#BlessinginObedience by: Julie Wicker
One of the more known stories of the bible; Moses parting the red sea for the Israelites to escape Pharaoh’s captivity. I love that right before the miraculous parting of the waters we are told to be still; “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to BE STILL” Ex. 14:13-14. What I really want to dive into today, is the blessing we find in our obedience. The parting of the red sea did not happen until Moses took an act of faith and stretched out his hand over the red sea; “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all the night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong, east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided” Ex. 14:21.

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#joyfulobedience by: Julie Wicker
On January 1st I saw an example of a “Joy Jar” on Pinterest. When I returned to work after Christmas break, there was a mason jar, free to a good home. I immediately took that as a God wink and started my Joy Jar. The scripture I chose to use is 1 Chr 16:8;12 give thanks to the Lord, remember the wonders he has done. This meant so much to me since, Christmas Eve we got the news my Dad was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer. Since that diagnosis, my motto has been “Finding Joy in the Journey”.

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#Coffee&Jesus by: Julie Wicker
I love Coffee and Jesus, probably too often in that order. I go to the Lord daily during my morning routine of Coffee and Jesus. As probably many Christians, am I just going through the motions or am I truly going to the Lord with my undivided attention and getting my cup filled? How can God fill our cups to the brim, overflowing with his redeeming love and grace if I am only giving half of myself to him. We read in Psalm 23:5, our cups will overflow with blessing once we rest in his presence as we read in Vs. 2; “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters”.

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#ShineYourLightin2019 by: Julie Wicker
My scripture for 2019 comes from Eph 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. Some inspiring words that I plan to adopt for 2019, came from a recent post of Toby Mac’s; “Never speak words that allow the enemy to think he is winning”. Just as we are God’s handiwork and with Toby Mac’s inspiring words, we need to be positive influencer over ourselves, our family, our community, and our social network because we are here for a purpose. Which leads to my word for 2019; INFLUENCE!

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#2019wordoftheyear by: Deborah Ard

I am a planner. I get most excited when I have a new calendar that is blank and ready to be filled with my plans. I find satisfaction when I am able to take time over the weekend to map out our family’s schedule and meals for the upcoming week. I delight in having everything ready for an upcoming event in our family life. But why do I do all the planning? What is my intention?

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#2018Blessings by: Julie Wicker
As 2018 comes to an end, I reflected on my blog post called “Lets Rejoice” posted December 2017. In that post I shared with you my word for 2018, “Rejoice” and my mantra, “Be Brave”. Wow has God shown off this year. The scripture that comes to mind is; Isa 55: 8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than yours and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

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#timetoreflect by: Deborah Ard
It’s that time again. This year is coming to a close and the New Year is approaching. As 2018 is ending, let’s each take some time over the next few weeks to reflect on our year. As you may know, Julie and I started a practice several years ago of choosing a “word of the year” to focus on. So I have been reflecting on 2018 through the lens of my word hospitality. My goal for 2018 was to be more hospitable and to teach my children to also be aware of practicing hospitality. However as I look over the year, the greatest lessons in hospitality did not come from me or my demonstrating hospitality. Instead, our family was on the receiving end of a most gracious act of hospitality.

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