Foreword by our guest writer-Jill D.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not lean on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do and He will direct your steps." - Proverbs 3:5-6

For those of you who know me, you will recognize this verse as my email address. That is because it is my life verse. I find that the wisdom of God's Word always holds true and are the only things worthy to live by. I am learning to ask God to show me what He would have me learn from the people and circumstances I encounter in my day. This is something I suggest everyone to do throughout the day. On one of those days, God gave me a message that was so vivid, it is still framed in my mind.

In the summer we often take our children tubing on Candlewood Lake, CT. They sit on small 'mini rafts' while my husband and brother-in-law drag them around the lake via a rope attached from the boat to the tube. As I would sit on the boat with my eyes, and sometimes the camera glued on the kids, I would hear the pearls of laughter as the waves from the boat's wake would jostle and sometimes flop over the kids on the tube.

 While I was enjoying one such moment, I asked God, "Father, what would you have me learn from this experience?" This is the message I believe He gave me: In life, there will always be waves that not only take you up and down but can also flip you over. These are the hard times in life- when your child is sick, when they are hurting from others around them, when they are conforming to the world and do things that hurt themselves and those around them, and also when you are hurting for the same reasons. But then He showed me to look at the rope which attached the tube to the boat. As long as the child is firmly holding onto the tube attached to the rope, no matter how bad the waves are, he won't get detached from the boat. In the same way God tells us to, "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2) so we will be able to persevere through Him. He is the rope we must firmly fix ourselves to so we can get through life's ups and downs, even when it turns us over. Jesus doesn't take us out of the storms of life, instead He gives us His peace through the storms until it is time for Him to take us onto the boat go to our heavenly home.

So, how do we stay attached to the rope to keep our eyes on Jesus?

1) Set aside a consistent daily quiet time with the Lord to read His Word and pray to Him. As you do, ask God to give you a teachable heart and show you what He wants you to see. You are not in a race to read through the Bible, so read it slowly and meditate on what God is showing you.

2) "Be still and know that I am the Lord..." - Set aside a consistent time to pray to Him and be silent allowing Him to speak to you.

3) Ask God to help you develop a lifestyle of praying throughout the day, "seek His will in all you do and He will direct your steps." (Proverbs 3:6)

4) Memorize scripture: as you spend time with God is His Word, He will impress upon your heart verses that He wants you to memorize. He will use these verses in you life to get through the rough waves. For example: write these verses on index cards to keep throughout your house- on the bathroom mirror, refrigerator door, car dashboard, etc. and then few times a day recite the verse along with its reference out loud until memorized.

Sisters, don't worry that you are taking so much time out of your already hectic day to spend time with God because God does amazing things. When we honor God with our time, He extends our day. Try it and see for yourself.