Gateways to Joy

F or those of you who blog and wonder if your blog reaches the heart or touches a soul. I'm here to say, "yes," it does.  Do you wonder if God is doing something good with what you are writing, "He is." Let me remind you of what the Bible says, "So will My Word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing that what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it." ~ Is. 55:11 If or when God lays something on your heart dear blogger— blog it.  Tell it. Tweet it.  Facebook it.  Youtube it. Proclaim it!  Even though you may never get one iota of a comment on what you typed out.  Share what He gives you anyway... all the time! And you simply find solace in knowing that you put it out there, out there in the monstrous www. This morning I decided to have my devotions by reading one of my favorite blogs, "Grace is for sinners."   First off, I love that name.  Have you eve...

What has God placed in you? You know, that gift that He's gifted each of His children with in order to do Kingdom work here on earth? Are you using that gift?  Or do you feel as if you've been over-looked? Maybe you don't exactly know what your gift is yet. Worse, maybe you feel "unlikely" to have been given one. Are you one who sees yourself as "unlikely?" Hm? "God chooses to use the most 'unlikely,'" says author and speaker Patsy Clairmont. Throughout Scripture we can find that statement to ring true.  Seems that all God used were the unlikelies.  For crying out loud, look at Jesus.  It was said that nothing good can come out of his home town when people found out where He was from.  I would call Him a pretty unlikely in the eyes of the locals. Maybe you've been told you're an unlikely.  Unlikely to do this and unlikely to accomplish that.  I sure have. Though it wasn't always with words.   Sometimes it...

A h my dear friends, hello and welcome back! It's late and I'm tired.  But I'm oh so glad to have this opportunity to meet with you again and share my heart-felt words. Our Internet service has been down.  We switched from ATT Uverse to Clear. Tonight I had a chance to stop by an old friend Ann Voskamp .  As usual she ministered to my soul in only the special way God has given her the ability to do.  I got a chance to listen to her speech at the Relevant Conference , boy was that speech fitting. There are several things that Ann said that hit home with me, but one of the things that continued to ring loudly in my mind is I am a woman born to blog for such  a time as this.  Ann contiue using the phrase "Such women you are for such a time as this..."  Guess what?  My dearest friend it's not by accident that I heard that speech and it's not by accident that you are reading this post.  You too, regardless of where you are in your Chri...

You know when I started hosting blog tours on my blog I was excited.  I thought it was cool and I figured it was one way to help someone else, even though I wasn't sure how beside the obvious of helping to promote and sale books.  This particular story I'm aware of how it can help many, as it has already helped me.  This story, to me, is so much more than a mother telling the story of how her son ended up on death row in a maximum security prison and how she and her husband are coming to terms with their "new normal."  To me, this is a story...a teaching if you will, from one Christian to another— explaining how to deal with trials, and how to deal with them from the perspective in which God has allowed them, seeing them as God intends for us to see them: A building of our character.  Carol Kent does an excellent job through her words and stories, as well as using the stories of others, showing us how to view our hard places ...