Gather The Broken Pieces

When adult coloring first became a thing, I was beyond skeptical. I mocked it as a waste of time. I had been an avid colorer as a child, but the whole concept of an adult sitting down to color pictures seemed ridiculously lame. Obviously these people who claimed it was relaxing simply had nothing better to do with their time. Over the past couple of years, my judgmental annoyance of this "new" hobby of adult coloring gave way to acceptance and then finally took the leap into participation. Yes. I now color pictures. As an adult. And it IS relaxing. I'm notoriously good at being very wrong about things, and this is a perfect example. My current coloring book is filled with scriptures that have decorative backgrounds. Flowers are a common theme throughout the book. Something occurred to me the other day as I started a new picture.... I always color the leaves first. I always pick up a green coloring pencil and set to work on the leaves, vines, and branches before even g...

I saw a post on Instagram by Shelley Giglio almost a week ago that proposed a challenge: what if we read these verses from Psalms over our lives every day for thirty days, because in thirty days you can form a habit and if these words become habit for how we think of our lives, imagine what can happen. "Lord, You alone are my portion and my cup; You make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken." - Psalm 16:5-8 I loved this idea and immediately took a screen shot of the verses and decided that I would indeed read these verses over my life each day. I desperately need this reminder, and not just when I happen to come across Psalm 16 during my quiet time. I need to intentionally remind myself of the truth in these words. Why? Because so much of ...

"My tears have been my food day and night, while all day long people say to me, 'Where is your God?'" - Psalm 42:3 "Raise your voice loudly. Raise it, do not be afraid! Say... 'Here is your God.'" - Isaiah 40:9b The dark will try to tell you that God is not near. One of the worst things about depression is how it tries to isolate you...not just from people, but also from God by making you feel like He is far away. The dark is lying. God is here...right with you, right within reach. He has not left, He has not turned away, He has not forgotten you. When I walked through my depression, one of the questions I continually wept-prayed (yes, that should be a word) was "Where are You?!" The darkness that surrounded my mind and heart made it incredibly difficult to know that God was near. Because if He is, why is it so dark? Why so much pain and hurt? How can He be near me when I feel like I'm drowning? But He was. He never left my side. N...

I saw this picture on Instagram a couple of weeks ago. It's a magnificent shot of a bridge in Vietnam. I think it's amazing the amount of time and effort that was put into designing and then building such a complex structure. But more than that, I think it's amazing that God can use a random picture of a bridge to speak life to a tired soul if I take the time to listen. Ever since I saw this picture, my mind keeps being drawn back to it. The hands captivate me. They remind me of God's hands. And the bridge itself reminds me of the road I walk and how it's held up by the hands of my God. Notice how the bridge turns. The people walking along on the far left or right of the picture can't see what's around that turn. Anything could be waiting for them around that bend - good or bad - and they won't see it clearly until they're there. Just like in life. The road we were on that we thought was straight starts to bend and turn in ways we didn't expe...

I love the idea of having a word for the year...a word that speaks something special to your soul, a word you want to chew on for that entire year. My word for 2018 has been "remain." I didn't choose this word; I believe God chose it for me. "Remain" has been pressing into me since the beginning of this year, even before I realized how much I would indeed need to remain throughout the coming months. John 15:4 records Jesus saying "Remain in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me." Remain... Stay with. Cling to. Abide in. Hide within. Even when my heart felt like it was breaking. Even when depression raised its ugly head and fought against my mind. Even when unexpected things came up and my life got flipped upside...

"God doesn't stop providing. He's constant in the provision, whether we see it or not. It's just that sometimes He starts providing differently, depending on what we need for the moment." - from Come Matter Here by Hannah Brencher. I've seen this truth playing out in my life over the past couple of weeks. I highlighted these words on the day I started reading the book, never dreaming of what was about to unfold in my life or how much I would have to trust this. On June 10th, my aunt fell and badly injured her hand. She lives with me, so I needed to take some time off work to help her since she was not able to use her dominant hand at all. I didn't really think much of taking the time off at the time. I assumed a week or two would fix everything, that her hand would heal quickly, and then life would return to it's normal flow. However, the injury was worse than I had thought. It led me to take more time off and then more again. Finally, still unable t...