from Wendy's book "Victorious Emotions." And isn't it so true?! We have to imagine the possibilities... the WHAT IFs of God, I like to call them... intentionally choosing to ignore fear's lure to drop low into its labyrinth of potential scary outcomes, and instead look up into the face of hope. We have to intentionally ask ourselves: What's the best possible outcome of THIS circumstance I'm facing?  Intentional thinking... it takes work, right? We've got to build some new neural pathways that reroute us to imagine the best, right?  It's much easier to take a few spins with the foreboding music flooding our ears and the looming feeling of dread sinking us further still, but what if we unlatched from the popular fear route and had another thought? What if instead, we engaged our imagination, the seedbed of faith, and "woke up" t...