We have seen the fulness of God’s creation this week. The picture above was taken last night at Harbour Town. The sky changed every second – I’m not kidding. It was breathtaking!

The Lord has been soooo gracious to us this week. Let me share a few answers to prayer from this week to praise my sweet, loving God.

• Allison has gotten off to a great start at college this week
• The Lord provided a great job for her with just the right amount of hours
• She has great roommates
• The opening services began last night with Rand Hummel from The Wilds preaching. I’d prayed specifically about who would be preaching in services and chapel. I know Rand challenged the students’ hearts.
• She made a 100 on her first quiz!
• Our condo is so nice.
• The weather that was supposed to be rainy has been perfect!
• God has given my husband and me sweet times together.
• I’d hoped to see Harbour Town after dark. We got there just before and got to see this spectacular sunset.
• I have not had a migraine this week – that is my God’s mercy!
• The Lord has given rest that we needed.
• The Word has challenged and rebuked my heart.

We will head home tomorrow ready to get back into the swing of our ministry lives. God is so good to us; we are undeserving, but so thankful for His kindness this week.

Have you had an answer to prayer this week? I’d love to rejoice with you!

Last night when we walked the beach the waves were higher than we’ve seen this week. Sitting at high tide on our favorite wooden box, we watched them crash onto the shoreline.

As I watched the waves come tumbling over and over I wondered what it is like down beneath the waves. I’m no scientist or oceanographer, but I imagine that while the waves are beating here on the surface, out in the middle of the ocean, in the deep water, it is calm beneath the surface. The fish and sea life go on about their business not bothered by the surface waves.

It reminded me that as a Christian there are often things that are troubling “on the surface” of our lives. Financial struggles, relationship problems, job loss, parenting stress, or illness can cause the waves to be stirred up. Yet, because we have an anchor for our soul we can be at peace. We can go about the business of serving the Lord and not be tossed about.

However, unconfessed sin, a lack of faith in the promises of God, or worry (which is a sin) can rob us of that quiet peace. If there are waves instead of calm, read the verses that I’ve linked the words to here. Confess your sin and let the sweetness of God’s peace rule in your heart instead.

The only place you can enjoy waves is when you’re watching it from the beach – don’t live it out in your life today.

While I do business with the Lord and dust off my britches from pitching a “temper tantrum,” how about if you check your maturity level? I trust your results are better than mine!

At our ladies’ retreat a couple weeks ago we offered several different workshops from which the ladies could choose. The one I taught was on multi-tasking. Aside from being reminded that the reason we want to use our time wisely is because our minutes are a gift from God, one important tip I gave the ladies is that of planning a weekly menu. I was surprised to learn that the habit of creating a menu of what they eat each week was a new idea for most. I challenged the ladies to sit down at the beginning of the week and write out a simple menu plan. Why? Because planning out your meals will do four things:

1. It will save you money. It reduces trips to the grocery store and impulsive spending. Using leftovers efficiently cuts food waste, while planned buying in bulk makes it easy to stockpile freezer meals at reduced prices.
2. A menu plan saves time. No dash to the neighbors for a missing ingredient, no frantic searches through the freezer for something, anything to thaw for dinner.
3. A menu plan improves nutrition. Without the daily dash to the supermarket, there’s time to prepare side dishes and salads to complement the main dish, increasing the family’s consumption of fruits and vegetables.
4. A menu also provides better variety. You’ll have time to look through recipes and cookbooks and try new foods rather than getting stuck in the same old grind.

To get started you can use a calendar, or just a piece of paper with the days of the week written at the top. Write down the main course, side dish and/or salad, and dessert you plan on fixing for each day. Look through the sale papers for the local stores and see what’s on sale and plan accordingly. If you see that hamburger and chicken breasts are on sale, this would be the week to make dishes using those meats.

Having your menu for supper planned allows you time to begin working on the meal earlier in the day, rather than waiting until everyone is starved. You can thaw the meat early in the day, or make the salad the night before.

Once you get into the habit of planning out the supper menu you can move on to planning breakfast foods, lunches and snacks. This simple step will save you time and money and it takes less time than you’d imagine.

Do you regularly plan a menu? How has it helped you and your family? What is on your menu for this week?

This weekend found us moving our daughter to college. Whew! Thank the Lord for a mini van!
As she sat in the floor of her room packing the last of her belongings the night before leaving, she got a bit emotional about the transition that was in front of her. I understood – my emotions have been in my throat for a week. I’m so happy for her, yet it’s just unbelievable that this time has come so quickly. I’ve gone back and forth – happy, then melancholy; excited, then fearful.

God knows what we need before we do. Yesterday morning in the church service we attended a song was sung by the choir with the pastor singing the verses as a solo. The song? Consider the Lilies. I love the song; our family has sung it in church with one daughter at the piano, the other on her violin accompanying my husband and me. Remembering us singing it recently made it special. But the words were a sweet reminder that I can trust my God for the care of my younger daughter at college. She’s young, she’s new at college life, but He is aware of where she is and what she needs and I can trust Him – especially when I consider the lilies… Matthew 6:27-29

God also gave me a wise husband who planned for us to get away to the beach after taking our daughter to college. He suggested that we take some vacation time, before going back home. How smart that was! We prayed and the Lord has provided a lovely condo at an extremely reasonable rate. Here’s the view out our patio window…

As I had my devotions recently I read Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” Immediately the Lord brought to my mind that there is also a purpose for every time. How I long to use this season of my life to honor the Lord. It would be very easy to live for myself now that I have more free time, but I want it to count for eternity. I’m asking the Lord for the purpose of this season, and I pray that this week while we’re away He’ll show me a bit of what that may be.

How wonderful it is to relax after a very busy summer. So for now I’ll rest…and consider the lilies.