The Most Important Holiday

      I watched an amazing, short video at church on Sunday.  Actually, it was more of a slide show to music than a video.  It almost brought me to tears.  It was about Easter and why we celebrate it.  The emphasis in the video is why Easter is so much more important than any other holiday.  I had never thought of Easter as the most important holiday until this past Palm Sunday.  I had always celebrated Easter as a Christian, but I never thought of how truly important it is.  Christmas was always my favorite holiday.  I love the feeling of joy that surrounds it, but I always wondered why people were so joyful around Christmas, but they forgot those feelings of peace and giving the rest of the year.  Jesus didn't come to earth so that we would focus on his birth.  Jesus birth was a great miracle, but his purpose for becoming God as man was not fulfilled by his birth.  His life is a perfect testament to how we should live.  He was the only person who could live a perfect life and show us how we should live.  Jesus was not just joyful and giving around the time of his birth.  He was that way always, just as we should be.
     His purpose for becoming God as man was not fulfilled until he died.  This is why Easter is the most important holiday.  Jesus' purpose for coming to earth was to die.  He came here to die for us.  Think about that sentence for a minute.  It bears repeating.  He came here to die for us.  Not just those of us who believe in him.  He came here to die for everyone, even his enemies.  The pastor at church this past Palm Sunday stressed this point.  What kind of love does it take to die for your enemies?  It is an amazing, unfathomable love.  No one else could do it.  Jesus' last words on this earth are found in Gospel of John 19:30.  It says, "...Jesus said, "It is finished."  With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."  His purpose for becoming God as man was finished by his death.  Not his birth or life.  His death.  This Easter, focus on what is truly the most important thing that ever happened in our history.  On Friday afternoon, take a moment to stop and thank God for sending us Jesus to die for us.  There is no greater love or sacrifice than that.

Being a Good Christian is a lot like Being a Good Gardener

     One of my favorite times of year is spring.  I love getting outside after the long winter and cleaning up my flowerbeds.  Seeing the tulips, lilies, and crocuses coming up really makes my day!  As any gardener knows, flowerbeds are a lot of work.  If you don’t spend time in them every day, the weeds will take over and choke out all of your flowers.  I think pulling weeds is actually very therapeutic.  It makes me feel great to be out in the sunshine and keeping the weeds out of my flowerbeds gives the flowers roots more room to grow.  My flowers get bigger and more beautiful every year.

     Being a good Christian is much the same.  A new Christian is as beautiful as the new spring flowers.  But if they don’t spend time with God every day, praying and reading his word, the weeds of the world will get in the way and choke out the joy of the Lord.  Spending time talking to God and reading the bible can help keep the weeds out of your life and keep the grace of God in.

     In the book of Matthew, chapter 13, Jesus tells the parable of the sower.  He tells of a farmer scattering his seeds on the land.  Some of it falls on the path and the birds eat it.  Other seeds fall on rocky places where there is not a lot of dirt and so they don’t have good roots and the die.  More seeds fall among thorns, which grew and choked them out.  The last of the seeds fall on good soil and produce many times what was sown (vs. 1-9).

     Jesus then explains the parable to the disciples.  He says that when anyone hears the message about God and the kingdom of heaven, and does not understand it, the devil comes and takes it away from his heart.  He is like the seed on the path.  The one who is like the seed in the rocky place is the one who hears the word and receives it right away, but since he does not have good roots, when trouble or persecution comes, he falls away.  The one who is like the seed in the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worries of the world and the love of money chokes it out.  The last is the one who receives the word and understands it.  He is the one who prospers (vs. 18-23).

     Every gardener knows that if you want your flowers to grow and be beautiful year after year, they have to be planted in the right soil and tended daily.  Great care will result in a beautiful flowerbed.  In the same way, spending time with God every day will make you a beautiful, healthy Christian with good roots that can last forever. 

Benny and The Miraculous Bible

     I have been working on an idea for a series of children's books and I finally got beyond being scared to put something in writing!  Benny and The Miraculous Bible will be a series of books about a little boy that finds a mysterious blank bible in the attic of his new house.  The stories will teach biblical virtues to children in a fun, adventurous way!  Check out www.themiraculousbible.blogspot.com for updates on Benny and his friends, and be praying that I can find a publisher soon!!

