God is moving in CR

"Ok, I feel the heat now, time for change." Boy, isn't that the truth?! Can you imagine what it was like for the Egyptians to see millions of frogs in the kitchen cabinets, toilets, beds, food pantry, shower, BBQ grill, living room, wall to wall, frogs? Frogs ruled the country. I am not really fond of frogs. They just don't have that cozy appeal to me. They just sit there and breathe and kind of smell. And yet, Pharaoh was hard-hearted and stubborn as all get out. Finally, Moses even got tired of them cried out, "Lord please end this.." (Ex8:12) Then it got worse as the frogs died where they sat. Can you imagine?! Pharaoh didn't catch the hint and returned to his stubbornness when the pressure was lifted. Wow! What will it take brother? But then I realize I was the same way in my life. It wasn't when I saw the light but when I felt the heat that I was driven to action in my life. The funny thing is though, when the wave of “frogs” is lifted in m...

To quote a contemporary therapist, “How’s that working for you?” For me, it landed me smack dab into recovery! I kept having low attendance at my pity parties. I seemed to be the only one who showed up. And there have been times when I stayed entirely too long; wore out my welcome by hours, days, and weeks. You see, every now and then my inner two year old used to visit and try to take over my life and everyone else’s. I don’t really remember the day when I felt the empowerment of queen and judge of the world. It was quite a responsibility. Those are two very heavy robes to wear. Between the tiara and the gavel I was really weighed down. Somewhere along my life’s journey I came to believe that with me in charge of everyone and everything life would be much smoother, happier, better, richer, fuller. Need I go on? I was a good and fair ruler. I wanted what I believed to be best for others even if they didn’t know what it was. They could trust me, I did. I wasn’t overly harsh or manipul...

Ephesians 4:29 “ Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” I’ve been reflecting on this passage and what that actually means to me in light of where I am in life right now. Foul language doesn’t always mean the socially forbidden set of words that we all know. It also refers to those words that will tear someone down instead of lifting someone up, and the tone in which they are said. I seem to be frustrated recently by meaningless correction by some. Since the popularity of social media has exploded, it seems to be an open market for some to correct others in front of thousands of people. Mostly on insignificant things such as misspellings or words used incorrectly, i.e. there vs. their and so on. Seeing these types of things has caused me to wonder what the motivation is behind this type of correction. I find myself countless times starting to type a comment or a response to ...

Three years ago today, I said goodbye to a special person in my life. My mom left us on Mother's Day weekend of 2009. Last night as I was sleeping, God gave me a gift that I will be forever grateful for. Tears of joy streamed down my face this morning as I received this gift and saw the date on my phone after waking up. I was back in my mom's hospital room letting her listen to the song, "I'm Coming Your Way" and she gave me the sweetest smile. God loves you so much and nothing you can do can separate you from that love. Would you be willing to give Him all your heart today? The rewards are eternal.Check out the story of my gift below. Here is the song I spoke of that I was able to allow my mother to listen to on her death bed in her hospital bed. For more information about Celebrate Recovery contact Rodney at 479-659-3679 or roholmstrom@fellowshipnwa.org

Remember the saying, “you better recognize!” It’s funny this morning how that phrase keeps popping in my head this morning as I read an old and yet familiar passage from Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Solomon is giving us some incredible wisdom to not lean on our old crutches of life any longer (our own understanding of survival or own strength, or unhealthy coping) but instead to lean with all our might INTO His strength while “acknowledging” Him. In other words we must “recognize” Him in all our ways. When I do this in my life, He keeps me on the right path. Tonight we celebrate 6 beautiful years of The Landing/LHGH at our CR ministry under the great leadership of our dear sister, LaDwana. Tonight, we recognize Him in all He has done and see a picture thru two life change stories of our students that have gone thru the Landing. Tonight we see a gli...

Just when I think I’m making progress on my journey and things are going smoothly, I trip. The difference now versus in the past is that I caught myself as I was headed down instead of totally falling hard with a splat! Actually, God caught me and I learned a lesson. The lesson being, MY WAY IS NOT THE RIGHT OR ONLY WAY. The following is my confession and lesson. My husband makes a power smoothie for breakfast every morning. It contains protein powder, milk, honey, peanut butter, frozen strawberries and a fresh banana. That combination is enough to make me gag. My nutritional training tells me he’s wasting protein. Funny thing, I don’t have to drink it so it doesn’t matter what I think. And to top that off, he didn’t ask for my opinion. Anyway, I’ve let go of the fact that I need to control his blender concoction. What I hadn’t let go of was the WAY he used the blender. You see our blender has two speeds plus an ice crusher. Upon inspection of his daily ritual, I realized he was using...