November 27, 2015

Is Home truly where the heart is?

What if your heart is in two different places? I love our home here in Idaho. The house has many aesthetic features I never thought I’d own and the Treasure Valley is beautiful as well. Boise is known as The City of Trees and is edged by the Boise and the Owyhee Mountains. The climate is mild, relatively speaking for a northwestern area. We have almost two hundred days of sunshine a year. Considering we do have three months of winter, that’s a lot of sunshine.

The other plus, Idaho doesn’t harbor painful memories as my hometown in Oregon does. I don’t drive around a corner and get slapped in the face by a reminder of one of many heartaches. Both the climate and the environment is healthier for me here in the Treasure Valley of Idaho.

However, my closest friends and family are in Oregon, a seven-hour drive through deserts and mountains without the benefit of a freeway and very few towns. The distance is marked in hours from one landmark to another. It is a trip no one takes on a regularly, only once a year, maybe twice at best.

November 20, 2015

Stay or Leave?

Photo by nenetus at Freedigital Photos.net           
Many of us face that question at some point in our lives. The bad boss, the abusive spouse, the not-so-good friend, the negative church or social group, how long do we stay? When is it time to shake the dust off our shoes and move on? Scripture states after taking a great deal of verbal abuse, Paul and Barnabas “shook the dust from their feet in protest” and left the city. Acts 13:51.

How do we balance our Christian directive to love our enemies and discern when it is time to leave? I can’t speak for others, only for myself, but I personally believe it’s time to leave when it becomes obvious the other person does not intend to change and will continue the abuse. 

It takes me a long time to give up on a relationship, too long. I gave seven years to my ex-husband, leaving only when he held a pillow over my face until I quit struggling. I should have left long before that, but I believed it was “until death do us part” ― regardless.

When my ex fell asleep, I took our two boys and ran from the house.

November 05, 2015

The Unexpected Void of Retirement

Photo courtesy of  Sira Anamwong at FreeDigitalPhotos.net      
It began with a friend posting a picture of a calla lily on Facebook. Then, another friend posted a picture of a national park an hour’s drive from my hometown with two rainbows arched across the stormy sky.

It continued with a silly game that pulled random scripture verses which supposedly match your profile. My verse was Psalm 91: 14: “Because he hoped in me I will deliver him: I will protect him because he hath known my name.”

Then the next morning Psalm 27 was listed in my devotions. 

So, what exactly does all this mean?