Nobody likes having anything cut away! 

WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THOSE THINGS THAT “LITERALLY” NEED TO BE CUT AWAY, THEY’RE MOSTLY YUCKY AND GROSS! 

A WART

GANGRENE 

A TUMOR 

EVEN MISTLETOE, THAT IS LITERALLY FUNGUS ON A TREE, NEEDS TO BE CUT AWAY OR THE TREE WILL DIE! 

NOW DON’T GET ME STARTED ON THE FACT THAT WE CUT MISTLETOE OUT OF THE TREE, THEN WE HANG IT AND KISS UNDER IT AT CHRISTMAS TIME! BUT I’M FEELING LIKE THAT’S A BLOG FOR ANOTHER TIME! 

It hurts to be cut! 

TUMORS AND CANCERS NEED TO BE CUT OUT IN ORDER FOR THE PATIENT TO LIVE, BUT THE RECOVERY IS HARD AND THERE IS USUALLY A PRICE TO PAY!

I am a terrible Gardner! I see beauty and I love beauty and I want the beauty to bloom and last and be LOOKED at. 

I get all excited when Spring comes, and the nurseries are packed full of the most gorgeous blooms, radiant with color! I pick out the most beautiful ones, I grab the best soil you can buy in a bag, beautiful pots to hold them all and even flower food!  I race home and pull out my gardening gloves and I even have a mini shovel and hoe. I plant those beautiful flowers into those pots. I place them in a beautiful arrangement all over my front patio and I water them with care, and they grow! And I just keep looking at them and enjoy them as they grow bigger and bigger! And I know that I’m supposed to start pruning and cutting away at them, but I don’t. I don’t want to cut the beautiful color away! I just want to look at them and enjoy their beauty! I am a terrible gardener for one main reason: I don’t want to cut anything away! Before I know it, it’s the beginning of summer, I’m off school, I dump the pots out into the gardening bin and out falls dead, flowers! I go to the nursery and start all over again! Problem is in order to be beautiful and fully bloom plants must be cut back and pruned!

The saying is actually true! It literally does “cut both ways!”

The flower does bloom, and it is radiant and beautiful, but then the bloom fades away and in order for it to grow and bloom again it must be cut back! And when it is cut back, it will bloom sometimes even bigger and brighter!

I think God is telling us that the same has to happen in our lives for us to bloom again and become even brighter and stronger!

Grief is not fun and not something that we want to sign up for! But it is a natural season of life, and if we allow God to take us through it, he will cut away the sorrow and the sadness and the pain and we will come out brighter and stronger than ever!

What does that look like for me right now?

I’m still learning and going through it, but I know for me it is leaning into God when the grief overwhelms me and I feel like I can’t pick my head up. He lifts my head up and he holds it in His two powerful, strong hands and whispers to me, “You are loved and you were so loved by your mom!”

I stand up, and I smile, remembering all the wonderful things that she did with me and my sisters and with her grandchildren! And I want to carry on that legacy!

So I have my grandkids over for sleepovers and we make Mickey and Minnie Mouse pancakes in the morning, we go to the pool and we go to the beach! We sing and we laugh and we play! We search for butterflies and lizards, and we walk the rocks at the beach and count how many starfish we can find! And as I sit on the shore, and I watch them jump in the waves, I realize that God is showing me the ebb and flow of life! As He cuts away the grief and sorrow I find the place where He’s called me to be today! He only asked me to trust him for today! To continue to shine his light like my mom did! And to sing “Jesus loves me this I know” with my grandchildren until one day he calls me home to Heaven and I will be with him and I will be with her again!

Cutting parts away from us, does not feel good in the moment! But as God continues to cut my grief away, I can feel my world getting brighter and stronger every single day!

TRUTH BOMB

GRIEF CUTS BOTH WAYS AS THE PAIN BRINGS HEALING.

“Sorrow may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

We can trust God just like David did in knowing that our grief will be turned into joy as we allow God to take us through the process and cut away and prune what needs healing.

