Cathy's Heart

Asking God to Bring Out the Big Guns. "We have major spiritual warfare here. Can't share details. Everyone is safe, but there's a soul battle going on. Please pray..."    This prayer request was a text I recently received from a desperate mom of teenagers.    I didn't know the specifics, but I knew how to pray and how to encourage my distraught friend.   (And, dear ones, lest you think this post is just for parents, it's not! This prayer has become my "big guns" petition, when necessary, for each of my kids, my husband, friends, family, others, even, and especially, for myself! So, please, keep reading)!   It was more than a decade ago, when my own teenager brought me to my knees, crying out the hardest prayer I had ever prayed!    He was 16! Our first born. Intelligent. Contentious. Tester-of-boundaries. Lover-of-fun! Of course, each year, as good parents do, we increased his freedoms and responsibilities. And, true to his nature, our son pushed ...

` A Struggle Shared Can Set You Free It began as a dream, which stirred within me a word for one, then evolved into a message for many.     In the dream, I sat next to a young woman. "Tell me about yourself," I asked.    "I don't share," she said blankly.    I knew, immediately, it wasn't because she was shy or reserved or selective in who she spoke to. No, her answer was from a place of pain. A secret. A wound. Or perhaps, a problem too deeply buried to reveal to anyone, let alone a stranger.   As I began to wake up, there was a message in my heart for the young woman. I knew, without a doubt, God wanted me to tell her that His desire and His plan was for her to be free!   Then by the time I rolled out of bed, the message had grown to one about how much God longed for each of His children to be freed from painful problems or a hurtful past or hidden secrets that held them back from all He intended and created them to be!    For weeks, I...

Let The One You Love Protect You 2016 did not afford me the creative energy I needed to write much. But, it did leave me with many new messages to share in the days ahead. For my first 2017 blog post, I intended to write about "the hardest prayer I've ever prayed" or "my goal to write my first book." However, this is the one I must write, the place I am currently living.   Disclaimer: this post is about marriage. However, I pray it will speak to any reader. For as with most messages, I believe it can apply to other relationships, especially our relationship with God! Also, this is NOT a post about domestic violence. That's a whole deeper issue, and I ask anyone caught in it's snare to seek help, please!    During my daily devotions, the first of the year, I felt led to read the book of Malachi, specifically chapter 2. When I did, one passage stood out to me, and has stayed with me ever since.    “The man who hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord, t...

A Little Orange Car and a Great Big God Do you have anything written down about your teaching on 2 Corinthians 9?  I read the text on my phone.   No , I replied.  But, I could  (write something)  if you'd like.   My mini-Corinthians sermon, preached to my good friend the day before, always includes an amazing true story. Thus, in answer to her request, I decided to write this new blog post, for any and all to read.   It actually began about 10 years ago, with the purchase of a school raffle ticket. For the next few weeks, I held on to my tiny ticket, hoping and praying I would win the giveaway prize, a Ford Mustang Convertible!   At the same time, I was memorizing a compelling passage of scripture, 2 Corinthians 9:6-11.  Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, ...

Remembering, Why I Decided to Write At 30,000 Feet This Christmas, during one of those precious and rare moments alone with my son, he asked, "Mom, how's your writing going?"   I gave my man-child several excuses why I hadn't written lately. But, finally I confided the real reason. "The truth is, I received a scathing email that has made me cautious, even reluctant, to write. You understand..." And, he did.   We discussed why people lash out, as well as the proper response we should have to our attackers. Then, my son finished our conversation with these words, "Mom, you need to keep writing!"   These words, a priceless gift from the child I raised, have stayed with me. You see, I want to write. I long to continue to share lessons and stories about marriage, parenting, and living life the way God teaches us to in the Bible. Instead, the first words of a stranger's email to me, "I really have a hard time understanding why you think you have...

When God Brings Us Through Seasons of Winter I love vineyards and the imagery Jesus uses in John 15, when He declares,  "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit..."  More than anything, I want my life to be abundantly fruitful from an abiding relationship with Jesus.   My heart was first captivated by the beauty of vineyards on train rides up the central coast of California to visit my oldest son at college. During those long trips, I began to ponder the passages in John's gospel more deeply...  "for apart from Me you can do nothing."   My window-seat view from the train was as close as I came to vineyards, until my husband and I attended a legal conference at a luxurious winery. The only problem, it was January. So, instead of rows and rows of lush, lovely vineyards, we were surrounded by brown, barren and knotted stumps. No grapes. No green leaves. No branches. There were just vines, pruned ba...