This is the place you’ll find hope. The kind of hope that can carry you through those hard places you unexpectedly find yourself in.
I’m no stranger to the hard life throws at us and in the midst of trying to find my way through one of those dark places I heard 4 words deep in my spirit,
“Lift Up Your Eyes.”
It was a gentle reminder from our great God that I needed his perspective instead of my own to walk through my husband’s unexpected journey to Heaven.
Those words carried me and you too if you’ve followed along with me. They also led us to creating the Seek and Savor podcast which equips us to lift our eyes on a daily basis.
I’m Mama to four amazing young adults and Nana to six darling grands with two more on the way.
My sweet husband got to meet his Savior at the age of 47 after a year long battle with brain cancer. We miss him every day.
Life for me, felt like it was ending but God was doing a new thing.
I don’t know where life finds you today beloved, but God, He is all about doing a new thing in us and it begins when we fix our gaze on Him instead of our circumstances.
Life may be filled with hard things dear one, but we were made to do hard and holy things and in the process we become vessels of beauty, fit for the KING.
“My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. ” Exodus 33:14
I’d love to connect with you.
Email me using the form below and I’ll respond soon. I’m also available for speaking events for women of all ages and stages. For a list of topics, please visit my Speaking Page.
Happy Birthday to my Alan! 10 birthdays in Heaven, and it makes me wonder. Is he celebrating being home from his mission on this earth? What is He doing while we remember the gift He was to us, and still is? Ever since he left I have been sharing words with you. Because I feel called by God to share in some small way the “JOY, that is set before us.” Sometimes it’s a joy that wells up and overflows for the taking and other times it must be fought for.
I can make a list a mile long of all the good God has brought about since he left. Because that is our God, good and faithful, chasing us down with His mercy and grace. I can also count the tears that have been shed, how many times we have longed for Alan’s actual presence and the memories we wanted to make with him. The in between, is the place I have learned to live. Holding both joy and sorrow, trusting that when I am weak Christ’s power is being made perfect in me and finding true joy in walking every day with my Savior. When we had to choose the words to mark where Alan’s physical body was laid, I waited a year. I wrestled, I cried but, then I knew…”Alive in Christ.” It was the single most important thing to say and it’s true. This is why we lift up our eyes beloved. It’s why we are not overcome by it all. If life is in between for you beloved, you aren’t alone. ❤️ May I pray for you? #seekandsavorpodcast #lifeafterloss #hopeforthefuture #rejoicealways #griefshare...
Have you ever wondered what it means to LIVE by the words that come from God’s mouth? Matthew 4:4 tells us that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Just like our bodies need bread to continue living, our spirits need the word’s breathed by God to sustain our souls. Breathed by God beloved. Of course it would be these words alone that have the power to actually Revive us.
Revive us according to your word God.
This is how His yoke becomes easy and His burdens become light.
It happens when we fill our hearts with so much of Him, He spills out in the pressing. I want to drip Jesus. Don’t you?...
So thankful for this man my children got to call Dad. He was so selfless always putting our needs above his own. He was faithful and filled our home with laughter. His work ethic and how He used it to serve others and teach our boys how to serve is one of my favorite things. But nothing surpassed His desire to follow Jesus more. I love that my children will always remember waking up to Him in his chair, Bible in his lap and coffee in hand. I wish He was here today to tell him one more time how loved He is and how grateful we are for all the ways He cared for our hearts. Love is more than words. It is laying down your life, your desires for someone else. ❤️ Thank you Father for Alan Dickson. #lifeafterloss #loveisaction #fatherlove #rejoicealways...
I am finishing up 6 months with Lisa Whittle and my Ministry Strong CoHort! We got a couple of days to meet in person, dive even deeper and spur one another on in our callings. What a gift! Doing something like this was a step of faith to Jesus prompting. I am so glad for all the ways He speaks to our hearts. I am grateful for the ways Lisa, asks probing questions, challenges our insecurities and always leads us back to God’s word. I humbled by the women I met and all the ways they build the Kingdom. They are brave, strong, loving, servant hearted women doing hard things and loving people into the Kingdom every day. I am so proud ro have gotten to know them. I am walking away emboldened to keep saying yes and stepping out in faith myself. Thank you to @lisawhittle and her entire team, especially @sarahwoodwrites. Hearing from @melissabryankruger was icing on the cake. 💕 #gratefull #womenoftheword #christianpodcast #joyonthejourney...