Speak Truth Love

I believe that God is telling me to write about grieving, and I don’t want to.

Yes, that’s right I’m the “cup half full girl, and when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade!” Yep, that’s me!

It’s not that I am not emotional, which anyone who knows me would put a big “AMEN” on that! It’s just that I would rather look at all the positives and let my life be dictated by those.

While this is truly naturally who I am, and who I believe God made me to be, grief is real and it remains somewhat of a mystery to me.

Knowing God‘s Truth, truly does set us free! And through the grief of losing my mom, God‘s Truth of knowing she is in heaven, and I will be reunited with her someday, has truly been the anchor that has rooted my soul and kept me moving forward!

But what about this tricky thing called GRIEF?

I know from a psychological and medical standpoint that grief is real! I also have read about all of the steps of grief and how you need to embrace it and go through it. Problem is, I am not just a mental and physical person. I am an emotional person that has chosen to ground myself in the TRUTH OF WHAT GOD SAYS TO ME!

I know that I could look up grief on any number of websites and give you a step-by-step healing process that is medically sound!

I also know I can speak the word grief into ChatGPT or any other search engine, and present you with an articulate plan for grieving.

But that’s just not the way I roll! God has given me an ear and a voice! He wants me to lean into Him and listen and speak His Truth in love. 

So that is what I’m attempting to do! To lean into him, to express my sorrow and confusion and grief to Him, to read His Word and to listen to His voice and share His Truth.

It may be only for me, but it may help you too, as you process your grief. 

I believe that one of the lessons that I am learning, is that we all process grief in our own way. It may help you to follow a clinical process, but what I know to be true, is that true healing can only come through the great physician, Jesus Christ! When we lean on him and our obedient to what he is calling us to do, we will find what the Bible calls, “Healing for our soul!”

Now I may run the risk of you writing me off or thinking I’ve gone a little bit crazy. But I know that God loves us so much that when we hurt, He hurts! And His greatest desire is for us to heal and be made whole again! So out of obedience to what I believe, God is calling me to do, I am going to write this series on my grieving process! You are not going to find it in any medical journal or in a psychology, textbook. But I do believe, if God is piercing my heart to share it, then He not only desires to bring healing to me, but healing to others as well!

Grieving part one:

Staring out the window!

My life is full and busy and it sometimes is pure crazy! But since December 3, the day my mom went to heaven, I find myself in still, quiet moments, just staring out the window. I can literally sit, uninterrupted, still, and quiet, just staring out the window until I’m interrupted!

I’m not crying, I’m not sobbing. I’m not depressed or sad, I’m just staring.

Actually, I’ve come to realize I’m not simply staring. I’m looking for something! I’m waiting for a bird to fly by. I’m waiting for the sun to rise over the top of of the Hills, or for the sun to set and go below the hills. I’m waiting for a sound of life! For a dog to bark, for a child to laugh or giggle, or for a bird to squawk. I’m looking for signs of HOPE!

Sometimes I will hear a child playing and laughing and talking to their mom, and a solid tear may roll down my cheek. But it’s not a tear of sadness, it’s a tear of Hope.

I have a picture in my house that frames the words, ”THE SUN WILL COME UP.”

Why would someone sell this piece of artwork and better yet, Why would someone put it up in their home?

One simple answer! HOPE!

We have no guarantee that the sun will actually rise tomorrow morning! But we do have Hope that because the world continues to function as God created it to the sun will indeed  “COME UP!”

When I stare out the window and look for evidence of life, I gain Hope in knowing that God is in control of our living and our dying! I am also encouraged as I gain a greater understanding of God‘s purpose for life continuing.

Truth Bomb

Grieving isn’t one size fits all, but with God there is always Hope!

Grief can sometimes feel overwhelming and get us stuck! It can drag us down and make us feel hopeless in living! But God reminds us as we look at the vast amount of sky he created, and listen to the birds singing while they sit on a tree limb, or watching the birds soar through the blueness of the sky, or listen to and hear a child’s gleeful giggling, that we were created to live until he calls us to our eternal home!

