I Love Jesus: Staying in Love with Him

I love Jesus. 

Love. A small and seemingly simple word. But it holds more power than we realize. 

I’m not an expert on the subject of love.

Instead, I held misconceptions about love as a child and young woman. And hang-ups about love formed from emotionally expensive experiences. 

You see, my father abandoned me for a time, and I never remember the phrase “I love you!” by either of my parents until later in life. 

I was grown with my own children the first time my father uttered the words I love you. The conversation’s forever etched in my memory.

Still, as much as I wanted to hear my dad tell me he loved me, I needed to believe it. And I longed for the reassurance he meant it.

You know what? The same holds true today. My husband can never tell me or show me he loves me too many times. 

Because a continual and intentional assurance of love takes any relationship to a higher and deeper level. Pure and whole-hearted love, in the most powerful form, is a show-and-tell affection.

I Love Jesus 

Likewise, the words I love You, Jesus! rise in my heart and roll off my tongue more often these days. Why?

Maybe I’m tired of surface substitutes for real love. Perhaps I’ve grown weary of this: what God made true about love, people made fake. And I believe Christ is teaching me about an authentic and lasting love.

Jump: A Spiritual Lesson From the High Dive

My bare feet made their way up the ladder, mortified to back out now. A jump from the high-diving board. 

Could I pull it off with a secret fear of heights?

A public embarrassment to turn around and go the same way I had arrived—down the ladder and past the people waiting in line.

And I just knew as pool-siders gawked behind sunglasses, What a scaredy-cat! would also cross their minds.

My twin sister and I hung out at the local pool several days a week every summer. This adventure happened in sixth or seventh grade.

Yes, younger kids jump off high dives. You see, I mustered up enough courage to make jumps, oodles of them, off the low dive. Because it was low.

Yet, even for this high-dive feat, I wasn’t planning a crowd-pleasing, eyebrow-raising dive or backwards flip. Never a good diver, I kind of fell into the water from the sidelines, my arms in position to lead the way. 

My dives lacked perfect form and a straight body—bent legs always gave me away. Not olympic material (judges score cards read 3.0), you probably wonder why all the fretting, sweating, and heart skipping to jump? That’s all…jump.

Still, friends coaxed us, the Clarkston twins, into executing this jump. Since we needed to protect our good name as part of the hip crowd, we accepted the challenge. 

Execute the Jump

But at the bottom of the high-dive ladder, a going first tug-of-war ensued. “You go first.” “No, you go first.” Then, I reluctantly agreed to jump first. 

As I walked the board, I encouraged myself with a pep talk. For goodness sake, Karen, get a grip on yourself. Just jump off the end of this long board into nice, soft, sparkling water. You can do this. Stay straight and vertical. Oh, and guard against busting the water on entry, busts hurt like crazy! No pressure.

Freedom: A Day of Deliverance

In America, we are remembering and celebrating liberty as a country. Also, I desire to always celebrate my spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ.

So when I read a letter John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, about Independence Day in 1776, I found this interesting.

“I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.” (Wikipedia)

Like Adams, many of our founding fathers looked to God for “the day of deliverance.” And like others, I looked to God for my day of deliverance.

Jesus’ blood on Calvary’s cross set me free.

At sixteen-years-old, the Lord delivered me from sin and spiritual death, giving me eternal life—something worth remembering and celebrating.

America’s founding fathers commemorated freedom as the day of deliverance: Independence Day. Our heavenly Father commemorated spiritual freedom as the day of deliverance: Resurrection Day.

Therefore, here’s a list of 20 Scriptures to help us remember and celebrate.

Freedom in Jesus Christ

(1.)  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty to captives, and to open the eyes of the blind.” (Isaiah 61:1, TLB)

(2.)  “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36, ESV)

10 of My Favorite Things About Summer

I’m a fan of summer. Perhaps you love summer, too. While I enjoy something about every season, summer remains my top pick.

Since enjoying this wonderful season is well under way, a top 10 list seems in order to share my favorite things. 

We’ll start at number 10 and countdown to my number one favorite thing.

(10.)  Reminiscing of childhood.

