Awakened at the crack of dawn by a 31″ girl and a 37″ boy. I stumble half awake as my children ask for “dinks”, a.k.a. drinks. We start our routine of breakfast, cartoons, devotional… the list continues.

After you ask Jesus into your heart a question still remains, are you willing to have “Agape” love for God or “Phileo” love? Are you willing for your life to be transformed and make a difference in others, or are you going to sit on the sidelines and just be comfortable?

I am so thankful for second chances. Life is such a journey filled with ups and downs. Sometimes we are on our “A” game, other times we fail. We are reminded in our human state how imperfect we are. Yet, through our moments of imperfection, we are humbled with the realization of Gods grace and mercy as He forgives us and gives us a second chance.

If only life was always filled with roses, where no pain could penetrate our heart; or our clocks would stop long enough for us to revel in the moment and be thankful. Then, it would always be easy to maintain our joy. But what happens when life isn’t going smoothly, when it takes all your effort to stay above water? What then? I have felt pain, and I have felt joy. Here are some ways I am able to keep my joy a little longer.

Procrastination, oh how you taunt me! Our list is a mile long of things to do, people we want to encourage, people we need to address. It is easy to push some things to the bottom of the list and literally never get around to them. And because we are staying busy, it relieves some of the guilt involved of achieving those things on the “to-do” list.

We live in a very open minded society. Anything and everything goes. Dare we say anything contrary to the “Live as you please” mentality it is considered judging. But does everything really fall into the judging category? When does accountability take effect and how can we avoid judging?

A friend is a trustworthy confidante and companion that you share your life with, some stay for a season, others for a lifetime. It is the necessary companionship that we all long for; the deep binding friendship that ties our heart to another.

Life doesn’t always seem fair. We struggle with seeing the big picture because we are so fixated on our current struggle. We feel overwhelmed and wonder why God would allow us to walk through this. But God will use even the darkest moments of our life, and breathe purpose into them, if we let Him.

We lay a prayer before God, a prayer for healing, financial stability, or perhaps for the salvation of a loved one. Whatever the case may be, these prayers resonate in our hearts. We sit; we wait. We check the clock and calendar for time passed on unanswered prayers. Maybe being still and patient is what is required of you, but sometimes God wants us to put our money where our mouth is. He wants us to establish our faith by an action.

The wedding ceremony, joining of two lives in perfect harmony. You feel complete, whole. Then, something happens on the way home from the reception. You realize your soul mate is completely different than you. You have different opinions and dreams. You can’t even agree on the thermostat. So what now? How do you honor your husband with love and respect despite the seeming different worlds that you live on?