Speak Truth Love

It may not be TRUTH BOMB Tuesday, but for me, this series has come full circle to find its completion on Mother’s Day.  I started this series with my mom going through her journey with Alzheimer’s and the lessons that God clearly taught me and walked me through. Last Mother’s Day 2025, I found it too painful to go through while writing my blog each week.

Mere words seemed empty and to pale in comparison to what my family and I were going through. We were losing our precious mom. She had been put on hospice and we knew her days here on earth were few with us. The full realization of what that truly meant was impossible to comprehend and far too painful to realize.

   But as I face this Mother’s Day of 2026, my first Mother’s Day without my mom on this earth, God has graciously taught me the greatest lesson of all.

Your heart can be breaking while simultaneously God can be repairing, restoring, and making it stronger than ever. 

    Losing our mom meant losing the strongest force and example of unconditional love. My mother embodied what the Bible calls unconditional love. Love that never fails. Love that gives without holding back. Love that acts without thinking; never asking the question, “What’s in it for me? How does this affect me? Do I have time for this?” But love that simply acts selflessly and loves lavishly.  Paul says, “Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.“ 

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT)

   While my heart was breaking at the mere thought of living life on this earth without the presence of the one who had shown me this kind of love since the day I was born and every day since, it seemed a burden too great to bear. But as I cried out to God, He would gently bring to my mind special memories of moments my mom showed this kind of love to me. 

   Celebrations: my mom made every celebration special! From birthday parties to holidays, graduations, bridal showers, weddings, baby showers, and everyday in between. From the smallest celebrations of teaching us to hang flowers on someone’s door on May 1st, “May Day”, ringing the bell and then hiding; to Saturday mornings when she would wake us up by opening the blinds and singing, “Wake up Mary Sunshine”, and we would smell French toast or pancakes ready for us in the kitchen, before she would hand us our chart of chores for the day.          Celebrations were one of the first examples that came to my mind. God began to repair my heart with the memories of the celebrations my mom lavished on me and taught me to lavish on those I love. He was showing me the heritage she had and was passing on to me.

    Another example of her example of her unconditional love was in gift giving. My mother had the incredible ability to give the perfect gift at the perfect time with that person completely in mind. She never gave the gift that she wanted to give, but she gave the gift that they wanted to receive!  She gave gifts for special occasions, but she also gave gifts just to let you know that she was thinking of you and she loved you.  One of the gift giving traditions was Christmas Jammies on Christmas Eve. We would open them on Christmas Eve so that we would go to bed in them and wake up in them on Christmas morning.  I carried on this tradition with my kids and grandkids. I remember the year I thought, maybe my teenage children had outgrown this. I gave them different gifts on Christmas Eve and they both opened them, looked at me, and said, where are the Christmas jammies? When I said, I thought maybe you had outgrown this tradition, and maybe I should be a more “hip“ mom, both of my children looked at me and said, “no way, and never do that again!”  I never did it again, and I continue to do it to this day, now with my grandchildren included!

Jesus says, “It is better to give than to receive.” No one got a bigger kick out of seeing someone open the gift she gave them than my mom! She embodied this scripture verse wholeheartedly!

     One more example is cooking and baking. My mom cooked and baked with love in mind. She did not make what was on her list or menu. She baked and cooked what she knew you would love! We never visited her, after we grew up and moved away, without walking into her home and smelling the aromas of all of our favorite things. From over-spiced chili, to snowball cookies, to her sour cream coffee cake, and her famous Grammie‘s French toast, she cooked and baked with pure love!  Jesus says, “Give and it shall be given to you, a good measure…” And my mom truly received the full measure of her joy returned to her as she witnessed her children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren cooking up her recipes with joy and zeal.

    Restoration: God was bringing restoration to my heart by reminding me that my mom‘s legacy was living on through my children and their children. I lost my mom this past year right before Christmas, on December 3. As I gathered with my daughter and my daughter-in-law and my grandchildren to bake her famous sour cream coffee cake, snowball Christmas, cookies, and butter cookies, that we cut out and decorated, my heart began to be restored.

