His Beloved

                                              It was a beautiful Saturday in South Georgia. I happened to find myself at a store I enjoy browsing through from time to time. I happened to find myself in the coffee cup section of housewares. Let me just begin by saying this particular brand of coffee mug has been a mainstay in my ministry for a long time now. I love to give away coffee mugs to people. Equally, I love to receive coffee mugs. I pray for the person who gave me the mug each time I drink from it. Some mugs have a certain feeling they give off. You know, some days I feel like a dainty cup on a pedestal that boasts reds and blues in floral print. Other days I need a monochromatic stoneware mug that screams- I will slay the devil today, in my pjs, and will do this feeling chic. Thank you Joanna Gaines for your Hearth and Hand with magnolia line of stoneware mugs...

      There is something both crippling and comforting about the presence of a shadow. As a child, a shadow in the night would have the astonishing ability to keep me from getting out of the bed for a drink of water, or a trip to the bathroom. As an adult with children, a shadow will now cause me to spring to my feet in defense each time one of my children call.  Shadows lurk everywhere at various times of the day throughout our lives. Keep in mind that in order for there to be a shadow there must be some opaque object blocking the rays of light. The light rays go past the edges of the object and make what we call a shadow. But shadows can be a place where we dwell far too often and sometimes for too long. Have you ever felt like you weren't walking in the fullness of the calling God has placed on your life? A good hard check will usually reveal the reason why you have found yourself in this place.  In my own life I walk in the shadows of pain and trauma on...

 Have you ever craved the space to be able to say all of those things that you have rehearsed in your mind? The things you should've said. What about the things you really meant, but maybe didn't articulate correctly? Or the dogmatic opinion you held on something that really offended someone? Reality is, we don't always get a do-over. Sometimes we are left to deal with the deafening silence of all of the said, and unsaid things that caused a shift in our normal. That is the hardest silence, really. The one where everything has been said. I have been on a trip in my prayer life; making a correction of errors that I may not get the chance to make right this side of eternity. My prayer remains that my words never caused one to turn away from the faith because of my ignorance or my inconsiderate lack of care in how what I said came across. In my college speech class, my professor was always reiterating the fact that communication lies not in what I say, but in what the hearer p...