Category Archives: My Thought Closet

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How to Expect and Experience God’s Presence

Rose was a widow who lived in West Palm Beach, and when I was in college, many of us students visited her. My friend Mike told me how one evening he popped in on Rose at dinner time and she invited him in. They visited a few moments in her kitchen until he noticed her kitchen table was set for two. “Oh Rose,” he said, “I didn’t realize you were having a guest for dinner. I will scoot out.”

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She put her hand on his arm, stopping him and told him she always set two places at her table ever since her husband died over 30 years earlier. Mike assumed the second place setting was to remind her of her late husband and he commented about how sweet it was that she remembered him in that way. Rose quickly corrected my friend saying, “Oh, no. I set a place at my table every evening for Jesus. I sit with Him, listen to Him and expect Him to be with me. This is my way of showing Him.”

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How to Detox Your Faith, One Lie at a Time

As a third grader, our class project was to grow grass in milk cartons. I remember starting the project by cutting the tent-like top off the small milk carton so all that remained was a little box shaped planter. Then, I filled it with a bit of dirt, some seeds, some more dirt and a little water. The teacher then let each of us take home our small waxy paper planters and told us to sit them in a sunny place and water them every day so they would grow.

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We had to write down everything we did to tend to our little sprouts in a journal and at the end of the month; we were all to bring back the grassy evidence of our hard work! I remember placing my little stump of a flower pot in the window sill in my bedroom. Like the budding Type A that I was, I checked it constantly and watered it when it felt the least bit dry. Tiny sprouts appeared and I recorded it in my “Growth Journal.” It was really growing! By the end of the month, I had a luxurious tuft of green that any golf course in America would covet!

After showing my teacher, I was allowed to bring it back home and keep it. I was so proud of my success and determined I would continue to tend to it so back to its window perch it went. I trimmed, watered, tended, watered, missed a few days, forgot, remembered and then ignored it and eventually…I had some dusty hay in a cut off milk carton! So much for my Type A tendencies — they hadn’t matured yet!

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Women: Why What You Do Today Matters, Even If You Don’t Feel Like It

She greeted me when I walked into the cafeteria on Parents’ Day. Our oldest son was a freshman in college and this was the first time after dropping him off that we’d been back to visit. We’d met faculty, his resident director, and lots of his new friends. So when this woman greeted me, I asked, “Tell me who you are?”

She hesitated. I wondered if I should know her? I imagine she looked down and saw my white cane and realized I couldn’t see her, and that’s probably why she answered in a voice as warm and inviting as dark hot chocolate, “Oh, Ma’am. I’m nobody. I just clean tables.”

“You are not a nobody! You are not just a table cleaner!” I told her. “I’m Jennifer. What’s your name?” She laughed and told me. I thought to myself, “Nobody is a nobody!”

Nobody is just a table cleaner. Or just a mom. Or just a clerk or just a CPA or just a… anything!

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Letting Go of What You Thought for What Is True

In 2006, I was a guest on the Dr. Phil Show. Oh my gosh, girl! It was a fantastic experience full of surprises and expectations. I expected to have a pre-interview with a producer. I expected to have a totally interesting and slightly intimidating experience on set. I expected to have my make-up professionally done there in the studio. I expected cameras, questions and lots of nerves! I didn’t expect to talk to Dr. Phil personally offstage though. And if I did get to meet him, I expected him to be hurried and professional but not as engaging in private as he was on TV.

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Well, most of my expectations were correct. I pre-interviewed with a producer. There were cameras, professional make-up (thank you, Lord), lots of questions and even more nerves! But, what I expected from Dr. Phil personally was not what I got! I expected him to be hurried. And, even though he was in a hurry, he wasn’t rushed. He was warm and casual. I expected him to be more guarded or distant in person than he seems to be on TV. Nope, he was so engaging and genuinely personally interested in me. I was totally thrown off – he was not who I expected him to be.

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How to Hear God’s Voice Through Scripture

“Are you there? Can you hear me?! Can you hear me now?” How many times have you held your phone to your ear and asked — okay, shouted, “Can you hear me?” Then, you shift positions; you move to a window, put the phone up to the other ear, speak even louder, “Can you hear me now?”

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If you’re like me, you’ve done that too many times to count! In fact, so many of us have had this happen that Verizon Wireless featured an actor uttering those very words over and over in their famous cell phone commercials. Remember that?

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One Surefire Way to Become a Happier Woman

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Thanks for nothing!?” Of course you have. It’s usually said in a less than thankful tone of voice, right? You know what a person is really saying when they thank someone for “nothing.” Well, it’s usually a sarcastic way to acknowledge their dissatisfaction with another’s poor or insulting behavior.

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In other words, it’s what someone says when they’re ticked off! It has nothing to do with actual gratefulness; it’s actually the opposite! It’s just a snarky insult and it’s not very nice!