The Lily Letters

Are there any Bachelor or Bachelorette fans out there?  I have to admit it is my guilty pleasure when I do start to watch a season. I find my quick favorites and find myself rooting for them (even if that means NOT ending up with the final rose, because, sometimes, that would NOT be winning for them...). If you watch the series, you also get quite a "drama-infused" dose of in-house cat-fighting, no matter if it is a house of boys or girls. Generally speaking, when they are not getting along with others, there is always one person who eventually resorts to saying, "I didn't come here to make friends. I came here to find my husband/wife."  That may be true, but it sounds like an excuse since they are really getting a bad rap on their character in general for not "playing nice." In life, I am often the one that strives "play nice." In high school, I graduated with the senior superlative of "Friendliest," an honor I am very proud...

If you were to ask the average person, even someone who may not claim to be a Christian the question “What does a Christian believe?” their answers would most likely fall somewhere in the line of: They believe in God They believe in Jesus as the Son of God They believe in love and tolerance They believe in heaven And all of those things are accurate. However, if you were to ask the average person, including many people who do profess to be Christians “How is a Christian supposed to live?” you’d get answers that fall all over the place. Unfortunately, we often don’t do as great of a job living out what we believe and helping others to see how to live it out as we do about saying what we believe. Again, proclaiming our faith is important. But if all we do is proclaim it and tell everyone what to believe, but we don’t live it and show others how, what good is it really doing us… or them? In Galatians 5:1 the Apostle Paul makes this statement: “Stand fast therefore i...

“Nevertheless, they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” -2 Chronicles 12:8 These past few months I have been trying to dive deeper into my position on the board: service. We all have our different roles on the board, but I am lucky enough to have a role that sits clearly in our creed. I have tried to work on defining this role, understanding what it means for our sisterhood and how I can better incorporate it nationally with our sisters, but also with each of us board members. To me, service for our sisterhood has three parts: serving the Lord, serving the community and serving our sisters. Serving the Lord The Lord longs for us, His servants, to be willing to do anything, to seek His plan for us. Each with a unique path given by the Lord himself, our strengths are bestowed upon us in order to do His work. The only request in return is our service to Him. This is not meant as a chore, but as a joy...

As we are all traveling this summer, be it far or near, don't forget to open your eyes!  I know I have been guilty of keeping my head down, getting work done, obsessed with work, obsessed with my screen—that at the end of the day I have felt exhausted and unaccomplished.  I know I have made it a huge goal the last few weeks to open my eyes and see all that God has created.  We’ve gone on walks and I’ve looked up at the trees, closed my eyes and felt the breeze, looked into my loved ones eyes as they spoke, One evening we all went out into the driveway and laid there as rain fell on all of us.  Since I’ve made this intentional change I now go to bed a lot less exhausted and with the realization that I get more done when I take time to notice and thank the Lord for what He has given me.  Lately Landon has gotten into the question phase of life asking where everything comes from and who made it—and it made me realize when every answer was “well God made that” ...

May always seems to fly by each year. It's the season of weddings, graduations, showers, and loads of other social milestone events (Hey, Convention 2018! I see you!). Amidst the chaos of buying gifts and orchestrating how I can attend as many as I can and how I am going to get there and there, I often don't have the option to slow down. When we are in busy seasons, how do you take the time to slow down? Jesus' life was full of busy seasons, especially during his three years of open ministry. Loads of people followed him like a celebrity before the advent of paparazzi. Often times, he was called upon by the sick, the poor, and even his own disciples for guidance and direction. Given his fully human nature, I suspect he was susceptible just like us to exhaustion and overload. Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert (or apparently even an "ambivert"), having time alone with God is important to get our hearts and minds and physical bodies in the right positi...

Cast all your anxiety on [God], because he cares for you. - 1 Peter 5:7 (NRSV) Several years ago, I decided to start living in a healthier way. After eating better and exercising I lost a total of 50 pounds. I slept better, my knees and feet stopped hurting, and my cholesterol dropped. Bud I didn't know how big a difference I'd made until I went on a backpacking trip. We hiked 18 miles in three days with all of our supplies on our backs. My pack weighed 50 pounds. As I walked along the trails, I was amazed that I had carried that same amount of weight every day for years. Just as I was carrying too much physical weight, many of us are weighed down by guilt and shame. Broken relationships leave us clinging to grudges. The weight of our struggles piles on so gradually that we often don't realize how it is affecting us. We are not designed for this weight! As we take a closer look at ourselves, we can find weights to lay down. Today's verse reminds us that giving ...

I struggled to come up with a devotion ‘worth’ sharing with you ladies since the last meeting.  I’m not one to remember bible verses off the top of my head (though I try), I don't have many ‘christian’ songs in my music iTunes account, and to be honest my usually confident frame of mine melts into mush when I have to share a devotion or take about what I think a verse means.  So that being said this devotion came out of a 3pm shower I took today.  I was thinking maybe I should share something poignant to the family crisis we’ve been having over the last 5 months, or the health struggle I’ve been going through for the past two years, or even more recently the sad, and for me, completely imaginable event that unfolded in Florida this past week.  As I thought one word kept popping into my mind, community.  Every where there has been tragedy or struggle in my life, it has also been coupled with community.  When I was in middle school my dad was very sick, st...

I love New Years… The fresh start… the new beginning… even hanging up that fresh new calendar that has yet to be filled with a year’s worth of life events! I’m not so much of a resolution maker as I am a goal setter, but I love looking out into a brand-new year, thinking about all the things I’ll do different or accomplish this year. The first week or so of each new year are always great. I eat more fruits and vegetables. I get more activity in my day. I cut back on the sugar. But I set other goals too. Goals like be a better wife, spend more quality time with my kids, be kind in all situations, get in God’s word more, you know, in general just to live a life that brings glory to my Heavenly Father. I do great for the first week or two, but as the “newness” of the new year turns into just another week of winter, I find myself being busy doing everything but the goals I set… Snapping at the hubby because I’m trying to cook dinner and he came home late, doing laundry over coloring ...