    Another example was: Always knowing what I needed, when I needed it. My mother had an uncanny sense of knowing when I was hurting, and when I needed to be comforted, or called into accountability. We call that in my family, “needing a swift kick in the pants.”  It may not always have felt good or have been wanted, but it was always needed. My mother knew how to “rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with those who mourn.” She was there every time I needed her, whether it was in rejoicing or in dealing with all the difficulties that life dishes out. She was always there. I was never alone. I always had a champion!

     The greatest lesson God has taught me and is still teaching me in this difficult journey of Alzheimer’s with my mom and saying goodbye to her on this earth is in the realization that this separation from my mom is only temporary. I don’t like it, but as I wait to see her again and live forever with her in eternity,  I can praise God, for the legacy she has left, has given me and my children, and my grandchildren, and so many others whose lives she touched while she was alive on this earth!

     He made my heart even stronger in knowing, holding onto, and living with the truth that my mom knew Jesus as her Lord and Savior, that God gave me the gift of knowing this , even through her Alzheimer’s.        And One day, we will sing “Jesus Loves me, this know” face to face with our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ! And together, we will celebrate forever! 

TRUTH BOMB

Jesus can repair our broken hearts simultaneously as we are grieving.

     On this Mother’s Day, I pay tribute to the beautiful life lived out by Linda Kay Switter-Dye-Sherman and the legacy she has left for me! Happy Heavenly Mother’s Day, Mom!  Give Grammie a hug and a kiss from me!  I will see you again one day and celebrate with you!

Speak Truth Love

TRUTH 💣 BOMB

THE TOUCH OF JESUS SETS US STRAIGHT 

HAPPY TRUTH BOMB TUESDAY, FRIENDS! I’M COMING RIGHT OUT OF THE GATES WITH THE TRUTH BOMB TODAY! IT IS POWERFUL AND IT IS TRUTH AND IT IS ONE MAJOR LESSON THAT I LEARNED THROUGH THE JOURNEY OF ALZHEIMER’S WITH MY MAMA.

Have you ever felt bent over, crippled, bent in half, burdened, weighed down, and in so much emotional, spiritual and mental pain that you could not stand up straight? Have you felt that the pain is so great that it is what identifies you? If so, then you can relate to the “Bent Woman” in Luke 13 that encounters Jesus.

The “Bent Over Woman” does not have a name in scripture! She is identified by her pain! Have you ever been in so much pain physically, mentally, spiritually or emotionally that you felt identified by it? Have you tried so hard with every ounce of your being to hide it and stuff it down deep somewhere inside so that no one would see it and yet it manifested itself physically for all to see?

If so, you are not alone! The Bent Over Women in Luke 13 has only eight verses in the Bible that identify her! But in those short eight verses, her story is told and it is completed by the mere touch of The Savior!

LUKE 13:10-13 (NLT)

10 “One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, 11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight.12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” 13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!

This  woman had been dealing with such deep pain and demonic oppression for over 18 years that she could not stand up straight! The enemy tormented her! Her spiritual attack was so heavy that it physically bent her over and made her physically crippled!

But one short encounter with Jesus and she was set straight!

When I was in the middle of my mother‘s battle with Alzheimer’s, my hope began to wane and my sadness grew stronger and stronger. I prayed and I prayed and I cried out, but nothing seemed to change! I went to bed one night, talking to God and crying myself to sleep! How was I going to help my mom? How was I ever going to have a real conversation with her again this side of heaven? How was I going to continue to manage her care? How was I going to keep enduring seeing her in this state that I could do nothing about?

I woke up the next morning and I couldn’t move! I was very frightened at first, and then I tried to stand up. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and immediately felt a searing pain from the top of my left leg all the way up through my back! The pain was there when I stood! The pain was there when I walked! The pain was there when I sat! The pain was there when I laid down! No matter what I did, the pain would not go away! For over a month, I tried exercising it out, walking it out, resting it out, and every other thing I could think of! But the pain never dulled! 