Reflecting on my childhood stirs a mix of good and not-so-good memories. Yet, when I think of summer, I remember fun and laughter and joy-filled moments. Memory lane reminds me of playing outside with my sisters and cousins.

Preteen and teen years meant days spent at the local swimming pool and the first time I jumped off the high dive. Another memory leads to number 9. 

(9.)  Catching lightning bugs.

Called fireflies or lighting bugs, these winged insects start appearing in June and are seen lighting up around dusk and nightfall. Recently, my grandson Foster spent the night. So I recreated this childhood favorite with him by catching lightning bugs and putting them n a mason jar. He insisted I do the catching while he cheered, “Go, Mimi, go!”

(8.)  Connection and Community Events.

7 Ways to Relentlessly Seek God

When we relentlessly seek God, it radically transforms us. And the enemy knows it. So he uses the world’s distractions to keep us from God.

It boils down to a constant spiritual struggle.

Like how living in this world clashes with not being of this world. Or, the ongoing battle between our flesh and spirit. Also, the conflict between our old self and our new self in Christ.

These struggles put us at risk of distractions that pull us away from seeking God. Instead, we look to our own desires and what the world has to offer. 

But it’s nothing new.

Throughout the history of the world, the history of God’s people, and the history of the Bible, the choice always stood in place. Either seeking after God or seeking something else. 

And “something else” includes everything from people and things to idols and self-worship to fame and fortune.

Look at Romans 3:10-11, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.”

Still, Acts 17 reminds us how God made the world and everything in it. Futhermore, He made all mankind to live on the earth. Why? 

“That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring’” (Verses 27-28).

So how does the Bible describe seeking God?

(1.) Seek God for who He is.

The Toughest Lesson God Wants Us to Learn

I’m excited to introduce an author friend, Chip Mattis. I know you will enjoy his words about dads and an important lesson we learn from our heavenly Father. Chip recently released a children’s book reflecting the love of a father for his little girl, Under the Dancing Tree. I purchased it for my grandchildren and will discuss it more at the end of this post.

There is one undeniable, incontrovertible truth when it comes to children: they don’t sit still.

My wife is the standard for self-control. Even when she was little, she couldn’t sit still. Crawling into bed with her parents one night after a nightmare, she tossed and turned.

“Be still,” her dad said.

So she went rigid and eventually fell asleep lying flat as a board.

My son can’t sit at the table very long. He likes to sit up, kneeling one leg on the chair and standing on the floor with the other. Or walk around the kitchen some. Or lean on the table and hover both feet off the ground. It’s both bothersome and funny. 

“Sit down and chill out, man.” 

My daughter squirms in her seat, delaying eating her food. She flips her head around to look at me upside-down. Then she’ll stretch way out under the table to play footsie with my wife. 

“Baby, sit still.”

My kids’ restlessness at the dinner table is ridiculous.

Learn to Be Still: When I’m Restless

But the truth is, I’m no different. I’m just as restless. It might not be a dinner table restlessness where the wiggles need to get free. It’s a spiritual restlessness, a feeling that if I sit still I’ll fail, I’ll miss something. The feeling of anxiety that I’m supposed to be doing a particular thing at a particular time. The sense of not wanting to displease the people I love or, worst of all, displease God.

But in each of those moments of restless anxiety, there is God my Father, assuring me I have nothing to fear. Through each stage of my life, God is tending to me like a garden, pruning where I’ve grown wild, watering me when I’m dry, shining on me when I’m cloudy. 

10 Reasons God’s a Faithful Father

Before we discuss characteristics of a faithful Father, I wanted to share something exciting.

While I’m blessed to have contributed to several published anthologies and books, along with devotions and articles, this week CBN published my devotion on their website’s devotional section. I’m so grateful for this opportunity, and give Jesus all the glory and honor for using me to reach others. The devotion link is at the end of this post.

Loving. Caring. Faithful. 

These words pop in my mind when I think of fathers.

And if you know anything about my story, you know my earthly father abandoned me for part of my childhood.

When my dad reappeared in my life, he was a self-proclaimed atheist. He held no belief in God, much less the idea of a heavenly Father who loves us and never leaves His children.

