enLIVEn Devotionals

Abiding in Jesus - Overflowing His Spirit

He’ll Never Leave

My youngest son, Samuel, is at a stage where he doesn't like me to be out of his sight all that much (funny how you can take the littlest things for granted...like going to the bathroom by yourself). A lot of times I will come into the living room after a quick 30 second trip up and down the stairs to find him hanging onto the toy box and crying as if I had left him for good. I quickly pick him up and hold him close, kissing away his tears and murmur in his ear, "Mama loves you. Mama would never leave you. Mama would never leave..." He finally calms down and gives me a big watery, ... Read the Post

Sweet Tea

Do you struggle with keeping God's word on your mind and by extension in your conversation? The Lord put this in my spirit to share. When you fix a cup of tea, you want to make it tolerable. The leaves are medicinal and benefit your body, but the taste is most often bitter and unpleasing to the palate. Our life experiences and our stories can be the leaves. God told me that His word is the sweetener. Without it we can be intolerable to people. So how does something so bitter become sweet? God's Word when submerged into our lives and swirled around several times by reading it daily makes our ... Read the Post

Peace During the Storm

When it came time that delivery was imminent, I was dilated to 6cm and I knew it wouldn't be long. It was now time for me to allow myself to visit my feelings of loss. I was scared. I didn’t know what to expect. What was it going to be like to deliver a lifeless baby? Would they let me hold her immediately like my previous deliveries? How would I deal with this? My husband and I named her Anna Catherine. As I thought about her, I begin to cry and grieve; but, God stopped me in my tracks. I closed my eyes and there I went for a chat with God. He reminded me of how the disciples didn’t ... Read the Post

214 Miles

Eleven weeks ago I could run maybe two miles without stopping. In the past eleven weeks I have run 214 miles in preparation for my first marathon. Let me tell you every one of those miles tells a story of its own. Some of those stories are fun and others are full of pain. This past weekend I ran eighteen miles. During a long run, many things can happen both good and bad. The beginning of this long run was amazing. My legs were pumping and eating up the ground like a kid does chocolate cake. I had an amazing attitude and was laughing and talking to my running mates, but by mile twelve ... Read the Post

With This Mouth I Thee Wed

I remember thirty years ago, I was sitting in my old home church listening to Reverend Ayo, an African evangelist, preaching about being careful with the words that come out of your mouth. The title of the message was "Change your language." I've recently had an a-ha moment about my faith walk. I speak to my mother pretty regularly over the phone. A few weeks ago I shared that I had a job interview and was contacted shortly thereafter to be told that I wasn't the right fit, not enough experience, etc. In my gut I knew those reasons were fluff. What the interviewer failed to say was my ... Read the Post