I traveled recently. I travel a lot these days. Not always my choice. God directs and I go. The message last night was from Psalm 139. Wonderful verses about how the Lord knows everything about me and how I can't go anywhere without being in His presence. Verse 2 says, "Thou understandest my thought afar off". God knows my thoughts even before I think them. How awesome is that? I'd never thought of that verse that way. So encouraging. And He directs my paths and goe

Twenty-six years and one day ago I was pregnant. Very! I had four wonderful little girls at home. And the child that I was carrying was to be my last. There was a five and a half year gap between daughter three and daughter four. I had gone back to teaching full time in between them and time slipped away. Pam was number four and her older sisters were mommy/sisters to her. They took care of her as though she were a baby doll, always looking out for her. She needed a

Okay, two posts in one day. But, something is bothering me. I have referenced sin several times recently as 'big' or 'great'. I feel that I should take a few moments here to clear that up. Because there is not really any such thing. At least not in God's eyes. First, let's define sin. Sin is coming short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. It's common to us all, the Bible says. The dictionary definition is "an immoral act considered to be a transgression against God's

Okay, no more deep thoughts, at least for today. I need a break. Let's do a list. A list of worthless facts about me. Things you may not know. 1. My name is Barbara. I know, you already knew that. But it means 'a stranger'. I love that. It's one of the best gifts my mom ever gave me. Because I am. It's Biblical, you know. :) 2. I don't like the heat. And no, it's not because I'm a middle aged woman. Grrr! I've always been this way. Other people are all bundle

If you are just now jumping in, I need you to go back and read two previous blog posts. They are the two that came right before this one. They are entitled, 'Two Dogs In The Fight', and 'Can We Marry?'. If I try to recap here I will use up all of my words in the review. My children might tell you that I can be a bit wordy on occasion. (Hush, my babes. Some things are still private!) When my kids were little, I had this theory about children's nightmares. I thought th

Once I was approached by a young couple who wanted to get married. They were very much in love. She had been raised in a Christian home, had trusted Christ at five or six years of age, had gone to Christian school and Bible college, and had never lived in the world. But he had known nothing but a harsh and worldly life up until about a year before they met. He never knew his father, and his mother was an out-of-control, homeless drug addict. He himself had been an addict

Stories. That seems to be my theme these days. Stories that came from the pulpit a long time ago and embedded themselves in my heart. Stories that helped me understand the Word of God and it's principles. Jesus knew that young Christians needed stories to help them understand His truths. He told lots of stories. The Bible calls them parables. God knows that His thoughts are not my thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9), and lately He's been helping me to understand that in a way th

This morning I posted a blog post to facebook that I had written two weeks ago. I'm still playing catch-up, because I was writing blog posts way before I went live. Even longer before I connected the website to facebook. So each day I've been featuring on facebook an old blog post until we get current. After I post I reread what I've posted, because I sometimes can barely remember what it was about. And I try to see it through the eyes of others. The one featured this

Yesterday I awoke to a wonderful thought. My house was filled with people who I love. It's the first thing I remembered as I woke early. Even before I thought to greet the Lord. Even before I remembered what day of the week it was. My first thought was that the beds and areobeds and futons and sofas are all filled up. Filled up with people that I love. That we were all together. Then, this morning, a similar thought. The thought of how wonderful it is to have pillowed

I'm still trying to play catch up with my blog posts. I began writing in January. So each day I have been posting on facebook an old blog post from before I went live. I'm almost caught up. At least we're in the correct month now. I had been toying with the idea of a website and blog for years. I had been asked to do so by sweet people who thought...well, I don't know what they were thinking. I knew nothing about blogging. I didn't even follow a single blog. I must