Live in His Word

  Peace is something we all want, yet often we don’t feel like we have. How many of you have craved peace this last 14 months? I know I have. We live in this world that feels the opposite of peaceful. Between the pandemic, political divisiveness, hatred, and arguing- it is hard to feel peaceful. Maybe it isn’t even those things causing the problem. Maybe it is the laundry, the dishes, the kids teething, or dealing with teenage angst. Life is hard and peace can be hard to find. But God! Isaiah 26:3 says “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.” These verses tell us that God will keep us in perfect peace. That sounds nice. We may even know it mentally, but sometimes we do not feel it experientially. When I read the Bible I love to look up the Hebrew and Greek meanings of words. It just gives it a deeper sense of richness to me. When it says “keep” in the Hebrew- some of the synonyms listed are guard, watch over, protect, maintain, an...

    My blog is getting a makeover! The Make One Choice blog is now becoming the  Live In His Word blog! I am so glad you are here! As I was beginning to get back to work on this blog I knew it was time for a name change. There are so many cutesy names out there that might be fun. I could have just used my name- but who can spell that? I mean it took me two years after I got married to be able to spell it correctly. I decided to look at what I am passionate about and go from there. So my passions- studying the Word of God and verse mapping/Bible Journaling. I love to dig in when I study the Word. It is so easy to read the Bible because it is what we are supposed to do. We read a Bible plan and get our checkmark for the day and we are good. The Bible is so much more than a checkmark for being good! “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do ...

     Exhausted. Frustrated. Overwhelmed. I think that these words describe so many people right now. We have so many expectations that we put on ourselves or that others place upon us and at times it feels that we cannot keep up. During this COVID pandemic so many things have required adaptation. Some things have been good for some people. There was a part of this season where I was able to really take time to dig into the Word and attend some online conferences that were really a blessing. Now I find myself having to work at not feeling like I am drowning under the expectations that are coming at me in life.       As a teacher, trying to teach in person students and distance learning students at the same time, it seems like there are not enough hours in the day. We have to do our best to do two jobs at one time, and honestly there is no easy way to do it. In fact many occupations are going through this I am sure. We often want to do everything perfec...

   Let's face it, Rona has messed a lot of things up. The stress level of many has reached epic proportions. So many parents now not only have to make the normal decisions that come with raising children, they have to make decisions that seem almost impossible. Do they send their children to school? Do they have them learn virtually? Do they switch to homeschooling? How do they keep their children as safe as theycan, while still providing for their every day needs? It is easy to ask in a time like this if God is there and if he is listening.      We see in Roman's 8:28 that God promises to work all things to good for those that love Him. During this time it seems almost impossible to believe anything good can come from this, but there are good things still around us. In order to find them we have to be careful what we are listening to, watching, and saying.       This week I have realized that I have to really guard my heart in this area. So ...

I tend to be a perfectionist. I expect a lot from myself and I expect that whatever I do should be perfect. Unfortunately, I am a person as well and so that means I am rarely if ever perfect. I also have a tendency to put things off because I can't do them perfectly and this blog has been one of those things (obviously). Today I realized that I don't always have to have perfect things to share that are deep or even thought out for days. I do not have to have a full length devotional to share, I can share what is on my heart today. So today I will share what is on my heart. Lately I have been thinking about how I wish sometimes people who do and say crazy things wouldn't call themselves Christians, because it pushes so many people further away from the gospel. This morning I had the thought- What if Christians started loving and doing good so much that people who aren't Christians knew us by our love to the point that when someone does something un-christlike in the...

           As I have gotten older I realize that I am not as patient as I used to be. Over the last few months my family and I have driven to a few family reunions and I have noticed after being in the car a short time I am more than ready to be there. On the last trip my husband didn’t get to go and I was talking to him about how weary I was from being in the car and he said I was getting cranky in my old age. As I think back on that statement I think two things: one he is right and two he is brave. I think he felt brave enough to say it since he knew he was a couple hundred miles away from me and I had several days to forget what he said before I saw him again. We used to drive 12 hours straight through to see his family, but now I get in a car for more than 3 hours and I want to whine.        Another area I find I can get impatient and I think I am not alone is being patient with God. We want God to do ...

          Have you ever noticed that everyone thinks their way is the right way? We have a tendency to think because it is the way we like it or are used to it, it is the best or only way. When I had kids, I started turning my silverware tray upside down of how most people have it. I put it this way so that the little tray that is usually at the back of the drawer is at the front, because that is where I put the kids’ little spoons and forks and it was easier for them to reach. One time I had company, and I went to get something out of my drawer and noticed that someone turned the silverware tray back the direction “it was supposed to be”. I turned it back the way I liked it in my kitchen, and sure enough later I went back and someone had changed it again. This person really couldn’t handle the fact that I had my silverware tray the “wrong” way. After a few times of slamming the drawer closed in my passive aggressive style- trying to make...