If you asked Michala when she was little who her favorite Disney Princess was, she would, without hesitation, respond, “Sleeping Beauty.” I think it was because Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) wore pink. It really had nothing to do with the plot line, although she very much liked the movie. She giggled when Flora, Fauna and Merryweather (the fairies,) would appear. But it was Maleficent, the villain, who Michala quoted, the most often.

“But, before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she shall prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel, and DIE!” There was so much dramatic emphasis coming out of her small, tiny, three year old voice. I got such a kick out of the level of drama when Michala would repeat this famous line from the villain in Sleeping Beauty.

One of the things we learn early in life when reading books or watching movies is there is typically a hero and a villain. The villain is sometimes a prominent role in the story and sometimes there is just a brief reference to the villain/bad character portrayal. There is almost always a lesson to be learned from the villain’s character.

The villain even offers

When Michala was little, every night when I would tuck her in, just as I was leaving her bedroom she would ask me, “Mommy, what’s for breakfast tomorrow?”

Sometimes I had an answer. “French toast!” Or I would say, “Um, how about oatmeal?” Michala did not like to hear “I don’t know” as my response. I think she just liked having something to look forward to, as she fell asleep. Or maybe it was the reassurance of something wonderful waiting for her once the morning arrived.

As Michala got older, she would still ask me this question. Sometimes, I was too exhausted or frustrated with life to have a good response, and would simply reply, “I promise there will be something yummy.” I know my lack of patience with her nightly

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" - Isaiah 6:8 (NIV)

I have been spending more time in Isaiah lately. Partly because I love it so much. Also because Michala was doing a bible study on Isaiah, so I enjoyed the refresher for myself, as well.

One morning when I read the above passage, I could not help but think how eager, how willing, and how gracious to say, “Here am I. Send me!”

Would I be so bold? Would I step forward and volunteer myself and my services upon hearing my Lord’s request? I would love to think yes, absolutely I would. But I also suspect I might look around and sheepishly wonder if maybe someone more experienced could go? Maybe someone far more qualified.

Yes, I know the saying, “God doesn’t call

When I was in high school, my dad and I were going to the store one day when a car passed us, and the girl honked and waved. I smiled, sort of waved back and made a grunting noise. Dad asked me, “Who was that?”

I explained she was one of my close friends’ ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend. Dad asked me, “Is she not a nice girl?” I shrugged my shoulders and said, “I don’t know. I guess she is.” Dad asked, “So why the grunt?”

“Because I can’t like her,” I explained to my poor, ol’ dad. What did he know about these things, anyway? He was a man. A grown man at that!

Dad said, “Don’t let your opinion of her be shaped because of what someone else thinks about her. That’s not fair to her. Get to know her yourself and make your own decision.” Knowing he

One of my favorite books of all time is The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. This was from a speech he gave, and you can also watch the video. Something Mr. Pausch said, “If I could only give three words of advice, they would be, ‘Tell the truth.’ If I got three more words, I’d add, ‘all the time.’” If you have the opportunity to watch it or read the book, I cannot express my love and admiration for his words and work, nearly enough.

Telling the truth, all the time, makes us who and what we are.

When I was a freshman in college, one of my Spanish professors was also my advisor. One day he called me to his office to give me information about an internship he thought I would be interested in applying for, with CNN. They were looking for bilingual students studying international relations and communications, my professor told me, and with my minor in political science, he thought I would be a good fit.

My brother and

Back in 2007, before I started my career in television, I met with an old family friend who directs music videos. He, in turn, introduced me to a man named Jim Rink, another director who was gracious enough to meet with me (a nobody with a dream) and give me some career advice and guidance.

While we talked about production companies, producers and directors, it was the faith based advice he gave me, making a lasting impression. Jim told me, “The closer you get to where God wants you to be, the more obstacles the enemy will throw at you. Just be mindful of that, and work harder than ever, and trust God’s plan.”

I never forgot those gracious words of wise counsel.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares

Spin is a very repeated word in politics. “It’s all about the spin,” you will say or hear. “How can we spin this?” someone will ask. “How do you think they’re (the opponent) going to spin this?” will be asked among campaign staff.

The other night, I made turkey burgers and sweet potato fries. I tossed them in cornstarch and then avocado oil, spread them out on a cookie sheet and baked at 425 for 15 minutes, took them out, flipped them, put them back in for another 15 minutes. Every recipe I read for baked sweet potato fries, they all consistently agreed a light cornstarch coating would crisp the fries, beautifully.

