Salty Zebra

Disclaimer: I am not a financial professional nor formally trained in any way. The information in this post is designed to inspire, not direct you. I highly recommend working with a financial advisor, like my amazing one,  Josh Collier , when dealing with your family's investments. Photo credit: Dee Jones of Open Door Photography  She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.  Proverbs 31:16   I don't know how much thought you've given to the field that the Wife of Noble Character in Proverbs 31 bought, but it's been on my mind lately. This wise woman saw a field that she thought would bring benefit to her family and she bought it. First off, this means that her husband saw her wisdom and trusted her with the family's finances so she had money available to buy a field, that's not nothing. But then we get to the part where out of her earnings she planted a vineyard. How did she get earnings? It's not like buying the field autom...

 I have a condition called foot drop. It comes about when there is an impingement, or pressure, on the nerve somewhere between my brain and my foot. It causes my foot to periodically, and unexpectedly, not lift my toe up all the way when I'm walking. When I am wearing just socks, this usually doesn't cause much of a problem, but when I am wearing shoes, it causes me to trip over my own feet.  Historically, when this happens, I feel really dumb how foolish am I that I can't even pick up my feet right when I'm walking? But my doctor, recently, taught me that this condition is inherent in my system. No matter how much my brain tells my foot to pick up my toe, my foot is not getting the message. I could look at my foot the whole time I'm walking and tell my foot with every step to pick up my toe, and I would still not do it every once in a while. Now, perhaps this is because my foot doesn't have ears to hear my mouth speaking, but that's what nerves are for. And...

   I have a couple of people in my life that ask me about the acronyms I use sometimes, so just to clarify, ICYMI stands for In Case You Missed It, which is exactly what today's post is about. Today I will look back on the last six weeks of studying God's wisdom, something I have been very much looking forward to. Sometimes these wrap up posts are a bit of a chore, but this time I have so enjoyed the study that I am excited about looking back on it and remembering all that God has spoken to my heart!  The first week of our study we focused on God's wisdom for our relationships and family. Our first day focused on the importance of balancing truth and mercy , something we are not prone to doing on our own. Next, we looked at how the relationships in our lives keep us sharp and how important it is to surround ourselves with people who are not entirely like-minded. When we live in those relationships though, ones where we may not feel the same way about everything, it's s...

  God spoke to my heart recently at church and the message has stayed with me so strongly that I really wanted to share it with you today. I'll wait to post it though so that I can link the sermon, although the song will take longer to be recorded. You see, our worship pastor, Michael, is also a song writer and God has used him to share some beautiful, impactful messages through music. A few weeks back, he shared a new song he had written and it touched my heart. This week, he shared the song again and invited us to sing along, but it spoke to me even more deeply because of the message a guest speaker had given. One of our fellow church members, Bryan, spoke yesterday on John 5:2-9 , the story of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda. He focused on Jesus' words in verse 6, “Do you want to get well?” This may have seemed like a strange question, but there are lots of reasons that someone may not want to get well. Illness may be all they've ever known. This man may ha...

  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing, and perfect will.   Romans 12:2  God made us, intentionally, with a hole in our heart. We feel it deeply. We ache for it to be filled. We can’t be satisfied, we can’t be at peace, until our heart’s hunger is satiated. This causes people to do all kinds of things. You may have heard of people travelling to India on a journey to find themselves. Some join a monastery. Others devote their lives to research, finding a cure for the world’s ills. There’s a deep, driving need in all of us, and until we recognize what it is, and meet it, we will feel a constant pressure to do so.   The world has devised a plethora of options to stuff inside this hole and see if it fixes it. There are the darker vices – gambling, alcohol, drugs – things that will take hold of your life and take you where you do n...

  Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.   2 Corinthians 9:7  How are you? It’s a question we ask others all the time, but do we really mean it? Are we really interested in how they are doing? Much of the time, I would guess we are not, because we don’t even pause to hear the answer or follow up. Our culture, at least where I live, has come to see it as a greeting, not a question. We are conditioned to reply “fine” or “great” or “ok.” It is very uncommon to hear anyone say anything else. My husband went through a season where he defied the cultural norms of this question-greeting and he actually followed up on it. He would ask people what “ok” meant to them, where their percentage was. Did ok mean 51%? 60%? 75%? He wanted to know how people were really doing, and wanted them to know that he cared about it. It led to dozens (hundreds?) of interesting conversations, and all...

Image created with the assistance of ChatGpt   She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.   Proverbs 31:26  Proverbs 31 has always held a special power over me. It reflects a goal that I feel I fall far short of and could never achieve, but I so desperately want to. One year, when I only had two little ones, My husband gave me the most thoughtful gift for Mother’s Day. He and the boys (ok, him – they were way to young to help!) wrote out how they felt like I fulfilled each line of this poem. It met me in a place I so needed and encouraged me in my motherhood and wifely duties. Now, I didn’t think then, nor do I now upon reflection, that I actually fulfilled those things, but hearing from someone whose opinion I so respected that he felt that I did meant the world to me!   Proverbs is a book of wisdom and so it only makes sense that wisdom would be one of the critical aspects of the “Wife of Noble Character.” And how is her wisdom expresse...