Salty Zebra

   It's 5 o'clock - do you know what's for dinner? This was the question that plagued me day after day for years. I had shopped diligently and filled the fridge, pantry and freezer, but when it came time to fix something to eat I was stuck in analysis paralysis. Instead of embracing the opportunity to provide a healthy meal for my family to sit around the table together and eat, I was dreading the decision, and I often put it off for as long as possible. Then, inevitably, at the last minute I would want to make spaghetti or tacos, but the meat was still frozen. Too many times I caved into asking my husband to pick something up or having pizza delivered. Not only is this expensive, it wasn't the healthiest option either. So what was the turning point for me and my family? Meal planning.  If you've been following me for any length of time, you've probably picked up that I'm a planner by nature, so this fits right in with how God made me. In more recent years, ...

  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5  My son is a mechanic. When he comes home from work, he is covered in dirt and grease and brake dust. It is embedded in his eyebrows, streaked across his cheeks, and coating everything from the edge of his t-shirt to the beds under his finger nails. He doesn’t even notice it. He looks just like everyone else he works with. I often ask if he wants to wash up before dinner. He looks at me sideways, as if that is a very strange thing to say. He has no idea how filthy he is!   I think we are all very much like that. Before Christ, we thought we were pretty good people probably. At the very least, we weren’t as bad as some. We (mostly) obeyed the law. We opened doors for people with their arms full or let someone cut in front of us on the freeway when they clearly needed to exit. Really...

  I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.   Ephesians 1:17  That you may know Him better. I have known my husband for more than 32 years now. When we first met, we would spend hours on the phone together, well into the wee hours of the morning. We exchanged notes (we were in high school at the time) daily, most of which I still have. You would think that after those many, many hours of getting to know him, I would really know him inside and out. Hardly! If this was the case, then when we became adults and began to make our home together, things would have gone swimmingly. Instead, it was like I was living with a completely different person! As we progressed in marriage and children, new parts of him appeared, and old ones were emphasized. Each different challenge we faced in life brought out a different part of his personality. We continued those long cha...

Image Credit: AphantasticDesigns - find them on Etsy    Sometimes life isn't ideal. Let's face it, most of the time it isn't! So, we do what we need to, to make things work. In my "Making It Work" posts, I share life hacks and ideas that have helped me so that, maybe, they can help someone else too. I hope you enjoy!  Over the last year or so I've been noticing a troubling trend. When I finish fixing dinner, I am often too exhausted and in too much pain to eat it. I have found that being on my feet for that length of time (1-2 hours typically) puts a great deal of stress on my spine in all the wrong places. Yes, I've tried body positioning, lifting my foot onto a step, moving as much as possible, and stopping to stretch as I go. None of it has helped. I was getting worried that I would have to give up fixing meals for my family (not sure what we would do then!) when I saw a wonderful post put up by Chronically Jenni on Instagram. She uses a saddle stool ...

  I love cruising, in case you hadn't already guessed. When I board a cruise ship, it feels like I'm coming home in the best possible way. I sleep better. I feel better. I eat better. Cruising is my happy place. And the beach house , that too 😉. I just love being on or near the water. I love the sound of the ocean and the way the ship moves on it. I even enjoy rough seas - until I don't. Nothing on earth is perfect! So in this season of uncertainty with my husband out of work, how am I going about planning, or even hoping for time on the water? Very carefully!   I'm in an interesting spot of not knowing. I don't know when my husband will get a new job, or what it will be like. In the past, he's been able to work from wherever we're at, so planning a trip wasn't as tricky. He'd just bring his computer and his headset, and we'd go. Now I don't know if he'll work remotely or in an office or even in a hybrid situation. I'm not sure what ...

  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,   Ephesians 1:13  When you join a club, there are often markers that you gain to signify your membership. Take AAA for example, many people will end up with an AAA sticker on the back of their vehicle once they’ve signed up and paid their dues. A more permanent example would be a tattoo someone gets when they join a gang. These are outward signs that the world can see to identify you with a group or cause. When you accept Christ as your Savior and join the family of God, you don’t get a sign imprinted on your forehead telling everyone – but that doesn’t mean that people won’t know. You see, as a Christian, you now have the Holy Spirit living within you. That is your seal, your marker of belonging. While you may not be able to see Him in someone as markedly as a tattoo, you will still se...

  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,   Ephesians 1:7-8  Slavery. It’s a dark word with dark imagery and connotations to it. It drips with evil. When I hear the word, I think of ships full of people making their way across the ocean – tossing them overboard when they expire from sickness or starvation. I think of plantations filled with people picking cotton all day in the scorching sun until their hands bleed. I think of children corralled in a factory sewing buttons onto clothing. But just like these people, past and present, I too was a slave – to sin. It’s darkness surrounded and entrapped me. It clouded my reasoning and kept me from what was good. Just when I was about to escape its grasp, it would pull me back under, as if I was drowning in its sea of deception.   Jesus saw me there. He recognized my plight and knew the o...

   My husband recently received his severance check from work (he was laid off in May but given two months as a paid employee following that), and my job is to find the best way to help that check continue to grow, while also keeping it fluid and useable. In the past when we had extra savings to set aside, like for retirement, we would invest it or put it into a Certificate of Deposit (CD). My husband has actually done a fabulous job setting up laddered CDs that each have a 1-year term and mature every month of the year for our backup fund. That way they are earning money, many of them 4% or better, but we can still access it at least once a month. With little or no income coming in (unemployment hasn't materialized yet) though, we'd like to keep this severance money even more readily available. Thankfully, God recently taught me about High Yield Savings Accounts.  You can read about these on the Doctor of Credit site or Nerd Wallet , but I'll break down the basics for y...

  For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love   Ephesians 1:4  Do you ever feel like you’ve messed things up beyond recovery? Do you feel like there is hope for others, but not for you because of how bad things have gotten? Does the situation you’re in seem hopeless? The pain unending, the diagnoses one after the other worse and worse? Is it not just up to you, everyone around you seems to be against you? I have really good news for you today. God knew every aspect of everything you’re facing today and already worked out a plan to deal with it – before the beginning of the world!   That’s right, before He spoke the words, “Let there be light,” ( Genesis 1:3 ) he already knew the names, faces, and hearts of every soul that would inhabit the earth. He already knew what we would be like, how we would react to situations, and if we would be open to loving Him. He knew that we, as humanity, would turn against ...

  I’ve spoken to many people who think they are too far from God, too sinful, too dirty to accept Jesus as their LORD. Paul was one of those people, but he didn’t even know it. In fact, he thought he was serving God as he set out to arrest Christians and haul them back to Jerusalem for punishment ( Acts 9:1-2 ). He thought he was serving God as he stood watch over people’s coats as they stoned Stephen, an early leader in the church ( Acts 7:58 ). After meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus ( Acts 9:3-8 ), Paul went on to write much of the New Testament (13 out of 27 books) in the form of letters to the various churches in which he recognizes that he was a terrible sinner, even the worst of sinners, and that Jesus saved him anyways ( 1 Timothy 1:15 ).   This “worst of sinners” became an apostle of Christ. What is an apostle you might ask? This isn’t a word we use much today outside of religious history references, but it is a gifting of the Holy Spirit originally attached to ...