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.
So often fear makes us want to turn around and go the other way.
Or we think we must hurry ahead to achieve all the things we want to.
Staying steady, our hand in his hand is often hard. The enemy comes in and tells us that uncomfortable is not the place we want to be. He says “in control” is better.
But, oh beloved what joy is found in surrender.
“For I am the LORD your God, who takes hold of your right hand and tells you: Do not fear, I will help you. Isaiah 41:13
Many of us will describe peace as , something we experience in a particular place or when something hard is absent. And while these might bring about a feeling of peace there are also things we do to gain a sense of peace that are really just distractions. Remove those thinigs and our peace is gone once again. The newest episode of the Seek and Savor podcast will help you find true peace to anchor your heart in. ❤️ Link in my bio.i...
10 years ago we spent our spring break at the beach. Alan’s body had just been buried but I knew he was fully ALIVE. 2 years after that I penned words sharing what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart that day. The truth of them is still breathing life into me today.I find myself growing in the fertile soil of them. I pray they will breath life into you as well, no matter where your heart is challenged in believing today.
“Yesterday as I worshipped I felt Christ brushing past the rubble in my broken heart. In some ways the pain of Alan’s absence can feel fresh all over again. It’s on those days I’m made aware again of how life doesn’t look like I thought it would. The shock has gone. The flashbacks of painful days are fewer and fewer. Yet, I often found myself kneeling in a graveyard of broken dreams, unable to find a vision for the future. As I would walk about seeing others grow old together, I would wonder what that would have looked like and sometimes the new dreams God was giving me felt too BIG or far away. But God…
I felt the Spirit whisper to my heart, ‘The graveyard is the perfect place beloved. I am not daunted by death. No, I conquered it. In fact, you must know something… I Still Move Stones.’ Cue the tears friends. He still moves stones!
Have you ever heard more beautiful words? I can hardly think of any.
Mark 16:4 says, “ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away.” That great big stone that covered the tomb where they lay our Lord’s body had been moved. He came to conquer death. Then He tells us in Romans 8: 11, “ The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you.” At work in us? How is that possible? He is in the business of moving stones. The resurrected one wants to resurrect our hearts. He wants to conquer death on our behalf . Not just once when our earthly flesh fades, but every day! He longs to take the stones of brokenness, sin , heartache and death from our hearts. He wants to move the rubble out of our paths so we can LIVE resurrected lives. Because He lives, we can too.❤️#seekandsavorpodcast #christinus #liftupyoureyes #sundayiscoming...
Lifting up our eyes to our faithful Father changes everything, especially us. Find more encouragement on my Seek and Savor podcast. 💕#seekandsavorpodcast #liftupyoureyes #rejoicealways #lifeafterloss...
We live in a fallen world, people sin, and hurt abounds. But God…. It is the place I am learning to live in. Yes, these things are true. My leg still hurts from an injury back in February and my car broke down on the way to church. But also, a friend painted my kitchen cabinets cream and my son repaired my deck. I find myself savoring more of God’s word, I read books to my grands in silly voices and I get to have conversations about Jesus everyday.
I am standing in faith waiting on God for many things… You are too right? But God. He Still lives and His promises are true. He is not man that He should lie. ❤️ Dear friends, if your heart tends to linger over what has not yet been made whole maybe like me you need the reminder of who God is and what he has done so that gratitude can revive your heart. Don’t miss today’s new episode of the Seek and Savor podcast on this topic. (Link in bio.) Many things may be true, the hard and the beautiful but gratitude can revive your heart. ❤️ #givethanksforlife #thehardandbeautifuljourney #graceupongrace #alwaysrejoice...
Sometimes I wake up and after a quick prayer hit the ground running. All day long it feels like an engine is revving in my heart and mind. I may even be too busy too pay attention to that feeling so I just keep going like the energizer bunny from one thing to another.
When I finally pause in my day I notice feelings like, stress, irritability, worry, or frustration with others. There is a lack of overall peace.
But when I wake up early grab my coffee, spend time “resting” in The Word of God and allowing him to reset my heart, everything changes. He quiets my soul. He replaces lies the enemy has spoken to me with truth. My perspective shifts from a temporary one to an eternal one. When difficult moments come through the day I am more likely to let them roll off my back and choose joy. It’s really other worldly, of course it is! This world is not our home we are travelers passing through. We require food from our native land to sustain us! And, that is what He does He sustains us!
“ Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” Psalm 55:22 #bruisedbutnotbroken #renewyourmind #dailybread #resteasy...
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...
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think....(Eph.3:20) We serve a God of FAR MORE beloved.
Somewhere along the way, whether by fiery arrows of doubt and fear from the enemy or by our own insecurities; this truth becomes threatened.
We begin to think small. We begin to ask for little. We begin to tell ourselves to settle for less. We may even begin to think that we are hoping for too much.
Ah, what welcome relief to know that we serve a God who is able to do far more, abundantly than all we ask or think. And the cherry on the top is the next verse: “According to the power that works within us!” When you follow Jesus and His Spirit comes to live inside you, you have this same power, the power that raised Jesus from the dead. That’s no small thing friend. So let’s dream with God. Let’s set our minds on things above rather than the earth. Let’s ask and seek and knock and do it all for His Glory. #seekandsavorpodcast #hopeforthefuture #renewyourmind...
I love this sweet reminder I stumbled across one day, that joy is found in His Words.
Although I often look for joy in so many other places, no one else’s words have the power to remake me.
Like a surgeon’s scalpel they can precisely strike the place in my heart that is believing something other than the truth.
And when His Word replaces that old lie, new life springs up and with it comes joy!
Oh that we would go to your Word FIRST, when all is not well, Lord! Gives us a hunger for it, so that it becomes our joy and delight! #itiswellwithmysoul #onethousandgifts #seekandsavorpodcast...
We weren’t running to escape something, nor were we running to pursue our dreams. We were simply following God’s still small voice when we moved here 10 years ago this month. He was the one thing we could cling to in a tumultuous season of grief. We left everything we knew but we traveled with the one who knew us before we were born. Make room to hear His still small voice beloved. You won’t regret it. ❤️#seekandsavorpodcast #liftupyoureyes #rejoicealways #hopeforthefuture...
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?...
We serve a God who will not let us go missing. He leaves the 99 to go after the one lost sheep. Sometimes beloved we are lost because we wander. And sometimes we are lost because the weeds grow high, we get distracted and darkness falls all around us. Take heart. Lift up your eyes. And let the stars remind you that he knows your name and he will not let you go missing.
“Lift up your eyes on high, And see who created these stars, The one who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name. Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.” #liftupyoureyes #countthestars #thosewhowander #lightoftheworld Is 40:26...
