Living as a Victorious Christian Woman

Our church, Calvary Baptist Church in Ottumwa, just spent the entire weekend celebrating our 80th anniversary. Having only been here for 15 years, it was absolutely priceless to hear the stories of its beginnings from some of the people who were here when it began.  It was incredibly convicting to think about those who came before us, the more than 40 people who loved the Lord  so much that they bought a building and met together multiples times a week to worship Him and study His word. This is the legacy that continues today. They bought land, built a brand-new church building, and created a faith family that still believes that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that He sacrificed Himself so we can spend eternity with God.  As I looked at the display table full of original photos, newspaper clippings and programs from events held over the past 80 years, I really began to think about the people who sat in those pews all those decades ago. They thought about t...

Summer doesn't start until next weekend? Then what have we been experiencing for the past month??? Seriously, it's been hot and stormy and very much June in Iowa. But now we'll get to celebrate the official start to the amazing summer season, and I can't wait. Coffee and a book on the deck before it gets too hot, opening the sun roof, and playing some classic summer music on the radio. It's time! I'm so excited about this week's planner layout. It's completely outside my comfort zone, centered around summer washi tapes and large stickers for lists and journaling. The alternating washi tapes are absolutely lovely - palm leaves and beach waves - and the tiny images coordinate perfectly. As of right this minute, there is nothing on my work calendar. No meetings, no calls, no planned anything. That means I'll be open to the possibilities, the opportunities God has already arranged for those five days. Talk about potential in a work day! What's your p...

Blessed  be  God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;  Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 We honestly have no idea what other people are going through. We see the outside, while only God can see the inside. A put-together exterior can convince us that there's no messy backside or backstory that's currently causing heartache and pain. The woman who's smiling in all the pictures may be the same one who's waiting for a phone call about a loved one's health. She needs comfort whether we know the situation or not. The woman who's running a company may be crumbling under the pressure of the seriousness of holding everyone's future in her hands. She needs comfort that she's making wise choices. The woman who's bustling around the sanctuary greeting everyo...

For some reason we love being surprised. Sort of.  Blind boxes and mystery grab bags are nothing new, but they've definitely made an impact recently. Think opening a pack of baseball cards, not knowing what players you'll find inside. That's the anticipation of bags and boxes filled with every conceivable goodie, just waiting to be opened with surprise. I was riveted to a video series of a woman who was determined to find every single object on her list of tiny food items that comes in a blind ball and are arranged inside a tiny refrigerator. She was down to the eggs and must have opened more than 100 balls in an attempt to find that one item while racking up multiples of everything else. People finally started sending her their extra little egg cartons just so she could move on with her life... When I went on a downtown tour last week, two of the three stores I stopped in had a row of mystery jars. The third may have had them, too, but I wasn't specifically looking for...

Nothing says summer like fruity, flavored lemonade. So let's take that cool, refreshing taste and put it where it belongs. In fudge. Stay with me here. It sounds like a strange combination, but this light, fruity fudge is perfect for a hot day. And it won't melt in the sun because you're going to eat it way too quickly for that to happen. Trust me. This fudge recipe is a bit more complicated than the ones I normally use, but the extra steps and ingredients are totally worth it. And using the little packets of lemonade mix that you put in a water bottle as a flavoring and mixing it all with a hand mixer made it super simple. I put it together in less than half an hour, including clean-up time, and had it in the fridge for 2-3 hours. Then it was ready to drizzle and enjoy. And we did. Ingredients:  1 7oz jar marshmallow fluff 1 12oz bag white chocolate chips 3/4 cup butter 1 cup sugar 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream 5 .08oz packets raspberry lemonade drink mix 1 8oz bag white ch...

Danny and I have always said that when we study for Sunday School or youth group lessons, we're really studying for ourselves. The teens just get to listen in on what we've learned and glean something from it. That could not be more true than with our Summer Celebration lessons we're working on for our Psalm 23 study. Think about this ... the Bible was written by ordinary men, writing what God told them to write, each in their own language. They used phrases and word pictures that the people of their time would understand to explain the things of God. Fishermen used fishing analogies, doctors used physical metaphors, and the tax collector talked about money. They used what they knew to share what God wanted them to share. Think about a medical guide - you and I can’t write a chapter about brain surgery because we don’t understand that terminology. We’d get laughed at! But we each have something that we could write a story about it because we know that topic, understand the ...

It's not the first day of summer yet, but it's time for a Summer Celebration! One of the state tourism organizations I'm a member of is having its fifth anniversary and summer conference this week, and I couldn't be more excited. We'll be giving out awards, touring Amana in eastern Iowa, and getting out in the beautiful sunshine to talk about how we're bringing in visitors to the state. It's definitely something we all look forward to every June. So for my planner this week, I covered my pages in everything you love about summer: popsicles, pineapples, sunglasses, pink lemonade (more about that on Tuesday), and all the everything you need at the beach. I combined one of my favorite washi tapes for some cute borders and dividers with two pages from a planner sticker book, and love the way the colors worked together. Alternating large, square images and phrases with small images each day gives them balance while showing off all the things you love about June. ...

Whenever we get a unique cut of meat in our Butcher Box, I immediately go search for a fun and interesting recipe to make it something special. Last month's box had a 2-pound try-tip roast in it, something I'm not as familiar fixing as others. I started by marinating it in a soy sauce-brown sugar based marinade and left it in the fridge for about 24 hours, turning it a few times to make sure it really got in there. Then I seared it, roasted it, and made a sauce for it with the leftover marinade.  The result was a juicy, saucy, perfectly done roast that was a joy to eat. Let me know what you think. Ingredients: 1/4 cup soy sauce 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed 3 Tbsp rice wine vinegar 3 Tbsp garlic, minced 1 tsp sesame oil Salt and pepper 2 Tbsp olive oil 2lb tri-tip roast 1/2 cup water 1. In a large plastic bag, combine the soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper. Add the roast and make sure it is completely coated in marinade. 2. Place the bag and roast in the re...

Oh my goodness, I read the most fun combination of books ever this month. I've heard a couple of times recently that people have discovered the freedom of not having to finish books they don't like. I definitely didn't have that problem this time! The Flipside: How to Invert Your Perspective and Turn Fear Into Your Superpower by Michelle Curran. When a woman who has broken barriers and ceilings and flies military planes upside down gives you advice, you listen. Just reading the stories about Mace's in-flight experience in the Air Force Thunderbirds would have been enough to be a page-turner, but then she adds in life-altering insights about silencing your inner critic and surrounding yourself with the right wingmen, and there was no way I could put this book down. Fabulous! How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin. I'm usually hesitant to read a new book by a new author, but I'm so glad I grabbed this one on impulse. It's a page-turning whodunit that k...

When Danny earned his pilot's license in May, I said that I could not have been more proud of him. Apparently I lied. This weekend he took me for my first flight with him, and I can now say that - really - I've never been more proud of him than I am today. Flight is in his DNA and his history, so it is my absolute pleasure to play just a small part of him becoming a pilot after all these years. Just watching him pull the plane out of the hangar made me cry happy tears, seeing him doing the little things like he's been doing them forever. I've flown many times, even internationally, but never in a plane this small. I was a little concerned that my vertigo would be a problem and that I'd get too warm with no air conditioning in summer. But Danny was amazing in his prep with me (there's even a book for passengers) and did the best briefings and walk-through when we got there. Plus, I get my own headset. And my responsibility was to bring snacks and know the weather...