You probably have noticed I haven’t blogged a whole lot the last few months. I had great intentions. In fact, I even had a nifty whiteboard all set up, ready to keep track of how much I blogged and how much “traffic” I would get. I planned out a very ambitious editorial calendar for my blog… and that’s about as far as it got.

I have a lot I juggle. All by choice, I know. I love my military wives ministry and the team of women I lead. I love the new opportunities God has given me to write for all kinds of different women in various stages of wife and mom life, and I’m grateful for the encouraging relationship I have with my publisher, whose team has been nothing but incredibly supportive and excited in my literary endeavors over the last few years. I love the speaking opportunities I’ve had, getting to meet women in person, and not just over a computer screen, getting the absolute privilege to speak God’s truth from His Word into their lives and their marriages and their families.

Being a wife and a mom is my first love, after my relationship with Jesus, and I’m grateful for how God has taught me and worked in my life over the last several years, to help me be able to say that. Because if I’m honest, and I try to always be real with you, it wasn’t always that way. God has helped me see the priorities my husband and son are to me – not just priorities, like a list to check off, but the blessings they are to me too.

But it’s a lot to handle. And most days I manage ok, though treading water would be an apt description of how I often feel.

Except for the last several months. It’s been hard. Think life times ten. My family hasn’t suffered. But sometimes my to-do list has.

“Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses.” (Prov. 10:12)

This was the verse I read during my quiet time  this morning and stopped me cold. The commentary in my study Bible brought the point home. “Loving people, unlike hateful ones, are willing to put up with insults or slander and to forgive those who wrong them” (emphasis mine).

Ouch. It’s not easy to always do this, but it’s so important.

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. ~ Psalm 91:1

In life, all of us at one time or another seek out shelter. We look for comfort, for safety, for emotional security, for the knowledge that everything will be ok. Elijah could relate. We read his story in 1 Kings 19. After entering into a major competition with Queen Jezebel and King Ahab and their prophets of Baal, and seeing God bring victory against them, Elijah still didn’t feel like much of a winner, after he learned Jezebel had put a bounty on his head. His life was in jeopardy. Elijah needed shelter in the worst kind of way. So he looked for it in a cave.

It’s easy to find ourselves hiding in a cave of our own making.

Courtesy of istockphoto.com

Ever been to a women’s ministry fellowship or get-together? You stand by who you know, don’t you? You talk with who you always talk. You laugh and cut up with your friends and (possibly) are blissfully unaware of those around you who aren’t part of your group. Or maybe you are aware, and this makes you feel just a tad better, if not a tad guilty, because you know you’re part of something. You’re part of a bigger number. You’re not alone.