Yet, after sixteen years of praying for him, my dad finally believed in God and accepted Christ as Savior.

Dad passed away in 2010. So, I’m always a little tear-filled, a tad heart-broken, and a bit soul-grieved this time of year. 

Because I miss so many things about my dad. I miss his presence in my life and talking to him. I miss making him a lemon pie on his birthday and Father’s Day. Oh, how I loved him.

Still, I have the honor and privilege to celebrate three fathers every year. My biological dad in heaven, Gene. And my first stepdad, Wendell.

Wendell helped raise me, and he loved me and cared for me exactly the same as his own biological daughter (my younger sister). I still get to see Wendell on occasion, chat with him by phone, and love him dearly.

Both of my earthly fathers will always have a special place in my heart. But, as we honor fathers this month, I also want to highlight my heavenly Father. He’s the third father mentioned, but first in my life.

10 Reasons God’s Always a Faithful Father

(1) He adopts us.

How to Laugh and Play More as a Family

In our hurry-up culture, our fill-every-spot-on-the-calendar life, and our present social media world, we sometimes lose sight of what matters most. And we forget in all the planning and going and doing to spend quality and fun time with our family…those who mean the most to our hearts. 

Because we all need to laugh more, play more, and create more.

But you may wonder how to plan enjoyment for family members including adults and kids of various ages.

Yet, most of us are big kids at heart anyway. 

Even if we’ve been adult-ing all day or all week, what better way to bring out the child in us than by a little creative recreation. 

And sometimes add in extended family like grandkids/grandparents or cousins and their parents.

So here’s a few ideas with the acrostic “family fun.” I hope these activities inspire the laughing and playing often missing from our lives.

Family Playing and Laughing

Fly a kite. While on our beach trip one year, we enjoyed watching a dad and his kids flying a kite near the ocean’s edge. I’m willing to bet it was one of the highlights to their trip. With so many electronic devices in the hands of kids these days, why not show them a different activity by putting a kite in their hands. And take advantage of windy days in our yard or nearby park.

3 Reasons I Refuse to Apologize for My Faith

These days, the world seems to have gone half mad. Sadly, the madness often surrounds the foundations of the Christian faith.

Christian values are ridiculed. Or, spiritual and biblical principles are questioned as valid and relevant or relatable. 

And people (and the enemy) try to convince us truth is relative and up for debate. Or, culture whispers in our ear, We each have our own version of truth—and that’s okay.

But it’s not okay.

If you follow this blog, you know I’ve experienced rude remarks on social media about my faith.

Even my recent social media post where I stated, Jesus is enough! One commenter’s crazy rage mentioned witches and how women need to get back in the kitchen where they belong. 

Then, he said my claim that Jesus is enough! was a terrorist statement. Really? Yet, I refuse to apologize for the foundations of my faith.

But how do we stand firm? I’d like to offer 3 key foundations to never apologize for.

1.) Refuse to Apologize for The Bible and its Truth

10 Wife-Commandments for a Strong Marriage

There are no easy or fast rules for marriage. No unseen code to break.

Also, no scientific formula guaranteeing 100% satisfaction.

But, our heavenly Father provides the answers we need.

Because God created marriage, He helps us manage and sustain our marriages as we submit to His ways…His commandments.

Even more, the Lord possesses all the knowledge to lead our marriage. Yet, our job as a wife is simply to seek God’s knowledge.

Rather than producing our own marriage commandments with good advice, let’s use the truths behind God’s Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:7-21.

So keeping the original thought, while adding a little creative spin, here are ten lessons to supercharge our marriage.

Wife-Commandments to Supercharge Our Marriage

1.) You shall have no other gods before me. After God, our husband is our most important relationship. What “other” things or relationships do you put before God? Then, what about your man?

2.) You shall not make for yourself a carved image…for I am a jealous God. God is jealous for our complete loyalty and whole-hearted devotion. In the same way, our husbands desire a loyal and devoted wife. Sexual and emotional faithfulness, and being your husband’s faithful friend is important. Do you feel you are loving your man with a steadfast, deep, and sure devotion?