by Jocelyn Green, author of Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives

Two weeks ago my family and I drove from Iowa to Florida to visit family. Somewhere in Georgia, we passed a funeral motorcade and patriot guard for a fallen Marine on the other side of the highway. American flags and Marine Corps flags topped cars and motorcycles, snapping violently in the wind. Traffic backed up for what seemed like miles behind them. Suddenly the rest of us who witnessed the processional were jolted out of our own concerns (how far is the next gas station? how much Benadryl can I give to my child?) with the undeniable truth that while we go about our daily lives, the family of this fallen hero is experiencing unfathomable grief; their worlds have been turned upside down. And it’s because of their sacrifices, and the sacrifices of every military family, that the rest of us have the luxury of  living our lives unhindered by the paralyzing fear or pain of losing a loved one in war (or training!). Oh, how my heart aches for them. Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few weeks we have had a terrible cold circulating around our house. After fighting it off for days the cold has now gotten the best of me.  My motivation is at about 25% and it’s in my best interest to try and  rest and make myself well.

Here is my dilemma…I have a PTO meeting tonight that I can’t miss, company coming tomorrow and a house that needs to be clean. I have two client appointments this week and a workshop presentation tomorrow.

Life doesn’t stop when you  are sick, so how do we get things done while we are trying to make our self well?

It’s simple, prioritize. Take the time to look at what you have to get done and start shifting your priorities to get through your down days. Here are four simple steps to help you get that done:

1. Examine your to-do’s.When faced with a crisis situation that requires you to examine your workload, it’s important to be able to differentiate what is important, what is critical and what can get put on the back burner. Setting priorities will help you get the critical things done and the rest can wait until you are back to 100%! Read the rest of this entry »

Drained. Sapped. Empty. Whatever adjective you’d like to use…the message is the same—we’re running on empty. We find ourselves depleted of hope because life just isn’t meeting our expectations. We’ve exhausted ourselves seemingly to the point of no return. In our efforts to “press in” and “press on,” we seek God, yet we find our faith is debilitated because we simply haven’t been filling our time with His presence. When we cry out, “Where is God?” we find that He is there…He’s been there all along…it’s where we’ve been that’s the begging question.

Life is able turn in an instant. We can be filled with joy and peace one moment, only to be consumed with deep sorrow and despair in the next. We can find ourselves in a position before God where we’re too discouraged to kneel in prayer, much less lift our hands in praise. (Psalm 38:13-14 NIV) Our spirit becomes so vacant that we simply have nothing to say. We’re desperate to be filled; to have the joy that comes from unwavering faith, the peace that comes from trusting in a loving sovereign God, and the rest that comes from knowing that God is with us always. In the darkest valleys of life, we cling to our faith with little hope. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday would have been my eighteenth wedding anniversary.  Had my now-husband, then-fiance, not broken our engagement, that is.  That was my first, first-person heartbreak.  Meaning, I had gone through being a child of divorce, but that was more about my parents than about me.  So, this was my first, big, hard thing.  And it was devastating.

But I was telling my son about it this morning, leaving out the devastating part, and I said to him, “Had we gotten married on January 25, 1992, when we were supposed to (please imagine me air-quoting feverishly right about now) instead of when we did, I wouldn’t have had you.  You wouldn’t even exist.”  He gave me that look that tells me he totally doesn’t know what I mean.  But when I said those words while looking my sweet boy in the eyes, it took my breath away.

That devastation that I would’ve given anything not to live through back then brought me Sara and Jack.  Because I’m sure that if we’d gotten married earlier, I would’ve started bugging Kevin about having kids earlier, and he would’ve relented earlier, and therefore we would’ve created altogether different human beings (well, God would have, but you know what I mean).

Side note: when I told Jack our actual wedding day and year, he didn’t say anything for a moment (turns out he was calculating) and then he said, incredulously, “You waited another almost two years?!”  My response, mumbled under my breath, “You are preaching to the choir, brother.”  (I got that quizzical look again.) Read the rest of this entry »

Psalm 9:9
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.

This is a powerful promise and one to meditate on and memorize to be written on the tablets of our hearts and minds. The beauty of this passage is in the word, “Refuge”. In the Webster dictionary and bible dictionaries the word refuge means; a shelter and protection from danger or distress. What’s more interesting is the Hebrew definition for refuge: ‎misgab (mis-gawb) which also means; “CLIFF” – High and Lofty inaccessible to reach or obtain.