Relationships Are Not Like Shower Tile!

     I spent the whole afternoon the other day on my hands and knees scrubbing my shower tile.  It was covered in hard water and rust stains.  So I got out the stiffest scrubbing pad I could find and started in.  Now if any of you are familiar with cleaning tile, you might be cringing right now.  I felt really good about my progress because the tile was bright, white and clean!  Yeah!!  Until my husband walked in and said, “That’s not an abrasive scrubbing pad is it?”  I remained silent and held the pad up to him.  Yep, it was.  “You know why the tile is so clean right?” he said.  I was still silent.  He told me the tile was so clean and white because I had scrubbed the glaze right off the tile.  I got below the surface of the tile with my scrubbing and took the protective glaze right off and instead of the off white, bone color that the tile was supposed to be, I had white tile with no protective coating.  Oops.

     It’s a good thing that relationships are not like shower tile!  If we never got below the surface in our relationships, we would never have a truly fulfilling relationship with anyone.  In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, in Chapter 10, he is trying to get the Corinthians to see look below the surface of things (v. 7) and see why he is so forceful in his letters.  He has to be boasting and forceful in his letters because he is not physically there with the Corinthians to encourage them in person.  He addresses this is verses 10 and 11 that say, “For some say, “His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive and his speaking amounts to nothing.”  Such people should realize that what we are in our letters when we are absent, we will be in our actions when we are present.”  Paul is basically saying to look below the surface of his actions while he is there and see the Godly man underneath all the boasting and forcefulness of his letters.

     There are probably a lot of people that read my posts and think that I am forceful in my opinions of how we should be as women.  But I am only trying to encourage others in the way that God has called me to do.  2 Corinthians 10:13 says, “We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the field God has assigned to us, a field that reaches even to you.”  My field includes all the women that I can possibly reach to try to encourage and inspire them as God has called me to do.  I will not step outside of my limits, as Paul didn’t, and I pray that you will look below the surface of my writing and feel inspired and encouraged.  I would love to hear from you!  If I have encouraged you in anyway please let me know.  You can send me an email to tsote@ymail.com anytime! 

The Ten Commandments for an Unhappy Life

The Ten Commandments for an Unhappy Life

1. Thou shalt hold onto bitterness and anger.


2. Thou shalt never get too close to anybody.  Keepeth all of thy relationships at surface level.


3. Thou shalt wear a glum expression on they face at all times.


4. Thou shalt put aside play and shalt inflict upon others that which was once inflicted upon thyself.


5. Thou shalt grumble about the small stuff, forgetting the bigger picture.


6. Thou shalt forget about others’ needs, thinking only of your own.


7. Thou shalt hold regular pity parties, inviting others to joinest thou.


8. Thou shalt not take a vacation.


9. Thou shalt expect the worst in all situations, blame and shame everyone around thyself for everything, and dwell on the feebleness, faults, and fears of others.


10. Thou shalt be in control at all times, no matter what.

These were taken from Karol Ladd’s, The Power of a Positive Woman.  When I read this I couldn’t help but laugh and that is exactly why I put it here.  It is to make you laugh and hopefully help you to see how silly we act at times.

Calling All Moms!

Mom, do you know how valuable you are?

Do you want to be inspired and encouraged?

Are you in need of refreshment or rejuvenation?

Do you want to laugh?


A Hearts at Home conference gives moms the unique opportunity to pause along their mothering journey to refresh, refocus, and renew themselves. The 2010 National Conference, Mom’s the Word, is being held at the Bone Student Center of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois on March 12-13.


See what others are saying about a Hearts at Home conference:


“I attended the conference this year for the first time. I enjoyed it immensely. I was lifted up, instructed, convicted, encouraged, and brought to tears, sometimes all at the same time.”

