My friend Lisa invited me to the Lifeway Women's Forum 2017 in Nashville a few weeks ago. She sent me a message a couple of months prior and said that God told her to invite me. We have been friends through social media since 2014 when I first shared her blog here but we had not yet met in person. She said she was hesitant to ask because she thought I might think it was weird. But when she did my immediate thought was YES! I had been praying … [Read more...]

I wrote the other day about how God allowed Satan to take everything away from Job and through it all...Job remained steadfast in his faith. There comes a point in life where you will be down to nothing and you have two choices. (If you don't think this is going to happen you are wrong...at least that is what I have been told by many and experienced myself). And when it happens you can either give up and give in to Satan or you can remain … [Read more...]

(Sharing Lisa Millman's message today. ~ Blessings, Stacey ~ iamalive) Thankful for a God who is faithful. Today we sang in church one of my favorite songs, You are faithful. “Every battle I fight, every tear I cry, in the dark of the night, You are faithful.” Oh, such calming words. When I feel alone, am impatient, when words are only words, when I am let down, when I cry, etc., I have to remember that God loves me and allows the Fruit … [Read more...]

This photo of my dad and me popped up this morning in my Facebook memories. Apparently I shared it one year ago. I love this picture because it is an image of my father with a genuine smile on his face. This smiling face in this photo reminded me of the father I had while I was growing up and even into my late 20s. He was soft hearted, soft spoken, and rarely raised his voice. He worked long hours at his job to support my mom and me. He took … [Read more...]

If you happened to see this one on Instagram already I apologize for the repeat. People used to tell me I look younger than I am. Well, unfortunately I don’t have that problem anymore. This aging thing has been DIFFICULT to accept...and I began feeling it at 40. But...when you realize your face finally matches your age you throw on a filter and you get on with your life. Wrinkles, age spots, bags under the eyes, blemishes, sun damage, etc. … [Read more...]

I was raised in a home where we took our shoes off after we walked in the door. Piles of shoes decorated the utility room at the entrance to our kitchen. Not everyone follows this practice. When I started traveling to Japan back in 1998 I noticed this was a requirement. When you walk into a home in Japan there is typically an entryway with a cabinet that holds shoes. And there are a plethora of slippers waiting for you to slide on so that you may … [Read more...]