Here is the cross-reference for this very passage:

Psalm 91:2-5 “I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.“ Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the perilous pestilence. He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, NKJV Read the rest of this entry »

Genesis 39:21-22
“But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.” NKJV

Since Joseph was a young boy God had a special plan for his life. God confirmed these plans through dreams given to Joseph about his future. These dreams told him that people would bow down to him including his own family. This of course did not go well with his family and shortly there after the trials for Joseph began.

Joseph was rejected by his own brothers, thrown in a cistern, sold into slavery, falsely accused and falsely imprisoned. Now imagine for a moment yourself being put in Joseph’s position or perhaps you could relate to some of the trials he went through. Some might think God was not with him or maybe he did not have enough faith to endure such tribulations but that is not what the bible says. It says in a number of passages that the Lord was with Joseph and in this particular passage it says God showed him mercy and favor.
God in His infinite wisdom and sovereignty had a plan for Joseph and part of that plan was to allow Joseph to go through hardship. It is a hard concept for us to accept or even agree with but the scriptures are clear that God was with him in the cistern, He was with him when he was enslaved and God was also with him when He was in prison. Read the rest of this entry »

by Jocelyn Green

In his State of the Union Address on Jan. 27, President Obama said that our men and women in uniform must know “that they have our respect, our gratitude, our full support.  And just as they must have the resources they need in war, we all have a responsibility to support them when they come home.”

I agree. But if we really want to support the troops, that can’t be all we do. It’s not enough to slap a “Support the Troops” bumper sticker on our cars, or even to say thank you to the men and women in uniform we come across as we’re bustling through the airport. If we want to support the troops, we need to be supporting their families at home. Read the rest of this entry »

I love to make lists.

Lists of every kind… to-do’s, grocery, places to go or books to read.  I don’t think there is a list out there I haven’t made. Lists can be one of the most helpful tools in TRACKING activities or things that need to be done. I start each day creating my to-do’s and working my way down the list… As I complete each task, crossing off the completed items is  (*sigh*) the best reward.

The benefits of list making can allow you to relieve your mind of all those things swirling around up inside. Making that list can….

• …allow you to empty your mind of information so that you won’t stress about “trying to remember” tasks or activities.

• …allow you to better prioritization tasks or activities by looking at a complete list to determine what needs to be done when.

• …feel the reward of the completed tasks and see your accomplishments.

• …have better control over your time and tasks better with a completed list. Read the rest of this entry »

by Cherie Hill

Okay, so maybe Chicken Little got it wrong, but for many of us facing unthinkable circumstances…our sky is falling! It becomes increasingly difficult to stand firm in our faith when the very ground we’re standing on is shaking and the expectations for our lives are crumbling down around us. It’s not long before disillusionment and disappointment set in which begins to breed bitterness and resentment. As the “sky falls,” we look up at it…wondering, “Where is God in all of this?”

As our spirit begs for answers from a God who seems so silent, we’re faced with many choices in our times of despair. We can run around franticly yelling, “The sky is falling,” or we can run helplessly into the arms of the “Maker of the skies.” God’s Word tells us to do four things when we’re consumed with hopelessness and despair.

1) Turn to God. (Immediately!) How much peace have we forfeited and how much unnecessary pain have we endured…all because we fail to run immediately to the throne of God? Psalm 23 tells us that God is our source of strength in the valleys. We may not understand why God has allowed us to encounter our trials, but He has promised to use whatever pain and suffering you are enduring for your good and His glory! (Romans 8:28-29) Read the rest of this entry »

I recently read about triangles in relationships.  That sometimes, especially in the family dynamic, there are triangles.  Meaning, there is a third person in a relationship that has either inserted herself unnecessarily or has been dragged in due to some kind of dysfunction.  Talk about a light bulb moment.

I realized that I am the third person in my daughter’s relationship with her father, in my son’s relationship with his father, and my kids’ relationship with each other.  Now, as kids grow up, of course, we are the referees.  A lot.  But my kids are 11 and 13 and I am tired.  Just last week I heard my daughter calling downstairs with this complaint…”Mom, Jack touched my vitamin…” to which I’m thinking, but not saying outloud, “so what?!”.

But this whole triangle thing has gotten me thinking.  The author basically said that every adult is one hundred percent responsible for the health (or decline) of every relationship in their lives.  Though Sara and Jack still need coaching from time to time on respect and conflict resolution, they will eventually be in charge of whether or not the two of them are friends as they move into adulthood.  I can create an environment of kindness but I cannot manufacture anything right now that will guarantee their level of closeness in the future.  If they choose to be close, that’ll be up to them.  And that’s actually quite a relief if you think about it. Read the rest of this entry »