My Delightful Journal

  “Everyone’s a theologian.” -R.C. Sproul Why though? Because everyone believes *something* about God. Your view of everything in life is formed by how you view God. If He’s Santa Clause to you, then you may find lots of disappointment in life when things don’t go your way. If He’s a strict Father, then you may find yourself walking on eggshells trying not to make Him angry. If He’s a permissive big brother, then you may find yourself following your fleshy desires and apologizing for them later. You may not be persuaded to believe there’s a God. But He doesn’t need you to believe He exists in order to exist. Yet still a belief about God - that He’s nonexistent. What we need to know (not everything we want to know) is written in the Bible. It will come to a shock to some, but the Bible is not a book about us. It’s a book about God. I’ve experienced so many of His attributes in my own life - patience, kindness, justice, mercy, faithfulness - but wouldn’t be able to identify them unless I

My five year old Chloe is starting to get interested in board games. She's starting to play them enough that she can tell when she's losing and can become quite frustrated in this realization. Suddenly, she remembers! The rules that we'd somehow forgotten. She devises these rules that aren't actually "new," but we just forgot that's how to play. Of course, these new rules help her to get ahead in the game.  What would a game be without rules? Complete chaos!  Eek, what would a road be like without stop signs, speed limits, or traffic lights? I'd start riding a bike.. but probably still wouldn't be very safe.  Rules protect us and others from getting hurt.  Even the Bible has a list that could be classified as "rules." Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments were given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. You can read more about them in  Exodus 20 . Israel also received other laws and commandments.  1. Moral laws - God has already instilled inside each pe

 I like to get from Point A to Point B in about 30 seconds. I like outcomes and success stories. Yes, sometimes I even peek at the end of a book to see what's going to happen.  Blame it on my impatience, maybe. I don't like the journey from one thing to another unless I somehow know exactly how it will end - And I only know that if I use enough of my imagination to convince myself what I think will happen.  God has an aerial view of each of our lives (Matthew 10:29-30) and all of history.  Not only is He aware but He controls. I find gracious comfort in His sovereignty in my life (Ephesians 1:11) and over all of life (Colossians 1:16-17).  The ground isn't that pretty. I am a goal-oriented person. I like check marks and cross offs. I may or may not put "Make coffee" on my to-do list, so that I can cross it off. 😏My head is always downward trying to do some mundane task that gets me nowhere.  I create a long-term goal, then complete the small goals to get to the b

  This post does contain some affiliate links. So thank you for the support if you choose to look or purchase! As we continue on this journey of learning together how to create a daily habit of Bible reading and study, I want to share some resources and products thatI've found to be helpful. You can find Part 1  here  and Part 2  here  if you haven't read them yet.  My Daily Routine  Currently, I'm working through a few different things. Every day, I write Scripture. I absolutely love writing. I love being able to write my thoughts on paper, but I also love the physical work of writing. I'm able to concentrate more on what I'm writing something down, and I remember it better.   I use a plan that I found on a blog called  Sweet Blessings . She has many different plans available. I write out the verses for the day, then I journal about the on the same page. Sometimes, that causes me to do some research on the passage, look through my study Bible ( John MacArthur Study

 In  Part 1  of this Mini Series on the habit of every day Bible reading and study, we discussed the value of the heart. Checklists and accountability are necessaries if you want to fill yourself with God's Word, but they're not the reason. A love for God and the words that He's given us must be the heartbeat of study.  Now, that we (hopefully YOU) have established that. I'd like to share some ideas on how to make this daily time with God and His Word happen. Even when your heart is right, it takes hard work to form this habit. There will be days that you do not feel like reading anything . Maybe, you're like me and would rather watch tv. Maybe there's a fiction book you've been dying to finish. Maybe you want to take a nap or just enjoy the quiet house for a little bit.  There are days where we will fail, and our feelings will get the best of us. We'll wonder why God's Word has to be such a boring drudgery and convince ourselves we need a break. &qu

                                                     When I think of this topic, I'm reminded of the children's song "Read Your Bible, Pray Every Day." If you know it, you already started humming the tune in your head. If you don't, let me give you the lyrics. It's quite the easy chorus.  Read your Bible, pray everyday, Pray everyday, pray everyday; Read your Bible, pray everyday,  And you'll grow, grow, grow And you'll grow, grow, grow,  And you'll grow, grow, grow.  Read your Bible, pray everyday,  and you'll grow, grow, grow.  The song continues to with the effects if you don't read your Bible. You'll... guess what... shrink.  This song is always a hit with kids. They get as tall as they can when they "grow," with their voices screeching at the end, and the curl themselves up in a ball when they "shrink."  Isn't it true though? When we're in the habit of coming to God's Word every day and communicating

     I have always  wanted to garden on a regular basis. I started with just potted flowers a few years back - mixing and matching different flowers for the front porches. Some ended poorly (especially the ones this year), and some of them bloomed longer than I expected. Either way, it isn't about the flower for me. It's about getting my hands dirty and about watching a rainbow of colors grow together to make a 3D picture.       We took the plunge this year and decided to have an actual vegetable/fruit garden. It was definitely going to be a financial investment and some buckets full of sweat (mostly my husband's - not mine).  *You can read more about the specifics of our garden and some newbie tips and tricks later!*      This little garden has been quite the teacher. I've learned some hard work, some frustration, and some disappointment. Allow me to hop in my English pants for a bit and share some life-lesson metaphors that my garden has showed to me. 

          The  "The Woman at the Well" is my favorite account in all of Scripture. One reason is because I enjoy taking a little bit of artistic license at the end of some of the New Testament stories. Like, what really happened to her? Did she completely change? Did she get married again and have kids? Did she already have kids? Did she drop everything and follow Jesus everywhere? Here’s my crazy idea: *Now what if she followed Jesus, her life changed dramatically, and then she actually married one of Jesus’ disciples? Now that would be a turn of events!* See how far out I get?          What’s up with this chick?          We can learn a little more than maybe we want to about this woman from this short passage of Scripture based on her reactions to the Messiah and her quick responses. Before you start judging too quickly, just see if any of her characteristics sound familiar in your life.          She was kind of blunt for a woman of her day. In verse 9, both when