Cathy's Heart

Twenty years ago, just a couple of years before Stormie Omartian published her wonderful books,  The Power of a Praying Parent  and  The Power of a Praying Wife ,  the Lord was also graciously teaching a young, overwhelmed and tired mommy in southern California about the power of praying God's Word. In times of need, I always loved to find the perfect Bible verse to turn into a prayer.  Like, when my firstborn was little and began to have bad dreams. We memorized Psalm 4:8. I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. Then, it became our prayer each night. Soon after our fourth child arrived, my husband and I moved with our four small children, away from family and friends, to a new city so we could answer God's call for him to attend law school. Once there, fears assaulted me each night. In desperation, I slowly memorized Psalm 91. It became my prayer during the long dark nights as I cried out for God to deliver me from th...

I hoisted my carry-on bag into the overhead compartment, shoved my purse under the chair in front of me, and settled into my assigned seat. I fastened my seat belt, before checking Facebook and my email one last time. I went to power down my phone, but, suddenly, remembered one last detail. Quickly, I opened the Notes application on my iPhone, hit the plus sign for a new note and typed in,   Life Without Regrets . Then I turned it off, leaned my head back, and closed my eyes as the airplane taxied down the runway and lifted up into the sky. Lord, what are You trying to tell me?  I couldn't shake the phrase that greeted me earlier that morning. The flight attendant's voice interrupted my thoughts, "What would you like to drink?" "Decaf coffee with two creams, please," I said. Then I turned my attention to the young woman seated beside me, who I proceeded to visit with for the rest of the flight. My trip was a whirlwind. The words I hastily typed into my phon...

Calling Sin "Sin" "Sugar is to you is like alcohol to an alcoholic. You must not eat it." The words resounded in my head as I lay in bed, my eyes not yet open but my mind wide awake. I didn't need to ask, "Lord, is that you?" I knew it was God speaking to me! I knew, first, because I never would have come up with that thought on my own. And second, because God had been trying to tell me a similar message for at least two years. That was twenty-years ago. And, as much as I hate to admit, it was only two years ago, this very week, that I finally and fully obeyed God's clear command to me. It all began twenty-two years ago, after my husband and I moved with our four small children to California. After we settled into our new home and a new routine, I started to feel awful. My joints ached, I had mood swings brought on by low blood sugar, and I was exhausted all the time. The doctor ran tests, but couldn't find any medical reason for my symptoms. S...

I am on a anniversary get-a-away with my wonderful husband of twenty-nine years. So this will be short, simple and sloppy (unedited). But I want to share with you why this time of year is so special to me. And I pray that this new year will hold special surprises, abundant blessings and dreams come true for you too! I love New Year's! I'm pretty sure it is my favorite holiday. And even though it is actually just another day. I love what it symbolizes. A fresh start. A clean slate. A new beginning. I am a goal maker. A list keeper. A get it done and cross it off the list kind-of-a-person. And the start of a new year is the perfect time to do this. Every year after Christmas, I begin to reflect on the past 365 days. And I make goals for what I want to accomplish in the days, weeks and months ahead. However, New Year's is also very special to me because it the time I celebrate new birth. 33 years ago, after running hard and fast away from God, I answered a pastor's plea to...

  It happened many years ago... Steam rose from my coffee mug. I took a long sip, and stared out the kitchen window. It was another gray and dreary morning in Southern California. Not even a hint of sunlight poked through the thick marine layer outside. And inside, in the depths of my soul, it was not much different. My heart felt heavy, weary and dark. I was beginning another day filled with resentment and frustration, all because of something I desperately wanted. For weeks, like an immature child, I had been begging God to give it to me. And sadly, for the first time in my life, I could NOT end my prayer with, "Nevertheless, not my will but Thy will be done!" My husband and I were at crossroads. He was just about to finish four grueling (for me) years of law school. I wanted to go one way and he wanted to go the other. What started as a grand adventure four years earlier had become a exhausting journey for me. I never imagined how hard it would be to move away from family ...

Waiting...To Go (Part 2) This week, I have been sick. Each time I attempted to write a new post, my brain was too foggy to concentrate. However, I received an email that challenged me to push through the fog. A portion of it read: “Thanks for the encouragement you give me through your blogs! It is lonely out here and we are having a tough transition. Your blogs help me to feel connected. The other day was very difficult and after time in the word and prayer I looked at your blog. I was waiting for it to download on my iphone, because our landline and internet were down...I desperately needed to hear from God. "Please let there be a new word from Cathy!!!" I cried out to Jesus. I cried when a new post came up and saw that you had added ones for kids and teens...Please keep writing Cathy I Need it!!!" My friend's note broke my heart. But it also affirmed that I need to continue to be obedient and disciplined to write. As I said in my last post, writing is hard work. ...

(Part 1) The challenge of writing a blog, especially one designed to encourage others in their faith, is to make sure your posts don't come across as self-serving or presumptuous. That said, this post has been particularly difficult for me to write. In fact, this morning I'm tempted to just throw in the towel. But instead, I am pressing on and praying that this post, along everything I write, will point my readers to Jesus, to His Word and to a deeper walk of faith. "Cathy, you need to write." I have heard this admonition in a variety of ways for years now. So a couple of years ago I started this blog. My original goal was to write a post once a month. That didn't happen. Until this past summer, on my fifty-second birthday, when I set a new goal to write a blog post once a week. So far, so good. Even though last week I didn't write a post for this blog. Instead, I wrote one for a new blog titled,  Cathy's Heart on Training Up Teenagers.  These blogs are my...