Cathy's Heart

Born To Soar (Part 4) Welcome to week 4 of my cyberspace Bible Study. Recently, my posts have followed the heart of the messages I taught this past fall at my church. I pray they will be a blessing to you!   In my last three posts, we looked at God's desire and plan to help us  renew our minds , thus  transforming our lives  into the  men and women He created us to be . One of the greatest gifts we have been given to help renew our mind is the Bible, the  living and active  word of God. In the same way a leaf-eating caterpillar is mysteriously equipped with  a small pipe-like straw  that enables it to burst forth from it's cocoon into a sweet-nectar drinking butterfly,  we are miraculously equipped by the Holy Spirit to eat a new kind of food when we are born into the family of God.  No longer do we simply hunger for the food that our body needs, but  our soul longs to be nourished by spiritual food, the very  God-breathed...

Born to Soar (Part 3) Welcome to week 3 of my cyberspace Bible Study. This fall, my posts are following the heart of the messages I teach each week at my church. I pray you will be blessed.    1) A New Seed (New DNA) I Peter 1:23-25 says,  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. And this is the word that was preached to you.   In my last two posts,  I wrote about God's desire and plan to help us to  renew our minds  and  transform our lives  when we become a beautiful new creation through our faith in Jesus Christ.  My own transformation began one spring evening in 1977, after I accepted a friend's invitation to her church youth group. That night, as the youth pastor gave his message to an enthusia...

Born to Soar (Part 2) Welcome to week 2 of my cyberspace Bible Study. This fall, my posts will follow the heart of the messages I am teaching each week at my church. I pray you will be blessed.   Last week, I wrote that like an old caterpillar transformed and burst forth from it's cocoon into a beautiful new butterfly, God desires each of His children to enjoy a whole new way of life on this earth, while we expectantly look forward to eternity with Him in heaven. Years ago, the Lord showed me that one reason we don't enjoy the fullness of the abundant life He intends is because we don't change our thinking. I have found this to be true in my own life, and have witnessed it in others.   For years, I have observed that one of the greatest obstacles to renewing our minds is the lies that we believe. Lies we may have heard from others, lies we told ourselves, and the lies whispered to us by our enemy, the devil. However, until we recognize these lies and learn to dispel them, w...

Born to Soar (Part 1) I love to teach the Word of God! One-on-one or in a group, my greatest joy is to help others to see that God's Word is precious, powerful and practical to transform everyday, sometimes messy, often complicated, lives into overcoming, victorious and fruitful ones! This message, above all others, is one I feel certain God has called me to share. And, it all began with a simple prayer.   While basking in the sun, sipping a cold glass of ice tea, I kept a watchful eye over my children who splashed and swam in the nearby pool. My Bible lay open beside me, where, after checking on my kids, I read Colossians 3 about our new life in Christ. I stopped when I came to verses nine and ten. "...since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator."   I read the end of the passage again, "Being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. "Lord," ...

Turning 53 Three years ago, on my 50th birthday, I began this blog, Cathy's Heart. Since then, I've added a website, a blog on parenting, as well as a blog on parenting tweens and teens. And, as one of my children recently pointed out, I have become a Facebook (and Twitter) addict! (Yes, I tweet!) Yet, as I enter the world of websites, blogs and social media, I sense I am straddling a fence between not-too-old-yet but not-quite-young-enough to be on this new super highway of life. I love these new vehicles of communication and networking, but there are times when I feel like I am drowning in a deep, wide and swift river. Nevertheless, at a turtles pace, I am determined to continue moving forward. I am striving to keep up with, as well as grow in my knowledge and skill of the use of these amazing tools available to us. In my younger days, much younger, I used to see myself as a flexible, easy-going person who adapted well to change. Wrong! I have learned, much to my dismay, I th...

Checking Off My 2012 Goals May I let you in on a little secret? At the core of my being, I am a coward! However, God, who does not give us a spirit of fear, has graciously given me a husband, children and life circumstances to challenge this lack of bravery in me. Still, I find myself cowering from anything that takes me out of my comfort zone or beckons me on a risk-taking adventure. Although, I have always longed to do something significant and make an impact on the world, so far it hasn't happened. Instead, I cling to what is safe and familiar. Someone once wrote, "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." This is true. My world is relatively small due to my own lack of courage. Thus, I do inconsequential things that make very little impact.   This year, I made it my objective to change that. In January, I wrote on my list of 2012 goals, Do something courageous! In my mind, I imagined some sort of mission's trip to help or encourage others in ano...

On a recent flight to Chicago, I grew alarmed when the fasten seatbelt sign came on, and the pilot announced, "Well folks, we've hit a little bit of unexpected turbulence. I've turned on the fasten seatbelt sign. Please stay seated with your seat-belts securely fastened until we pass through this rough patch." Rough patch, I thought, even the flight attendants had to take their seats. I squeezed the armrests, closed my eyes, and begged God to keep us safe. "Lord," I pleaded, as I did each time I flew, "Please make the shaking stop. Give us smooth air currents to fly through and get us there safely."   Fear has always been my worst enemy, and I could sense it's icey talons gripping my heart while our plane tossed about like a tiny paper airplane up in the vast blue sky. My litany of prayers for a smooth flight and calm air streams seemed to bounce off the ceiling. So, I decided to meditate on Bible verses I had stored up in my heart. I clung to ...