BeyondBlessed

It is the day I've been waiting for.  The day after Christmas. That might sound weird to some but others probably know the exact feeling I'm talking about.  All of the things I've told myself that I would do, or get serious about, "after the Christmas busy is done," I no longer have an excuse to avoid. The Main Thing I have been neglecting?  The word "no" to my own self.   We're not talking your average seasonal decadence here.  Mine has been a years-long yo-yo between over-indulgence to full out gluttony.  I am a huge fan of the "eat, drink and be merry" plan of action. Clarification--there is nothing wrong with eating, drinking and being merry for many people.  But for me?  Well, read on =) THE WHY This past year has been strange.  It has been pretty brutal in some ways and of course beautiful in others.  If I had to pick a phrase that could serve as a wrap-up it would be "eye-opening."  The Lord has been so good to...

One sure way to get yourself off of jury duty, or excused from a job interview, is to proclaim that you regularly hear from God.  I'm not sure when communicating with the Lord became a red flag for mental illness but I personally have read some headlines that make me cringe at the things some people have done because they were "told."  Understandable, then, that when I talk to some people about what the Lord is speaking to me or about what I have felt lead to do , there is a pretty apparent uneasiness reflected in those faces. Is it God, or a radio station coming in through my braces? It's too bad.  The truth is that the Holy Spirit speaks to all of us, believers and nonbelievers, all of the time.  A a matter of fact the entire earth speaks to us of God's power, creativity, and authority.  Unfortunately many believers spend so much time waiting for an audible voice from the clouds that they miss the blare of messages all around them. Let me give y...

I want to share with you a prayer that changed my relationship with the Lord forever. In my last post, rather boldly titled "What is the Meaning of Life?” I detailed the story of God opening my eyes to what this life is all about.  I was in my mid teens and the power had gone out at our little house out in the country.  Without music to listen to or TV to watch I resorted to reading.  I don't know where it came from but there was a book in our basement titled  How to be a Christian Without Being Religious.   It explained the gospel to me in a way I had never heard before.  You can read that post  here .   In the many conversations (often late at night around a campfire or on a looooong car ride) with people I've had the good fortune to spend time with, one of the things I hear over and over is, "I just don't know..." or "I can't get over the question that if God is so good why do bad things happen to children?" And many more real...

The meaning of life is to know Him and make Him known . I was asked to speak at a Baccalaureate service for our local high school this year.  For those of you not from the Midwest this is a Church service, typically the same week as the actual graduation, for the graduates who have been raised being taught to attend events out of a sense of guilt.  I was of course flattered that the students would request me to speak...until later that week when a senior told me they voted Mrs. LaVine because they thought I probably wouldn't take the whole 20 minutes allotted to the speaker. Teenagers have a way of keeping a person humble I could not for the life of me remember the last time I even attended a Baccalaureate service, much less what type of inspirational material is typically disseminated.  But I started to think about ALL of the things I wish I would have known then.  The list is quite long.  But that's not how life works is it?  We don't get to ...