It’s ok to take a step back and focus on what is in front of you. Because the truth of it is we only have today once. Tomorrow it will be yesterday. I don’t want to look back and see that I allowed my feelings about what might be happening in “today” to rob me of the GIFT of it. The sheer miraculous gift of what our eyes are seeing and the sounds all around us is evidence that God is here in our midst.
He is with us in the joyful and the mundane. His right hand holds us steady in the hard and His Spirit counsels and keeps our hearts. Quiet your heart beloved. Listen to His still small voice and proceed with courage. ❤️
* More on listening to His voice coming soon to the Seek and Savor podcast.
I’ve been asking the Lord for more. I’m realizing I need Him more than I’ve reached for Him in the past. What I mean by that is, of course we need Him to save us, friends. But, He didn’t just sacrifice His life for ours and stop there.
Psalm 139 says He is intimately acquainted with all our ways.
When my husband went to heaven and the fog of constant grief started lifting, I began to see how very much alone I was..
Who would help me make all the decisions I was used to making with a partner? The ones, we take for granted like; What’s for dinner? What color should we paint the house? Is it time to replace the water heater or should we wait? And the bigger ones like how should I handle a conflict with my child or is it time to sell the house? It only took a few weeks before I had decision fatigue.😰 Then one day out of frustration, I said, Lord, since he’s not here, I need you to do all these things….And you know what? He did. As I waited on Him, he answered. I began asking him to be everything: my counselor, my friend, my physician, everything. So, it was no surprise to me after one particularly stressful week, I came across this verse in my reading.
“The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statues of the Lord are trustworthy making wise the simple.” Ps. 19: 7(NKJV)
There He was again, giving me the perfect prescription for a dry, weary soul crying out for direction.
What do you need the Lord to do for you beloved?
Ask and he will answer. Seek and you will find.
Tag a friend who needs to remember that He wants to be our Everything! #liftupyoureyes #seekandsavorpodcast #heiswithus...
I woke up this morning with these words coming out of my mouth. “Up from the grave He arose.” But they continued… “With a mighty triumph o’er His foes. He arose a VICTOR from the dark domain And He lives FOREVER…” These words are from a song written by Robert Lowry. But my heart claimed them aa my own upon waking. The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus came that we may have LIFE friends! I don’t know the things you may find yourself wrestling with in your everyday life. I don’t know the wilderness season you may find yourself in or the grief that may feel like is breaking your heart. But I do know this good news is bigger than a day! It was for yesterday, today and tomorrow. It will carry you when you feel weary and hide you in the shadow of the Almighty as you wait for deliverance. The good news that Jesus came, He died and He rose from the dead is for EVERYONE! It’s for you beloved. John 14:1 (ESV) “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.“ Psalm 9:10 (ESV) “And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.“...
I can tell you when I’m NOT the happiest, when my thoughts are all about me.
I am the most happy when I forget about myself. That is when I can let go of disappointments, anxiety, or even pride.
When I “Lift Up my eyes” from myself to others and then to God, hope comes, love pours out and I am filled with joy.
This week God gave me a beautiful picture of what happens when we do that! He gave me a choice to give in to the frustration of the moment and how I was inconvenienced or lift up my eyes and give. ❤️ I’ll be hopping on stories this weekend to share what happened so make sure you are following along. ❤️ We always have a choice.
35 years ago today I married Alan Dickson. It is strange when the one you would celebrate this milestone with is in Heaven. It is worth remembering and celebrating. Though it be both bitter and sweet I make space to grieve the things that are not and give thanks for what is. I am a glass half full person. Not because I was born that way but because I have learned to fight the good fight that way. I have learned to endure and lead my heart back to a place of trusting God . It doesn’t mean the grief is gone. It means I can feel everything and land in a place of looking up. ❤️#lifeafterloss #grievingwithhope #onethousandgifts...
More time at home can mean more time to look inside ourselves.
This makes us uncomfortable so we often fill our time with Netflix, music, or anything to distract ourselves.
I love a good movie as much as the next person. But I’m determined to walk out of this season with MORE.
When the Spirit led me to pray this prayer, it took me by surprise! “God please use the dead things to nourish the soil of my heart.” What did that even mean?
We’ve all got them beloved, things that aren’t bearing fruit. But here is the good news! He will use even those things.
Invite Him to turn the soil of your heart. Give it a good weeding. He works all things together for our good
We can trust Him.
Even as we see things slipping through our fingers that we wanted to hold onto.
God is already in the act of bringing life from that.
Can you trust him beloved? What is he asking you to let go? #lifeafterdeath #goodsoil #trustgodsplan...
