Gateways to Joy

We're looking at one of my hometown girls blog today!  Houston's own Beth Moore.   Now y'all must understand something here.  I am not looking at Beth's blog because of popularity or size.  Remember, the blogs featured here are my favorite because of the content of the person's character. Side note for a minute ... the other thing that I just absolutely love is the "Family Affair" of LPM.  It always makes me want to cry, especially when I think back to the girls pre-adult years and think back to when Beth was teaching Sunday school and aerobics.  I betcha she and Keith are just beside themselves with having such beautiful daughters... daughters who have the content in character that God calls us to have as women, character such as that of their mother. It's a beautiful sight seeing parents and children working side by side, and when it's done for the Lord, well... it's priceless. I know for my husband and me we have desired quietly for some...

G ive Him thanks! Giving thanks for all things is making a tremendous difference in my life. I wrote this article sometime ago, way before I learned about Ann Voskamp's blog: A Holy Experience and her Gratitude Community.  Maybe, now, some of you understand why I'm so drawn to her.  She speaks my heart—my language, and she has a lot of kids just like me! I thank God for giving me the opportunity to blog and to share with you my heart-felt and most convicting thoughts.  One thing that has really drawn me to participate in this Gratitude Community  is that as I go about visiting your blogs I see a lot of me in you.  We are like minded you and me.  I'm beginning to think of you all as friends—my "kinfolk."  Realizing this makes me feel comfortable, and relax in your midst, ready to share. Today, I share a piece of my heart with you, and I thank you in advance for allowing me to be so...

"W hen there is deep misunderstanding which has led to the erection of barriers between two who once were close, every day brings the strengthening of those barriers if they are not, by God's grace, breached.  One prays and finds no way at all to break through.  Love seems to "backfire" every time.  Explanations become impossible.  New accusations arise, it seems, from nowhere {though it is well to recall who is named the Accuser of the brethren}.  The situation becomes ever more complex and insoluble, and the mind goes round and round, seeking the place where things went wrong, brooding over the words which were like daggers, regretting the failures and mistakes, wondering {most painfully} how it could have been different.  Much spiritual and emotional energy is drained in this way—but the Lord wants to teach us to commit, trust, and rest. "Leave him to me this afternoon, is what his word is.  There is nothing else that I am asking of you this ...