Good Morning,

I was thinking about how we are in the mode of preparing for Thanksgiving. As Canuks I have to say I love the long holiday of Thanksgiving. We are eagerly anticipating having a house full of family.  Don’t you love anticipation. I sometimes think the anticipation of things to come is really more exciting then the actual event. I tend to build things up in my mind generally its the ideal. You know what I’m talking about. Trimming the tree without the headache of actually putting it up. Eating a beautiful turkey, without the anxiety of the oven not working (I see your smile..really it has happened) Road trips, where everyone is singing together, there is no yelling, fighting or crankiness:)

When I think more about this, the anticipation I have is about the potential for relationship building. The memories that will be made, the laughs we will share in reminiscing, the joy of the moment. My friend Janel over at Dandelion Dayz made an interesting observation the other day. She said we are made for community. It was God’s plan. If you think about the trinity, God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are all equally important characteristics we have the privilege to know. Community. No one is meant to be alone. It goes against our DNA!

So friends, as we scurry around these next couple of weeks, remember that in all the busyness if we are not taking the time to live in the moments that are given to us, we are not investing in our relationships which is exactly what God wants us to be doing, most importantly with Him but with others too.

1 John 4:7 (The Message)
[ God Is Love ] My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

Happy Thursday,

Journey On

Hey Friends!

I had a great weekend spending the time with my girlfriends up north. These are women who have shared life together for many years. Marriage, divorce, births, deaths, health issues, marital issues, the joys and sorrows of life. As individuals each of my girlfriends are special and unique and together we are a force to be reckoned with. It was a fun weekend of shopping, eating, reminiscing about the past and chatting about the future. 

As I was flying home and thought about all the events of life we have shared in the only constant, other then supporting one another in our lives is that change is inevitable. Change is a funny thing. As women, we enjoying getting a new look, changing our hair, our makeup our clothes. Some of us like to move homes, to be able to redecorate, change up our furnishings. Change in our lives is welcome if we are in control. Isn’t that true? 

As we talked this weekend and discussed a death which has effected one of my friends dramatically, it struck me that none of us could have predicted what events were about to enter her life, however the Lord knew. We are never promised another day, but we are promised that the days we do have, the moments that we live are all fully known and allowed by the Lord. 

As much as we hate the unfamiliar, the unexpected, we shouldn’t really be surprised by it. Life is not static, and when we know the Lord and love him, if we are transforming, we will always be in the mode of change. As I type I’m being zinged for I too am not an advocate for change however I am learning that in all things, my God is faithful and the change that is allowed into our lives gives us the opportunity to know and experience our God in new and exciting ways.

I love this description of a transforming life.  

Romans 12:1
[ Place Your Life Before God ] So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Journey On Friends,

Good Morning,

Okay you know I’m in the south when I’m watching the Country Music Awards. Steph you would be so proud!

This line caught my attention. “God’s fingerprints are everywhere”. It got me thinking…..there is no way that looking outside your window you could deny that God’s fingerprints are everywhere, but when you look at your life can you honestly say you see His fingerprints? 

As I’m thinking about that what comes to mind are the characteristics the Bible calls the fruit of the spirit. 

But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Galatians 5:22-23 (The Message)

Do you see evidence of these things in your life? I know the Lord’s fingerprints are in my life when super natural compassion takes over, when I am apt to go out of my way to help a stranger, not a Tatum thing..that’s a God thing, His fingerprints.  Serenity, aha, now that’s definitely a fingerprint. Calm in the midst of crazy making situations..evidence of His fingerprints.

I challenge you today to take notice, be intentional about looking and seeing how the Lord’s fingerprints are all over your life. He loves you, look for the proof, its in His prints!

Journey On 

Good Afternoon,

I had a great morning spending time with the group of ladies that meet every Tuesday to study, laugh, learn, live and love together. What struck me as chatter filled the air, kids ran around and we shared in the stories of our lives that in our journey together we have watched, anticipated and prayed for moments in time that we could see God’s faithfulness. And He has and will continue to so. We have learned this by His demonstration of His faithfulness.  The Lord’s faithfulness in our lives is one of the only things is life that we can be assured of.  His faithfulness is our hope for the future, the markers of our past and the promise that ensures we can survive another day.

But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

Psalm 86:10

Have a great Tuesday,

Journey On,

Good Morning,

Well it’s Friday! Yahoo. I love the weekends because of the anticipation of a break from the daily craziness of the week. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

As my little guy and I were driving this morning, he said”mommy it’s a wonderful day”. Now wonderful is an interesting word coming from my rookie three year old. I asked him why it was a wonderful day. He went on to tell me the sun was shinning, the trees were “beuuuuuutiful” and he was eating Cheetos. How sweet hey, the perfect morning.

It got me thinking about the word “wonderful”. This is definition according to the dictionary.

Wonderful: 

adjective

Good Morning,

Isaiah 40:31 (New International Version)