The Titus 2:4 Project - Women Mentoring Women

It won’t kill me. Right? Isn’t that what “they” say? What you don’t know won’t kill you. I’m still breathing. How? Because there are some things I don’t know. I don’t know what really happened the night I was drugged and raped. I don’t know the details of his infidelities. I don’t know why he chose drugs and alcohol over his family. I don’t know why my great-uncle repeatedly molested little girls. I don’t know why my parents divorced before my first birthday. And I don’t know why God allowed certain things to happen in my life that were deeply painful—though I don’t pretend my story is the worst one out there. Quite the opposite, actually. Have you ever seen one of those videos where a heart-transplant recipient meets the  donor’s family? I searched for them on YouTube once, and I cried through nearly every one. When the donor’s family listens to the beating heart that once belonged to their loved one—now sustaining the life of a former stranger—when gratitude collides with grief,...

I enjoy talking to people I've never met before.  I start with a warm, genuine smile and a sincere compliment, and just let the conversation take a natural flow, like rain water rushing through the countryside.  On a trip to Key West, Florida several years ago, I exercised this strategy.  We were crowded into a shuttle bus that would take us from the plane to the tiny little airport.  Somehow over the course of the very short ride, I engaged another female passenger and her sister in a conversation about our pedicures.  She had hot pink toe nails with little white flowers...and from there it went to our purses, our dogs, our trip, our names, and by the time we stepped off the shuttle we were Facebook friends.  (And six years later we still are!) Another perfect example, I was at a large park with my in-laws.  Our men were out riding bikes and we girls were responsible for cooking out.  No one remembered aluminum foil...but there was another wo...

There's no doubt that fall is in the air.  It's more than just the golden leaves floating in my pool.  It's the delayed sunrise and the eager sunset.  It's the angle of the sun at midday.  It's the pending harvest and the slow-moving vehicles along country roads. It's the pages on my calendar that beg me to put away my white slacks. Oh, for sure...summer is a fading memory.  And if you have seen any of the ominous warnings about what's coming our way this winter, then you are probably like me, wondering if now would be a good time to pack up and head south...far south!  According to the Farmer's Almanac we should expect our first blast of cold air this month!  The trusted book predicts a winter that will be exceptionally cold.  Bitter cold.  I don't even like the sound of that.  There aren't enough cute sweaters in the world to make me excited about 'bitter cold'.  We heat our home with a wood boiler furnace.  As the...

Today, I am praising God for a victory...one that shows personal growth. When does growth occur?  In the beautiful, sunny days - when blue skies show no hint of rain?  We all know that sunshine is a necessary part of the process, but when we compare a desert to a rain forest, we are forced to admit that growth obviously occurs more prolifically in the rainy conditions than under those sunny, blue skies.  Several days ago, I ran into an old friend who keeps up with me on Facebook.  She asked about the grandkids, and other things she had seen me posting about.  With a huge smile on her face, she shook her head and said, 'Your life is so perfect!' Of course, this caused me to raise an eyebrow at her and chuckle.  'Not exactly.' What she doesn't know is that sometimes, God allows the rain to fall on my spirit, but He does it to bring growth.  Beautiful, necessary growth.  I'm not ashamed of it.  So why doesn't my friend realize that ...

Music speaks the language of the soul.  Victor Hugo once said that "Music expresses that which cannot be put into words, but on which it is impossible to remain silent."  Yep.  That about sums it up. Music is everywhere.  Our phones are like little juke boxes in our pockets.  I love my Pandora app.  It lets me choose stations to listen to based on a particular genre, artist or song.  You can give the song a 'thumbs up' and that song will play more frequently on your station, or you can give it a 'thumbs down' which will remove it from the station completely.  After a few 'ups and downs' your station becomes very customized to your liking.  It's brilliant!  My "Christian Contemporary Radio" station is just about perfected. My husband and son like country music (and so do I), but if you listen to the words, it would seem that all women have long tan legs, ripped-up, tight-fitting jeans, and we all dream of marrying a country boy ...

Proverbs 4:23 is a serious warning about guarding your heart.  To get a feel for how important Solomon believed this was, you must start at verse 20 and read all the way through 27.  The 'heart' is not referring to the organ in your chest pumping blood throughout your body...it's the subconscious mind. Our being is made up of different parts, as referred to in the Bible:    1. the physical body - often referred to as our 'flesh'    2. the mind  - our conscious thoughts    3. the heart - our subconscious thoughts    4. the spirit - the Holy Spirit within us When God says to hide His words in our hearts - that means to dwell on them so much that they are tucked away in our subconscious mind, influencing everything we think, say or do.  That's the part of us that is influenced by the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the things we say to ourselves...that 'self-talk' that we play over and over in our head. How do...