My Myrtle Beach Life

We have all heard the saying "Enough is Enough".   Whether you were aggravating your parents and they were ready to lose it, or your own children were aggravating you, each of us at some time or another has reached our point of no return and said ENOUGH!! This is how I recently felt about my weight. Until my mid 30’s I was a highly active mother of two.  I played competitive softball, and volleyball and spent plenty of time chasing my children. When I moved south to live in a warmer climate little did I know how hard it would be to play some of the sports I loved because it was just too hot and chasing my children now only meant driving them from activity to activity. The weight gain began slowly, 5lbs then 10. Losing it would be a struggle I had not experienced before. It used to be I could just change my diet a little, eat a little less and the pounds would fall off but not anymore.  When I reached my 40’s I had settled into my new weight thinking to myself, "Okay so y...

2 Cor 2:14 “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. “ This verse came up in my devotional this morning. My favorite part of this is verse is “through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge”.  The word “Diffuse” means to spread or cause to spread over a wide area.  A “fragrance” is a sweet smell.   When we are operating “in Christ” we have a sweetness about us. It’s His fragrance of love, patience, kindness, forgiveness, mercy and grace that brings us peace. If we are wearing His fragrance, those around us will experience it.   Have you ever worn a perfume or cologne that others were attracted to?  People enjoy it so much they have to know what it is and where to find it. Millions of people are into essential oils. Everywhere you go you see them, along with their diffusers, for sale. The diffusers help spread or fill a room with a lovely fragrance. Everyo...

     Despite only being just a few days into the new year, the nightmare of 2020 continues right into 2021.  We would love to convince ourselves that going to sleep on New Years Eve, we could wakup and all would be back to normal or some new hope would arise as we slept.  We've been swallowed up by a narrative that has focused on fear, division and hopelessness. It is easier to focus on the negative than to look for the good in a storm, especially when you are constantly reminded of how bad it is.  But that is what I want to do, to push myself out of the quicksand and hang on to the hope for a better day, finding positive in the storm.      The pandemic this year shut down schools and businesses and locked us all indoors.   News filled us with fear of even going outside, leaving us confused about wearing a mask that would not protect us. We had friends who contracted the virus, some recovered quickly while others struggled to ...

God Orchestrated - From Scotland to Myrtle Beach   Often when we seek God we want him to reveal ahead of time what he has planned for our lives. Most of the time however, we don't get to see it until some time, much later, when God is ready.  Each person who comes into our lives serves some kind of purpose in God's plan.  We may not know there was a purpose, nor may we ever know if the purpose was fulfilled.  But some times God's orchestration is so obvious there is no other explanation but the obvious God. In 2011 I went on a mission trip to Scotland from Colorado.  The mission was to help a new church "Mosaic" build a worship team.  This church was not about a building, their mission was to reach people for Christ and have them join life groups that would meet in people's homes throughout the city.  Church buildings were largely unused or had been repurposed into other types of establishments.  In order to reach people they would meet in pubs an...

When I moved to Colorado in 2008 I knew it was not going to be forever.  What I thought would be short few month stay, turned into 12 years! However in 2018 I knew there was a season of change coming; I could feel it. I didn't know what would change, or how my life would change, but I knew God was stirring things up.   First came a major job change in January. A change that would have me leave a large company  (170K employees)   where I had worked for 24 years and move to what felt like a small company (3K employees). This change was a huge boost to my earning potential and really tapped in to my strengths.  As time went on, I had friends move away or get married, leaving me with a much smaller pool of people in my already small circle of friends. Things I had been passionate about, like worship team and singles ministry were starting to wain. I still enjoyed them but I could feel the separation happening in anticipation of whatever was to come. Then at the...