Salty Zebra

  Dear friends, if God so loved us, then, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us.   1 John 4:11-12  Some of my loved ones have struggled at work with managers that they do not get along with. This has ranged from a situation where the manager is not supportive enough to one where they are outright abusive. When they come to me, my first response is to listen to them and let them know they are heard and loved. I validate their feelings, because that is so important. I’ve learned that in my own life so many times! But, if they are interested in advice beyond a listening ear, which they aren’t always, then we have the talk about loving your enemies.   In Matthew 5:43-48 we read that while we should obviously love those who love us back, the true test of love is when we love our enemies. Not just love them, but pray for them. I’ve noticed both in my life and in th...

  How Do I Love Thee? Elizabeth Barrett Browning How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.     When I was a schoolgirl, this was the picture of love for me. Then again, I was also enamored with Anne of Green Gables who is probably the world’s purest romantic. Here Elizabeth breaks out the ways her love is felt and expressed. It knows no bounds. It is felt in the immense ...

   Today is my 47th birthday! As it approached, I've had a lot of thoughts and feelings come up that I wanted to share here. Maybe some of these things come up for you near your birthday as well?  We have a lot of birthday traditions in my family. Many of these were created by loved ones who have since gone onto glory. In this picture I have a bow from a package on my forehead. My Grandpa McCoy used to always put his bows on the top of his head (there was no hair there so it was easier for him). Inside the cake in front of me, there is a penny. My Grandma McCoy used to stir a penny into the cake batter and then pour it in where no one would know. The person that got the slice of cake with the penny in it was supposed to have good luck! My Grandpa and Grandma are in heaven together with Jesus now and I miss them especially on days like this with so many memories. But I'm also grateful for those memories and the joy they brought into my life.  My Mom and I have birthda...

7:29am - Wake up and attempt to claw my way to consciousness, but failed 8:26am - 0.0/20 points Wake up and take my stability score. I check this each morning and it lets me know where my body is at and how I should pace my day. A 4/5 is pretty good! It is supposed to mean that I have been pacing well lately, and I have been. 8:35 - Actually get out of bed, Use the bathroom and brush my teeth. I used to brush my teeth after  breakfast in the morning, but since I've been wearing a retainer at night (the last seven years or so) I need to brush that and my teeth before I eat. 8:48 - 0.6/20 Fix coffee and breakfast then do my Bible study while I eat, or at least start it... 9:40 - 1.2/20 - Actually starting Bible study after being distracted 10:18 - 1.6/20 - Restarting my Bible study after being distracted (it's really hard to get things done with my husband around sometimes). Switched to the couch where I can sit with my back supported better now that I've finished eating. 11:...

  Now that I've fulfilled my major bucket list trip taking my family to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, where are my dreams taking me? To Australia of course! The land down under has been beckoning me for a really long time, but I never thought of it as being a realistic possibility until recent years. And now my health is getting more challenging, so its possibility seems less and less likely. If this is going to happen, I'm going to have to be really creative !  The first barrier to visiting Australia is the extremely long plane flight . The average flight time is around 18 hours, with some being as long as 35-40 hours with various layovers. I really struggle with the 6ish hour flight to Florida, so I can't imagine how my body would hold up with this! I decided that if I was to fly, I would need to do it in business class, ideally in a lay-flat seat. As you can imagine, this is no small expense, running upwards of $8,000 per person round trip. Since I'd need to...

 No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.  John 15:13-14  How am I laying my life down for my friends? Jesus clearly did this for me. He laid down His Heavenly life, deigning to come to earth and live as a human. He laid down His opportunity for earthly fame and stature, instead choosing to do the right thing over the popular thing. Then He gave up His earthly life, choosing to die a horrible death on the cross, to pay for my sins, so that I could be with Him forever. He did this for me while I was still His enemy, before I was even born, knowing all that I would do apart from and against Him. That is true love. How am I to love like that?   Jesus left His comfortable, perfect place to come down to earth. Where I live is certainly comfortable though I’d hardly call it perfect. My husband is presently in the bathroom stripping and recaulking everything in an ongoing battle wi...

  Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.   John 14:23-24  Sometimes it is difficult for my mind to process great big concepts. Let’s be honest, sometimes it’s difficult to process little ones! I think that in times like these, God often helps me by giving me something more concrete to understand. Today’s verses were difficult for me to grasp, and so God showed me something a little closer to home. Our relationship with God is mirrored in marriage. As Christ loves the church, so a husband is to love his wife ( Ephesians 5:25 ).   In Mark 10:7-9 , Jesus talks about the mysteries of the intimacy of marriage. He says that the man will leave his father and mother, all that he has known during his life, and be joined into a new union, one where he ...