“I loved it. I feel so full of information. I need to sit and read my notes and just process it. It was really encouraging to hear all the speakers and be with all of those moms. Thanks so much! “

“This past weekend was awesome and life changing. This was my first Hearts at Home Conference and I am telling everyone about it. “

“I want to thank you all for keeping these conferences going each year and for making them so refreshing for women at various stages in their parenting.”


Hearts at Home wants all mothers to know how valuable they are! Check out this video for a small dose of encouragement from Nicole Johnson and be sure to join us March 12th-13th for more!

Featured guests include Nicole Johnson, author & motivational speaker, a favorite at Women of Faith, Jill Savage, author, international speaker, CEO & founder of Hearts at Home, and Christy Nockles, Dove Award nominee & formerly of Watermark.

Visit www.hearts-at-home.org for more information.

Wave on Wave

As I have mentioned before I am a big country music fan.  Today I heard Pat Green's song "Wave on Wave".  I have heard this song many times, but for some reason, today, as I listened, I thought of Jesus Christ.  The chorus of the song says, "It came upon me wave on wave, your the reason I'm still here.  Am I the one you were sent to save?  And it came upon me wave on wave."  Now, he is actually singing about a woman saving him, but you can see why it made me think of Jesus.  If you listen to this song, you could change just a couple of "she's" to "He's" and the song takes on a new meaning.  We are the ones He was sent to save, and sometimes, for Christians, the Holy Spirit can come upon us like a great wave and overwhelm us with his grace and mercy.  What a great feeling.  Listen to this song as I did today and think of Jesus as you are listening.  It will give new meaning to "Wave on Wave."

Wave on Wave

The Almighty Lender

     It’s tax time.  Yeah!!  No?  For some of us this means we will be getting some money back, for others, not so much.  If you are a fellow Christian, then you know God wants us to be free from the love of money and to be content with what we have, or don’t have (Hebrews 13:5 NIV).  God wants us to use the spiritual gifts as well as the monetary gifts He has given us wisely.  The Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25:14-28 describes 3 servants whose master gave them each 5, 2, and 1 talent (a talent is equal to more than a thousand dollars) respectively.  The first two servants invested their talents and doubled what the master gave them.  To these two servants the master then gave more.  The last servant was so afraid of losing the talent that was given him that he hid it in the ground.  The master was so disappointed that he took that servants talent and gave it to the first servant.  He then asked his servant why he didn't at least put the money in the bank so he could collect the interest.  In this parable, Jesus means we are the servants and God is our master and we should use what he has given us to His glory.  

     If you were given the gift of prophecy and never shared that gift, think of what a waste that would be!  We can't let money or possessions run our lives, but we can be smart with what God has given us and turn it into more.  Have you ever noticed that when you give, God finds a way to give right back to you?  I remember one year where my husband and I made some extra money and so we gave more than we normally would have that year.  At the end of the year we realized that God had creatively given almost every dime that we had given back to us.  It was so amazing!  In economic times like this, we tend to cut back on what we give because we are afraid that we won’t have enough for ourselves. 
Don’t forget that God will take care of us if we trust in Him.  He will reward us in the end and that really is what counts.     

The Night Light

     My daughter woke up crying last night from a nightmare.  I'm sure those of you that have little kids have been in my shoes.  Before my husband or I could get in her room she had gotten out of her crib and was almost in her brother's room.  She had never climbed out of her bed in the middle of the night before so we knew she was very upset.  She didn't want to go back into her bed and she just kept crying, "I wanna seep in your bed, Mommy!"  Well, as much as I felt for her, I couldn't start the habit of letting her sleep in my bed when she got scared.  I asked my daughter if she would like a night light on in her room (she had never had one before) and if that would make her be able to sleep better.  She said yes and went happily back to sleep with her new night light on.
     Sometimes, as Christians, we have terrible times and we are struck with such fear that we just want to run blindly in the dark to the closest person we can find for comfort.  But we have the greatest night lights ever in God and his son Jesus Christ.  Psalm 18:28 says, "You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light."  God took our fears and shined the light of the Son on them and banished them.  Psalm 27:1 says, "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear?"  What do we have to fear?  Who do we have to fear?  Nothing and no one as long as we have the Lord as our night light.