I kept praying and crying out to God and he gently spoke to me saying, “you have to let go and quit striving! You can’t change this, you just have to trust me through it!” 

That night I opened up both my hands wide, all fingers out, no fist, no holding back and I gave it all to Him! The next morning I woke up and I was healed! 

Yes, it was a physical release of my emotional and mental pain! Jesus touched me and healed me and SET ME STRAIGHT when he spoke words to me! Then it was up to me to accept those words and allow HIM to make me straight! I did and He did!

TRUTH BOMB

THE TOUCH OF JESUS SETS US STRAIGHT!

It may result in physical straightness, but the true healing comes from the inside out! God healed my emotional and mental pain, that was causing physical pain that had me “bent over!”

The bent over woman needed the touch of Jesus to heal her spiritual pain! When Jesus healed her spiritual pain, she was set straight!

Then Jesus gave her a new identity!

15 “But the Lord replied, …16 This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”

Jesus called her a “daughter of Abraham“, “a child of God!”

When we are touched by Jesus and set straight, we are transformed from the inside out! We are set free!

What is it that you need to be set free from? Is it physical, mental, emotional or spiritual? Whatever it is, the touch of the Savior will set you straight and set you free!

Speak Truth Love

“Be of  good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well!”  MATTHEW 9:22 

When she touched his garment, Jesus turned and he saw her! Then he said those words! The simple lesson to be learned is this: Jesus sees us, always! 

For 12 years she suffered an issue of blood. And all the doctors and would be healers she saw, all the lame recommendations from so-called medical experts of how to cure her came up empty. How discouraged she must have been! 

The journey through Alzheimer’s with my mom, felt like an eternity on some days! And taxing and completely depleting on others! But we can never lose heart and give up our faith. Why? Because Jesus sees us!

First of all, this woman must have heard about Jesus. Besides his eye-opening preaching, whenever he encountered a sick or lame person, Jesus healed them. She probably saw some healings in person. Or at least she talked with people who joyfully shared their story of recent healing. And in their rejoicing, hope started to form in her despondent heart. If Jesus healed all of them, is it possible that he would be willing to heal her?

 The worst part of her illness must have been her shame. A woman who had an issue of blood was officially “unclean”. Nobody could touch her; they even had to distance themselves from her. Especially a godly Rabbi. 

So what could she do?  

A plan began to form in her mind. If she could quietly get near Jesus, and touch the hem of his robe, maybe  his spiritual healing power would be transferred over to her. 

  She saw a crowd gathered, with lots of energy and excitement. Jesus was in the middle of the crowd. He looked like he was walking purposefully, as if he were on his way somewhere to do something significant. Her chance to try out her plan was moving away. She hurried along, trying to move quickly and get close to Jesus, and still manage to not be noticed. 

   She repeated to herself, “If I could only touch the fringe of Jesus’ robe, I can be healed.”   She came up behind him, reached out and touched the fringe of his garment. Immediately her discharge of blood ceased.” Luke 9:44

   The moment she was healed, Jesus stopped. He sensed that healing power had gone out from him.

Matthew says, “Jesus turned and saw her. He said, ‘Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.”  Matthew 9:22 (NIV)

Friends, I am a daughter too! I am a biological daughter of Linda Kay. She named me Lisa Kay after herself.  Watching her go through Alzheimer’s and feeling like she was disappearing from me made me feel like the one who had loved me most on earth and seen me best on earth could no longer wait to see me. There were days that felt lonely and sad. But when God reminded me of this beautiful story, it was like he was reaching down and comforting my hurting heart with his amazing truth: that I am his daughter, and he sees me! Even greater than that was the realization that my precious mom was his daughter, and he saw her as perfect and whole and complete, just as he always had seen her.

Another lesson that I learned on this journey was that God sees each one of us as his own precious child, no matter what condition we are in, altered state we are in, or physical condition we are in. We are his child and he sees us!

