Louder Than the Voices

 I was posed with a question this week, several questions actually. Things that made me really think. I have been working with a life coach to become a better leader and supervisor at work. I personally believe it is helping as I saw changes in me when I spent the day in one of our outreach offices with some of our staff yesterday. It is not only changing me as a leader though, it is changing me as a person. Through this process, I am learning to peel the onion so to speak. I am learning that there are things I can delegate to other people, and there are things I need to pay more attention to than I have been. I honestly walk away from each session knowing I have learned more about myself than I thought I could.  This month, I was gently reminded that this very blog is one of the ways I let my light shine for Jesus. My coach asked me this week about my faith. I told her I was one of those babies that the first place I ever went in public was to church. I told about the trials ...

 Good Morning!     I have been gently coaxed into getting a blog post done so here I am. It isn't that I don't have great ideas for blogs, it is that I just haven't taken the time to do it. I get to thinking it's not that big of a deal and that nobody really reads it anyway. And then I thought, Oh my goodness, what if God thought that way about us when he inspired the writing of the Bible. Let's face it, He knew there would be many houses that doesn't even have one in it, many houses that it is sat on the coffee table to gather dust and many houses that it gets put someplace between Sundays. But He also knew there would be those that it was the first thing they laid their hands on every morning, the last thing they touched before going to sleep and the item they turned to when their world was crumbling. Ironically, my first instinct was to say, "it was for those people that He kept writing". But I believe that is a wrong assumption. I believe He really...

 Good Saturday morning!          Hope everyone has had a wonderful week. I have, except for the slight (understatement of the year) overexposure to the sun yesterday at a golf outing. I have been on vacation a little. Most people know I work two jobs. I have my absolute passion job for ERBA, I do it because I love it deep down to my toes and I feel it is what God put me on earth to do. I also work for TEAM ITS, which is my fun job. I do the marketing and digital media services and it reminds me so much of the days of scrapbooking and creating fun events for Robert and his friends growing up. I took this week off from ERBA -okay, I took Tuesday, Thursday (except for a trip to the Newton office) and Friday off from ERBA so I could get ready for yesterday's activities, the Effingham Chamber Golf Outing. We were sponsoring the first hole so I got to greet everyone and tell them about us before they started getting upset with their golf swing. It was a good time...

 So, it is that time of year again. The day all of us compare ourselves to the 21 verses in the Bible that tells how to be the perfect wife and mother. I have spent many years reading that passage and looking at how short I fall. And for some reason, God finally pointed out a couple of things to me. And I want to pass them on.  So, just as a refresher here is Proverbs 31:10-31 A wife of noble character who can find?      She is worth far more than rubies. 11  Her husband has full confidence in her      and lacks nothing of value. 12  She brings him good, not harm,      all the days of her life. 13  She selects wool and flax      and works with eager hands. 14  She is like the merchant ships,      bringing her food from afar. 15  She gets up while it is still night;      she provides food for her family    ...

 Good morning!          So, the blog is on autopilot a little this morning. I haven't been back long enough to feel comfortable just taking a day totally off but my shingle says I am enjoying the Spoon River Drive with some great friends today, so I am giving a quick devotional on remembering to take downtime. It seems like this past year, all the things that I considered downtime has been scarce. Perfect example, we normally go to Spoon River in October, and we couldn't. I will guarantee you, I worked that day instead of taking some down time.      I always love thinking about the fact that God created our whole world in six days and what did he do the seventh? He rested. Have you ever really thought about that? God is perfect. Does He really get tired? I don't think so. I think He rested the 7th day to show us that WE need that rest.  So, I want to just quickly remind you that rest isn't a suggestion from God, it is a commandment. " Si...

 I saw a meme this week on facebook that kinda stopped me in my tracks. It's amazing to me that I am 53 years old and something that I have battled with my entire life can give me an ah-ha moment. This did though and so get ready for an old fashioned, typical Louder than the Voices devotional. So, yes, all of these are true, but anyone who knows me knows that I have struggled all my life with obesity, so that one is the one that stopped me dead in my tracks. Being fit is hard. Going to the gym, making your body move each day, keeping things flexible, and strong, that isn't easy. My best workout time is 5:00 in the morning. In a perfect world, I would go to the gym at 5 and be there until 6:30, and that is exactly what I did pre-COVID. Now, our gym officially opens at 6 and for me to get to work on time, I have to be out of there at 6:30. Fortunately, a couple of the workers know there are a bunch of us that way and so they are there at 5:30, it is a compromise, but I long for t...

 Good morning! I made it! A couple hours later than I planned, but still...The cat was snuggly this morning, so I think he was telling me I needed that extra sleep, lol. This week has been a good week at our house, my mom hasn't been in the wheelchair since Monday, and is weaning very quickly from her braces for both her arm and leg. I think she is doing great. We start therapy Monday. My father-in-law had a scare last weekend that would have just seemed like too much to handle since we lost my brother-in-law on Easter. Fortunately, from the time he left the little ER in the town they live in  to the time he got to the actual hospital, the diagnosis changed drastically. We had called our church's prayer chain. I have no doubt but what God moved a mountain because his people prayed. I have gotten a lot accomplished and so have the guys, good week in a nutshell. One of those that you just kinda live through and don't really realize how thankful you should be. Robert had a pin...

It's me again, hopefully I am back.  Yes, it has been a long time. I look back at this last year and I am a little disappointed in myself for not taking the time to post. I would think about  it, know what I wanted to say and then just not get it done. I always have this theory that no matter how busy life gets, we take the time for the things we really want to do and yet I didn't write. I miss my Saturday morning coffee and blogging, so here I am. So, I was looking back at where I derailed myself and was trying to figure out what happened.  Have you ever forgotten who you are? I was hypnotized at a banquet a couple years ago and for the life of me I couldn't tell you my name. A simple word brought it all back pretty quickly and I even remembered not being able to remember my name. As we grow through life, I think it is easy to lose track of who we are. Don't get me wrong, I pretty well love my life, in all its craziness but there are times I need to focus on who I am v...