(Repost) The Heart of Palm Sunday

How Are You Leaning?

I was pleasantly surprised when some of you asked about my word for this year. I write, and it is always encouraging when people interact with my me. My word for 2025 is “plumb line.” I knew a deeper recalibration was happening and necessary in my walk with Jesus. As I prayed and pondered it, […]

A Mystery Worth Pondering in 2025

Happy New Year! 2025 is especially exciting for our family because our daughter graduates high school this spring! As a homeschooling mom, this is extra exciting for us all! Since 2012, I have sought the Lord for a word of the year and an accompanying verse. Some years, the word comes easily, and others require […]

Update: Day 348 of 2024

I’ve meant to write an update on The Bible Recap (TBR) for months. I am still keeping up with the plan and enjoying it very much. It is a chronological Bible plan to complete the Bible in one year. I access the plan through The Bible App but check out https://www.thebiblerecap.com/start to learn more. The […]

I’m Back! (Update)

I never intended to be away this long. I have been busy with life, ministry, and fostering kittens. (The last kitten went to its forever home this morning.) I’m still enjoying The Bible Recap and just finished Day 181! My daughter’s junior year of homeschooling kept us quite busy. In addition to homeschooling, I facilitated […]

Tending the Garden of Our Heart More in 2024

Happy New Year! It is the first day of 2024, which can bring various feelings, depending on the previous year and your emotional state. I’m recovering from a cold that passed through our kids and, despite my best attempts at immune-boosting supplements, rudely interrupted my weekend. A slower pace after the busyness of Christmas and […]

Pray for Israel: How To Resist Fear In Troubling Times

These are sobering times to be alive as the cosmic struggle between good and evil, as laid out in the Bible, is displayed. As Western Christians, we have primarily lacked the understanding of the Bible, how it relates to current events, and where the world will end up. Contrary to popular belief, the Bible has […]

Vision: More Than a Blog, Building A Faith Community

It has been in my heart to share my hopes for building a community of believers in Jesus to encourage each other to go deeper and after ‘the more’ of God so we can better serve our families, churches, and spheres of influence. I am a member of a beautiful, life-giving, Christ-honoring home church (North […]

The Reality of Spiritual Warfare

I’m convinced now more than ever that Christians need accurate theology and biblical understanding for this unique historical time. We need to clearly understand the worth of Jesus and give our full yes to following Him no matter the cost, like true disciples. Claiming the name of Christ is an act of war in the […]

Reflections On Reaching A Breaking Point

Everyone has a breaking point, which is good and necessary for maturity in Christ. I know because I have been broken, shattered beyond what I thought was repairable. Something happened when I realized I was in a process beyond my control. I surrendered to Jesus in a new way, yielded because I had come to […]

Tips For Remodeling Your Interior World

Way back in high school, I remember when they took the roof off of our house and added three bedrooms and a bathroom. The framing of this new level went up before our eyes, and it was so exciting to see so much progress so quickly. Then the windows went in, and the siding went […]

How Needy Are You?

I was listening to the newest album released by Jesus Culture entitled Why Not Right Now? and was stirred by an interlude by Corey Russell. He shared that God honors hunger and that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled (Matthew 5:6). In Matthew 5:3, it states, “Blessed are the poor in […]

Do You Need To Slow Down?

This morning I was reflecting on how quickly life flies by. It led me to remember a quote from Ferris Buehler’s Day Off. “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Buehler It’s too easy to get caught up in the busyness and […]

MLK: Carrying on His Quest for Truth and Justice

Our church, North Jersey Vineyard, has a beautiful tradition of having Pastor Charles recite one of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s sermons in character for our sermon. Rev. King preached the scriptures and the gospel of the Kingdom of God unapologetically when it was not easy but necessary. It was so powerful to hear his […]

Bearing Fruit from the Past Three Years

It doesn’t require a prophetic gift to discern all of the problems and evil in our world. Now, more than ever, it is clear that we are not living in neutral territory. This raging war is of biblical proportions: between good and evil, light and darkness. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, […]

My Response to Living in an Unraveling World

I have allowed the craziness to push me closer to Jesus and understanding who He is and the Kingdom of God that He reigns and invites us to reign with Him. I can’t be passive or casual with faith in these times. I must be rooted deeply in the Word of God so the circumstances […]

A Tale of Meatballs

The doorbell rang in the hustle and bustle of returning home and in a race to make a quick dinner to ease my teenagers’ hunger. It was October 31, so we assumed there were kids dressed up in costumes seeking candy at the door. Surprisingly, a neighbor dropped off money for our son, who had […]

It’s time to share Again

It has been a week since my father’s memorial and our celebrating his 74 years of life and seven weeks since he met Jesus face to face. All the hard work and planning paid off, and it was a memorable time together with family and friends. There was relief upon its conclusion and satisfaction from […]

I See the Church Uniting

I believe these are important days for the Church of Jesus Christ and we are being trained how to battle against evil for the good of our nation and the glory of God.