TRUTH BOMB

Reach out and touch the Savior, no matter where you are, because He sees you!

Speak Truth Love

Happy Truth Bomb Tuesday, Friends! 

I can’t begin to express the joy that fills my spirit as I am back writing and sharing God’s truth with you!

Another truth I learned through the journey of my mom‘s disease and graduation into heaven, is that God is good even when my circumstances are not!

One of the scriptures was spoken into my life when I was only a teenager and going through a very dramatic time, with my father leaving my family and me feeling broken and abandoned, was God saying to me, “ I am your Father. I will never leave you nor forsake you.“ Hebrews 13:5

God created me, who I am, just as He has all of us. I am an extrovert by nature and a people person. I am energized and built up around people! The relationship that God desires from me is so intimate and special and is my lifeline. It is the same relationship that God desires for every single one of His children.

The diagnosis of Alzheimer’s brings immediate fear of the unknown. Not only to the person diagnosed, but also to every loved one in that person‘s life. I remember the day of the diagnosis like it was today. The neurologist’s name was Dr. Tyler. I will never forget his face, his voice, his demeanor, or the truth that he spoke to my mom and all of us standing around her. Immediately my mind went to: What must she be thinking? What is she feeling? And what does she need? As the days and months and years progressed, those questions became more profound and felt unanswered. Does she know me? Is she frightened? Is she anxious? Does she know her surroundings? And worst of all, does she still know God and Jesus?  My greatest fear was that her disease would steal her relationship with God.

God‘s truth became cemented in my heart, my mind, and my spirit when I walked in to visit her one day. She reached out and took my hand, looked directly into my eyes, smiled and began to sing, “Jesus loves me.”  That was my gift from God that my mom still knew God and Jesus! And that God had her! Through all of the years that followed, my mom‘s disease progressed. Her mind went further from us, and her body grew smaller and smaller and weaker and weaker with each passing day. But never did my mom stop smiling, holding our hands, and singing, “Jesus loves me, this I know.” 

TRUTH BOMB

God is good, even when my circumstances are not! 

God demonstrated the truth that He really does never leave us nor forsake us! Even Alzheimer’s cannot steal our relationship from God!

Friends, my prayer is that in the midst of our hardest days and our worst trials, we will still cling to God and allow our weary hearts and our tired eyes to see His goodness. It is always there because He is always good!

Speak Truth Love 

I told you I wasn’t fooling. I’m back! Happy Truth Bomb Tuesday!

During this season, I have felt God piercing my heart with many TRUTHS!

The number one truth above and beyond any other is the faithfulness of God!  

My pause from my Blog began last year at Mother’s Day.

God called my Mom home to heaven on December 3rd of this last year, 2025. 

When Mother’s Day hit last year, He was preparing to take her home, and I was preparing to let her go. So many thoughts were whirling around in my head, and so many feelings were flooding my heart and my spirit that I had a hard time putting any of them into words. I had ultimate joy in knowing that my mom loved Jesus, and had accepted Him as her Lord and Savior many years before. The knowledge and the truth of this gave me joy in knowing she would be forever with Him in heaven, soon. I had fear in letting go and knowing that for the first time in my life I would have to live on this earth without her. I had peace in my spirit, knowing that she would be pain-free, and her memory would be fully restored to her when she got to heaven. I had sadness as I realized I would never again get to hold her hand, kiss her cheek, or hear her sweet voice sing Jesus loves me! Ultimately, I had grief, human grief in letting go of someone I adored and called my best friend!

For over eight years, my mother suffered from severe Alzheimer’s. And now another Mother’s Day had come, and she was closer than ever to being in heaven with her Savior, and I just didn’t know what to write or how to write it.

There are many lessons, and Truths to be shared through those eight months that followed until God did, indeed call her home, but the one that was with me, then, and with me every single moment of every single day, through all of it was God‘s faithfulness! Through every thought and every feeling, through every up and through every down, through every pain and every struggle, through every doubt, and every fear, God’s faithfulness never left my side. I was never truly alone, I was never desolate, I was never hopeless. God was always with me!