Not so much. At least not for the first batch. The second batch, yes. But I let them stay in the oven a little longer and opened the oven door because I read airing them out actually crisps the sweet potato fries. It’s true. It worked.

But I burned one side of them. I gave all the pretty ones I could find to Terry

I have been taking a writing course the past seven weeks, and I have to tell you, it has changed me. It has changed me as a writer in many ways, but it has changed me to my core.

I have always felt I have a lot to say and never really held back in saying it.

My college roommate and I talked a lot, every day and night. Becca is a lot more reserved and quiet than I am. How she tolerated me and my talking, I will never know. Maybe she had earplugs I didn’t know about, and this was how she managed to fall asleep? But she was always extremely tolerant of my late night rants. She still is.

Becca and I talk and talk and talk. We can be serious, we can be silly, we can be crude; but whatever we say to one another, we know we are “safe.” Anything I say

One day in early March before the pandemic hit, Terry and I walked through a plant nursery. I know saying “plant nursery” is redundant, but I like to point out I walked through a place with living plants. And my husband still spends money on them. Granted, I am not in charge of them, so they are not ever at risk of dying. Because Terry is really good at keeping plants alive and keeping me away from them.

Anyway.

I saw this sign, “The Grass Is Always Greener Where You Water It,” and I smiled. This is so true. My plants don’t survive because I do not always water them the way I am supposed to water them, or I forget, entirely to water them. Worse, did you know overwatering plants is a thing? I cannot tell you how many plants I have killed by overwatering them.

I once had a conversation with my grandmother about a plant

We live outside of the delivery zone for Publix, so when curbside pickup became available again, we pounced at the opportunity! For one thing, I am not very tech savvy. So it is possible it has been available longer than I thought, but last week was the first week I saw it was available again in our area, so I scheduled a curbside pickup.

Like I said, I am not super tech savvy, so in my haste and excitement, when I put garlic in my cart, I noticed the price per pound. I also notice this when I am in the store, but I usually only buy one bulb, maybe two. Somehow, I ended up with one pound of garlic. I laughed so hard when we got home and began unloading the groceries. This is absolutely not anyone else’s fault; this is all on me. I’m sure there was a point where I did not pay attention, and just plopped it in my cart and went on to the next thing.

The person shopping was probably like, “Wow, okay. So they must be super garlicky

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” - Maya Angelou.

My goodness, I have learned so much from that woman over the years. I quote her so often, you would think we were friends. I would like to believe if we had ever met in person, we would have become friends. She’s kind of like a Yoda to so many of us. (Except she makes far more sense than Yoda.)

One of my favorite Maya quotes is the one above. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” I love this advice. I love it so much I taught it to Michala when she was growing up. I love it so much, I tend to dismiss it.

I know you just read that last line and thought, “Wait. What?”

Hear me out, though.

I have been thinking about the way God forgives us a lot, lately. I grew up as a Southern Baptist. We had several different pastors in my home church; the last one was by far, my favorite. He was real. Authentic. He did not preach “fire and brimstone,” but rather the love of God. I got to grow my faith through his messages when I was in high school and when I would come home from college. But some of the pastors before him could be kind of scary. Especially the ones who visited us for revivals. I remember one of them yelling from the pulpit about our sins will send us to hell. Of course his intent was to put the fear of God in all of us … and believe me. It worked.

But it taught me more about fear than it did about grace.

College and my adult years would have me bouncing around to different churches when I moved, and in 2013, I began attending a non-denominational church. At first, I did not know what in the world to expect, but my friends who suggested I try their church loved Jesus, passionately. When I asked if the pastor preaches from the Bible, my friend Tony looked at me with probably a mixture of confusion and

We have to be so careful when we say things like, “God told me.” Or, “I heard God say this.”

Do I believe God talks to us? Yes, but not in an audible way. Not the way He spoke to Moses. Not the way He spoke to John the Baptist and said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” - Matthew 3:17 (NIV)

I believe God talks to us through wise counsel. I believe God talks to us through the peace washing over us when the wind blows by the ocean. I believe God talks to us when a rainbow appears after a long storm. I believe God talks to us with nudges from the Holy Spirit. I believe God talks to us through His Word … “all scripture is God breathed,” - 2 Timothy 3:16 (NIV).

Bob Goff is my favorite author of all time. (And I am an avid reader). He speaks the truth, based on scripture. Bob once wrote, “Sometimes

I am a big believer in prayer. Even what feels like a small prayer can be life changing.

