Female in Motion

Last week, I went to visit my mom. I listened to my favorite station, The House FM, on the way. I took time to pray for all my friends who are facing hard times. As the next song came on the radio, I smiled. It was Shackles , by Mary, Mary. My mom and I heard them perform this song two years ago at a Women of Faith conference in Kansas City. It seems like there is so much suffering now: sickness, pain, persecution; yet I know that God is faithful. So I choose to praise Him through all the trials of life, because I have a choice. Give me Jesus. Mom and I are going to the Women of Faith One Day event in Wichita on Saturday. Mom says she's ready to get her batteries recharged. Me, too. Romans 8:28 (KJV) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Jeremiah 1:6-9 (KJV) Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. Jonah ran when God chose him to go preach in Ninevah. Moses said "Who am I?" when God told him to lead His people out of Egypt. God had to strike Paul blind on the road to Amaeus to get his attention. Why did God pick the most implausible subjects? Because He always uses "the least of these." No one would be surprised if our Heavenly Father chose a great speaker, a brilliant politician, or a charismatic actor to do His Work. God is just not that predictable. In order to point people to God, and not a man or woman, He chose the mos...

Have you ever faced a daunting challenge and said, "Lord, I don't know what you have in mind, but this is way too scary for me?" Well, this short video is just a reminder to do something dangerous for the Lord today. If you take the first step, He'll be right beside you. So go ahead, jump off the cliff! See what God can do.

Hebrews 5:12-14 (KJV) 12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Is this scripture about food? Nope. It's talking about the Bible. I believe this says that new Christians should learn the basics of the faith, i.e., the Gospel. After the foundation is set, then we can chew on the tough issues that face us today, using the Word of God to guide us. My niece is pregnant with her first child. She's so excited and can't wait to see her new son. As much as she wants to take care of her baby, she doesn't want him to stay an infant forever. He will grow beyond the nutrition that...

Our congregation sang this beautiful song, with words by Gloria Gaither, last Sunday. It has stuck with me through the week, comforting me as I journey. May it bless you, as well.

I got my hair cut last week. Funny thing about cancer. Your life doesn't stop. You get up, go to work, clean your house and grocery shop. When you're sitting in the doctor's office and in the quiet puddles of midnight, that's the time when cancer is real and dangerous. While shampooing my hair, my stylist recounted the tale of her son's bicycle accident, which sent him to the emergency room (and sent his mother through the roof!). At the end of the story, she jokingly added, "Beat that!" And that's when I told her I had breast cancer. Boy, that's a conversation killer. Erica's eyes filled with tears. "No, no, not you!" she cried, as I hugged her tight. This is the ritual I go through every time I have to tell someone in my life that I have breast cancer. The hardest people to tell have been my mom and daughters. It cuts to the bone when you have to hurt loved ones. I feel so bad for them; that they have to go through this. When you...

This poem was sent to me by my cool cousin, Brett Carter. He lives in western Kansas and is a husband, father, poet, jazz enthusiast, deep thinker and truck driver. One of my favorite poets is Robert Frost, and this is what Brett sent to encourage me in my cancer battle. Birches by Robert Frost, 1969 When I see birches bend to left and right Across the lines of straighter darker trees, I like to think some boy's been swinging them. But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay As ice-storms do. Often you must have seen them Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning After a rain. They click upon themselves As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel. Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust-- Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen. They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load, And they seem not to break; though once they ...

Job 42:9-13 (KJV) 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job. 10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. 12 So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. Job's life wasn't perfect. Yeah, that's an understatement. He was tested and tried, beaten and bruised, depressed a...

I had to share this poem I received from my mom yesterday in the mail. It was sent by my cousin, Mary Barlow Bell, of Carrollton, MO. I AM THERE by James Dillet Freeman Do you need Me? I am there. You cannot see Me, yet I am the light you see by. You cannot hear Me, yet I speak through your voice. You cannot feel Me, yet I am the power at work in your hands. I am at work, though you do not understand My ways. I am at work, though you do not recognize My works. I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries. Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me as I am, and then but as a feeling and a faith. Yet I am there. Yet I hear. Yet I answer. When you need Me, I am there. Even if you deny Me, I am there. Even when you feel most alone, I am there. Even in your fears, I am there. Even in your pain, I am there. I am there when you pray and when you do not pray. I am in you, and you are in Me. Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me, for only in your mind are the mists of ...