“But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.” 

2 Thessalonians 3:3.

Death was not God’s original plan, but relationship was! When we love with all of our hearts, and we are loved with all of someone’s heart, we experience the true love of God! When death separates us, it feels wrong because it is! Death was not God’s original plan for a relationship. It hurts, it causes pain, it causes grief and sorrow. and it brings great loss! The beauty of understanding God‘s love, and His design for relationship is knowing that it may not have been God‘s original plan, but because God loves us so much he made another plan. A plan that would be a final plan. A plan that would defeat any scheme of the enemy! A plan that would allow us to yes, be separated for a time by death, but then would provide us the opportunity to be in a forever relationship with those that we love who choose Jesus, and best of all with God, himself, the author and perfecter of love!

Death is the great separator. Death drops a curtain of silence between us and those we live! But praise God, it is not final! Death hurts, and it causes us, grief and loss and separation, but because of God and His faithfulness death does not have the final word! I miss my mom, and it’s been hard to put that into words. But I praise God that He has walked beside me through it all every step of the way and because of Him and His great love, I will see my mom again and be with her forever in heaven! 

TRUTH BOMB

Death is the great separator here on earth, but praise God it is not final!

I have missed being with you here on Tuesdays and I look forward to sharing more of God’s truths with you as I have walked through this season. See you next week!

Speak Truth Love

IT’S TRUTH BOMB TIME 💣 AND I’M NOT FOOLING!

Happy April Fools Day Everyone!

I’m not FOOLING when I say,

“It has been way too long and I have missed you!”

THIS HAS BEEN A ROUGH YEAR AND A LOOOOOONG SEASON  IN SO MANY WAYS! But I am telling the truth when I say, God‘s blessings far outweigh the struggles!

God promises that our struggles serve to strengthen us when we put our trust in Him!

I am a living testimony to this TRUTH!

God is faithful, God is true, He is compassionate, He is loving, and He is kind and praise Him…HE IS PATIENT!

He has waited for me to be ready and to know that I am to always continue using this gift that He gave me to,

To SPEAK His TRUTH in LOVE!

I am thankful today for the gift that God has given me to speak His words of Truth in love.

I have to be honest and admit that I have struggled to do this for the past eight months. God gave me this gift and affirmed it in me and called me to write this Blog over 10 years ago! But on Mother’s Day of this year, it became really difficult for me to decide what to write.

It was Mother’s Day, and God blessed me with the most amazing mother! She had me when she was only 19 years old! She loved me unconditionally and always made me feel cherished and special! To this day, all of the traditions I do with my own children, and grandchildren were taught to me by her!

I would’ve loved to give her a tribute on Mother’s Day, she is so worthy of it! But every time I started to write the words, the tears poured as the reality of her severe Alzheimer’s and her being on hospice, and given only a few months to live, set in and took over my emotions. I paused that week and didn’t write and figured I’d write the following week, however she was still here and it still didn’t seem fitting.

Week after week went by and then month after month and she lost more and more weight and grew tinier and tinier, but God still had her here on this earth!

Eight months have gone by and God still has not taken her home to be with Him yet. It is still overwhelmingly difficult to think of life here on this earth without her! Even though I want her whole and healed and perfect in the arms of Jesus. But as I read Psalm 100, 

I could hear Jesus reminding me to Give Him thanks even when it is hard!

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the Earth! Serve the Lord with gladness, come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us and we are his, we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with Thanksgiving and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name! For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.” Psalm 100

My heart breaks at the reality of saying goodbye to my Mom here on earth. But it is filled overflowing with thanks for the gift of her and the blessings, too many to count, that she gave to me!

God is faithful and His steadfast love endures forever! I thank Him and praise Him for that most of all!

He is faithful to all generations!

The photo with the letters from my grandkids fell out of my Bible today as I was reading Psalm 100!