One day the week before we self-quarantined ourselves when Terry and I had to go run errands, before we even got out of our neighborhood, Terry pulled over, grabbed my hand and prayed for protection as we went out and about this particular day. After he prayed, Terry looked at me and said, “I’m not sure why I just felt this way, but I had such a strong urge to stop and pray with you. I can’t explain it.”

I nodded and said, “Always trust your gut. The Holy Spirit was nudging you.”

Not ten minutes later, we were at a four-way stop. Just as we proceeded to make our left-hand turn, an orange moving truck came barreling toward us going at least 50 to 55 MPH in a 35 MPH zone. Terry

Years ago (while it was still on television) a friend of mine was talking about how much she loved the show, Mad Men. It was in the final season and I had never seen one entire episode. I knew next to nothing about it, so I started watching it on Netflix as everyone else watched it ending, live. It quickly sucked me in, and I was hooked. Although if you think about it, it’s horrible.

The cheating, the lying, the drinking, the sabotaging … you name it. But it seems to be extremely

I have shared before how years ago I saw an incredibly wonderful counselor, Bob. In a nutshell, Bob was brilliant. One day he told me, “I hope you know I’m here to throw you some rope to help you get out of the mud. I’m not here to throw an anchor to keep you stuck in it." I did know this. And we discussed this theory of how our bodies respond to stress and how we have the ability to not stay stuck in the mud, forever.

One morning a couple of weeks ago, I woke up just before 2:00 am and could not go back to sleep. I tossed and turned for another two hours and finally got up just before 4:00. By 5:30 I was on my second cup of coffee, wanting to go back to sleep, but for all my trying, could not. Thus the second cup of coffee.

I was stuck, again, and needed to shift my focus.

I have struggled with nightmares for years. I’m not talking about two or three years, I’m talking closer

Terry is a very methodical thinker. I am a very emotional over-thinker.

Terry thinks about things rationally and logically. I think about things irrationally and like a lunatic, at times. I call this, “preparing for all scenarios.” This is why I call it thinking like a lunatic. I do not own a crystal ball where I can look into the future, so why I worry so much about things out of my control make no sense.

Some days I spend wasted hours creating “what if” situations in my head. Situations so absurd, I am still amazed God hasn’t appeared in the flesh, just to slap me, Himself. I marvel at how patient He continues to be with my impatience. He is so kind and filled with grace and mercy toward me.

One morning a little more than a year ago, I woke up really early. The sun was not up yet, but would be soon, and I decided some quiet time outside with Jesus was the medicine my worried soul needed. I made a cup

My brother’s and my dad was an accountant before leaving the corporate world and buying a rental business in the mountains. (Thankfully, they sold their business before the Gatlinburg wildfires took place). Anyway, Dad sees things with an ability to weigh the pros and cons. I think his background with numbers shaped the way he thinks. Dad did not look at things as being black or white; if anything he sees things as red or black.

As you know, in the red with regards to accounting means negative. The account is negative; it is overdrawn. There is debt.

If it is in the black, there is a profit. The account is positive. Red is negative, black is positive. Dad has this innate ability to see things with an ability to weigh outcomes. Positive or negative. If there is a negative outcome, I think Dad weighs it with more care, just to be certain. He is so thoughtful about the well being and needs of others, he looks at things, mathematically, to see if he can turn a negative into a positive.

Several years ago when I was dealing with a problem at work, I turned to my dad for advice. He told me, “You can allow this to make you bitter or better. One letter

Some mornings, especially after the coronavirus pandemic, when I wake up, I just want my coffee and my phone. I want to scroll through Twitter and read the latest news updates. But anytime I do this, it sets my day off on the wrong foot. You know why? Because I haven’t made Jesus a priority.

“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” - Mark 1:35 (NIV)

I started my mornings back the way I used to … coffee and Jesus. The news

Last year in the same week, Michala and my sister-friend Jessica sent the song, “Another in the Fire” by Hillsong to me.

I love this song so much, and I love the story from scripture it represents. Pastor Steve has done such a beautiful job teaching us to look for Jesus in the Old Testament. Growing up, I just didn’t hear about Jesus in the Old Testament. Sure, we talked about the Prophet Isaiah predicting Jesus. And we talked about the lineage of David to Jesus. But finding Jesus in the Old Testament was almost unheard of, so as I became an adult and studied more and grew deeper in my faith, it was an amazing find to go back and see the scriptures and stories I have read time and time again, and see Jesus there.

One of my favorite stories is in the third chapter of Daniel. I have written about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendego being in the fiery furnace, and not only telling King Nebuchadnezzar they would not worship him, but also they did not have to defend themselves to him.

What they said next, though, is where my faith is always challenged.