YOUR LIFE COACHING WV

"If we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ." My Reflection The way my mind works scares me sometimes. I can literally see something and a random thought pops up almost instantaneously. A thought that has absolutely nothing to do with what is going on around me. Take this picture of our Black-eyed Susans for example.  The first shot is of them in their prime and the second their final days. Their season of resembling weeds not their beautiful bouquet of early summer. I was amazed by how quickly the flowers went from making me say "Aww" to "Ohh".  (If this were a FB post, I would add a smiley face with the aww and a sad face with the ohh...I'm sure y'all understand.) So then the random thought: "Life is a lot like these flowers, so I reckon we'd better live a beautiful and good life while we can...." + + + Picture This Me

Jeremiah 17:8 " He is like a tree planted by water,      that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes,      for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought,      for it does not cease to bear fruit.” My Reflection: From one (strong willed WV) wife to another: R ecently, I was thinking about my life, past and present. Not uncommon for a woman of my age I'm sure. I was thinking about the Bible. About marriage. About life in general. About the many changes I've lived through and the many-many learning experiences I wish I could have absorbed through paper not living them. But experience is the best teacher... + + + Picture This: It's pretty interesting to me that God used a variety of older folks such as Job, Moses, Ruth, and Paul to record some of the Bible's greatest milestones. Since I'm not getting any younger and I like to write, I reckon now is as good a time as any to take a sta

" This was a Christmas gift to mom from her grandson, Scott. Just one of the precious memories she kept in her cedar chest." In loving memory of Leonard Scott Martin 8/31/1970 - 4/23/2000 My Reflection: "I learned early in life that the words "I promise" can bring a lot of disappointment when promises are broken; so I made a conscious decision to avoid the phrase...because in my mind, promises never made can never be broken. But in real life  there are exceptions to most rules. So here are my exceptions to the "Never say I promise" rule:  Exception #1: I promise to love my family for the rest of my life; E xception #2: I promise that Jesus has always been enough." + + + Picture This: A few months ago, our church's praise and worship team led us in the song "Christ is Enough" by Hillsong. The lyrics touched my heart and I knew that eventually, I had to share my thoughts with y'all. Well, once I could do so withou

"The filter through which we choose to view life is what determines the amount of beauty we assign to whatever we are looking at." -  Coach Kelly " I raise my eyes toward the mountains.  Where will my help come from?  My help comes from the  Lord ,  the maker of heaven and earth" ( Psalm 121:1-2 .  CEB).   + + + My Reflection: Monday started out as a beautiful, sunny, August day; but then the clouds blew in and the rain poured down. I had just gotten back from town and decided, for some reason, to take some pictures of our flowers - in the rain.  Divine inspiration for today's post?  Or just a combination of a few of my favorite things: rain, flowers, and photography. As I approached our lone Resurrection flower, I remembered a photo I had taken for an earlier blog so I thought it would be neat to recapture it as closely as I could. The primary difference wasn't the additional blossom-clusters but the

"County and state fairs are over. School has resumed. Garden plants are fading away...before long, having my morning coffee on the porch so I can listen to the neighbor's rooster welcome a new day will be a thing of summers past.   As I looked down into Brut's  perpetually sad eyes, I realized the he too, will miss these mornings.  And it made me feel a little sad; and even though there are 36 summer-days left before the first day of fall...I started missing summer..."     + + + I looked around my front porch and wondered out loud " What in the world am I  going to do with all these flowers ?" I glanced over at the geranium I somehow salvaged from last summer, the pitiful looking fern which needs to be transplanted, and then to the plant my middle daughter inherited from her first real job. And then I sighed - it was a sigh of wistfulness; or maybe it was discontentment. Nonetheless, I had a sudden yearning for more than 36 still-to-come days of s

Psalm 16:11 "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." I was thinking about tomorrow being Sunday and about how " back in the day " Sundays were set apart for church, family dinner, fishing, and Sunday drives. But those simple Sundays are a thing of the past for most families. One-on-one family interaction has been replaced by Smartphones, Facebook, sports, shopping, distance, even work. And sometimes we simply choose to spend our Sundays with gadgetry and busyness.  My parents liked simple Sundays; and it is almost tradition at our house too. We like to engage with our family. Around here that may mean napping after church while pretending to watch TV, eating too much and then working it off by chasing the grandkids. We can be found talking on the front porch, spraying the kids down as they giggle and run or roll down the hill...cause y'all know hills are made to b

"The resurrection flower springs up from the ground mid-summer. Just a beautiful flower perched upon a strong and leaf-less stem. She reminds us that hidden beauty will burst forth when least expected.  And once she rises up from her hiding place, her strength and beauty cannot be denied...women of God, you too are set apart to stand out in His beauty and strength."  - Coach Kelly I have always claimed the book of Luke as my favorite gospel. But lately Matthew has really been speaking to me. As I was reading chapter 15, verse 28 caught my attention. Probably because I am a mom and grandma and regularly pray for my own kids to be healthy, happy, saved, and safe. + + + Picture This: It was around 70 A.D. And an unnamed Canaanite woman was following Jesus and the boys around town. She was begging to be heard. She was specific. She was purposeful. She was tenacious and she was determined. And at first, Jesus simply ignored her. The boys, on the other hand, fo

The Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and  blew life’s breath into his nostrils.  The human came to life.  Genesis 2:7 (CEB) + + + I had the television on earlier this week and overheard a preacher say something about playing in the dirt. He started talking about planting seeds and watching them sprout up. And it got me to thinking about Matthew 13. Talk about a great collection of parables. JESUS talks about planting in all types of soil, about tares springing up, and about harvesting. He also talks about us wanting to understand what He's saying so that we can give back some of what we take in for ourselves ( Matthew 13:52 MSG - I want to live this verse ). The preacher went on to talk about planting. He said that if we plant seeds that represent the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, kindness, self-control, gentleness, patience, faithfulness, and forbearance) we can reap a harvest of souls for the Kingdom. I missed the rest

"Well hello Mr. Zucchini...and to your brother, mother, and second cousin removed...now what in the world am I going to do with y'all?" + + + 2 Peter 1:2-4 On Friday, I was trying to figure out ways to use our homegrown zucchini. So far this summer, we've ate it fried and raw, shredded and sliced, baked and grilled. But I needed something new for today so I grabbed my tablet and headed to Pinterest . I searched recipes for zucchini and saw two that I had made in the past: zucchini cookies and three cheese zucchini lasagna! Yeah baby! These new-for-this-season, hide-the-zucchini recipes were gonna be supper tonight! And just a couple hours later, when the smells floating around my kitchen were so amazing, I didn't even mind the cleanup. Oh, but y'all...those cookies though... Before I realized what I was doing, I had inhaled four of those things. No milk. No coffee. No tea. Just cookies. Suddenly, I realized that I had just ate every calorie I shou

James 1:5-6 (MSG) If you don't know what you are doing, pray to the Father, He loves to help. You'll get this help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it.   Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. Earlier this week, I shared some exciting and humbling-to-me news on my Facebook wall, I was not bragging although many will see it that way. But hopefully, if I share my testimony, maybe they will see it from a different perspective, my humble one. First, I should explain that I am a firm believer in praying to God like I am talking to a friend. To me, He is not only my Creator but my Best Friend. I know that I can tell Him anything and He will give me direction; and He will do so in confidence and love. Since He is with me everywhere and knows my thoughts better than I do anyway, trying to hide anything thing from Him is pointless. So my prayer to Him was simply " Father, thank You for blessing a dummy like me. " Those words hit