My mom’s first grandchild was my daughter Christina! They shared a very special bond and she was blessed by my mom and her unconditional love and special traditions which she passed down to her daughter, Cami! These were notes and pictures she gave to me when she was just a little girl! She is 13 now and my mom‘s traditions are starting to live through her as well! She bakes my mom‘s cookies with me and she decorates like my mom did and she loves so big like my mom!

God truly is faithful to all generations, and I have so much to be thankful for!

More than anything, I am thankful to God for his faithfulness, and never giving up on me! By gently and beautifully reminding me to thank Him even when it is hard! His goodness and his mercy endure to all generations!

I love my mom with all my heart, and I am so thankful that God gave her to me!
For as many days as God has for her on this earth, I will thank God for her and cherish her! The best news of all is that because we both know Jesus, we will be together forever in heaven with him!

I am thankful to God for all of you! My prayer for you this Thanksgiving is that you will know God and His Son whom He sent because He loves you more than anything! And that you will be able to give thanks to Him for his faithfulness to all generations, forever and ever!

Happy Day of Giving Thanks!

TRUTH 💣 BOMB

NO MATTER WHAT YOU ARE GOING THROUGH, GOD IS FAITHFUL!

Speak Truth Love

“THE LORD REIGNS FOREVER, YOUR GOD, O ZION, FOR ALL GENERATIONS, PRAISE THE LORD!”  PSALM 146:10

The words of this Psalm, put into song, rang throughout the fifth region in Chile from five dedicated voices, that couldn’t carry a tune in a paper bag! 

My fiancé was one of those voices, I was another, my soon brother-in-law to be,  was another, and two of our very best friends were numbers four and five!

We were on a two month long summer internship as missionary wannabes!

It was truly one of the best times of our lives!

We returned stateside and Jim and I were married only one month later! That was the summer of 1984!

We wrote our own marriage vows, and in them repeated these words to each other and to everyone in attendance, but mostly we spoke them to our God!

“Knowing that we are better together then apart for God and His purposes, we dedicate our lives to God First, to each other next, and to raising up a godly generation!”

James Swaney and Lisa Dye-Swaney 

We meant those words with all of our hearts! In our 41 years of dedicating our marriage to God, and to raising up a godly heritage in His  name, we have succeeded, and we have failed! But the faithfulness of our God has never failed!

“Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. One generation commends your works to another, they tell of your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:3&4

“Your faithfulness continues through all generations; established the earth, and it endures.” Psalm 119:90

“We will not hide them from their descendants, we will tell the next generation the praise worthy deeds of The Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done.” Psalm 78:4

God‘s faithfulness has been demonstrated through our daughter and son-in-law as they accepted God’s call to serve Him with their whole lives as lead pastor at Crossroads Christian Church.

This Sunday we were eyewitness to God’s continued faithfulness as our son and daughter-in-law accepted His call to be lead pastor at Bayside Church Orange County!

The words of Psalm 100:5 ran through my heart and head as I witnessed my son accepting His call to God and His church through the power of His Son Jesus Christ!

“For the Lord is good and His Love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations!” Psalm 100:5

As I sat in my son’s church on Sunday and listened to Him speak powerful words of God’s Truth about “Relationships,” I was struck by the fact that the most important relationship we have is with God Himself!

After that it is with those closest to us that we have an opportunity to model a life lived for Christ Jesus!

Not a life of perfection!

Not a life of prosperity!

Not a life of anything else, but loving and living for Jesus!!!!

This is what every generation needs! Yesterday, today and tomorrow and forever and ever and ever, until Jesus returns!

I am so very proud of my son! He is deserving of all the credit for every choice he has made on his own for Jesus! It was pure joy to witness him on stage, preaching God‘s truth and accepting the call to Shepherd and love and model Jesus for God‘s people!

God is FAITHFUL my Friends to do more than we could ever dream, think or imagine!

I give Him ALL THE GLORY for His Faithfulness to me and my family! I know His faithfulness will continue to the next generation!

IN HIS NAME!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD IS FAITHFUL TO ALL GENERATIONS!

Speak Truth Love