I am looking at my children.  Gleeful smiles and laughter as they take in another meal.  Perfect contentment for a moment.

I think of love.

I think of how you can't work for it, change your angle,

You can't earn God's love.  You can only turn towards God's love.

The boys are grinning as the baby spreads spaghetti sauce all over his cheek with his hand.

Salvation is a gift.  The preachers say it often.  Not just a gift, the gift.

The gift of one wrapped in God taking on skin, laying his bare love out for the world, arms spread out wide.  It's similar to tree branches reaching out and up to the sky.

The baby is smiling as everyone around the table laughs at sauce on the face.  A small gift for me, to see them all smiling and getting along, enjoying each other's presence and in His presence.

I am not always thankful.  I know joy lies in murmuring thanks to God for the smallest of graces. In this case, a smiling spaghetti sauce face.

Being thankful is much like doing laundry - you just keep beginning again. This habit of thanksgiving, of turning toward Him, is the one habit to wear for a lifetime. 

There is only one gift - the ocean of Christ with the constant waves washing over us.  He is the gift, the bridge, our joy. 

Happiness is not receiving something but being given to Someone. Communion with God is always possible.  I can turn toward him, being thankful.

My reality and reality for anyone who believes is this: We are 100% saved, redeemed, accepted, carried, cared for, watched over, provided for, comforted, loved.  Christ is just sort of for us, He is 100% for us.  Our reality is we are 100% safe in Him.

The baby isn't smiling now.  The moment has passed.  

I am thankful for this moment and the many other moments that bring joy.  I can't earn his love, I can just turn towards his love in those moments, those small gifts.

Kingdom woman?  Am I a kingdom woman?

Another Friday is more than 1/2 gone.  What have I done?  I'm about 1/2 way through today's to-do list, looking forward to the weekend contemplating this thought...

Kingdom woman.  Is that someone who walks around in high stilettos all day?

The truth of the matter is that I know I am not her.  She is someone I strive to become but whose roles and responsibilities seem like a lot to handle.

The very definition of a kingdom sets a high standard.  Who is this woman? Where is this woman who regularly and consistently positions herself under and operates according to God's complete rule over her life.

She must be my neighbor.

She must be the woman who sits next to me at church or the lady who always seems to have the time to serve other people.

She must be the woman who has been married for 40 years or the woman who is fifty-eight years old and has walked in unremarkable purity.

She must be the woman who walks with the tattered and torn Bible or the woman who keeps Jesus paraphernalia on her desk at work.

She must be the woman who never yells at her kids and the woman who always cooks gourmet meals for her family.

She must be the woman who has a work ethic beyond reproach and who lives in complete financial freedom because she regularly chooses frugality instead of fashion.

She, of course, maintains a modest waistline and harbors no addictions.

She must be every other woman, that is.

Just like Eve, we women tend to spend more time analyzing what we are no or what we don't have than recognizing who we were created to be.  Satan's victory with Eve started ways before she ate that fruit.

The bite was only the culmination.

Eve's demise started when she entered a conversation with the devil. And that's what we do a lot.  We talk.  We rehearse on a daily basis what we don't have or who we are not.  We focus on the areas of our 'garden' (domain or realm) that seem just out of our control.

It's the seed of our discontent.

We take the seed of discontent offered by the evil one and inform our souls of our dissatisfaction, unhappiness, or displeasure.

Just like Eve, we have a choice.

We can choose to believe what God's word says about who we are created to be or we can entertain the lies planted by the enemy of our soul and cultivated by the culture we live in.

Romans 10:17 says that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ."

And that's what a Kingdom woman is all about - hearing and reading what God says about who you are as a woman created for His glory.

I desire to be the woman God has created me to be - not the woman whom I think I want to be or the woman the world tells me I should be.  It brings me joy to think of the detailed design and intricate effort that God put forth when making me.  I'm so glad that I don't have to aspire to be be anyone else other than the woman God has created me to be.

You don't have to seek anyone else's approval for the life God has given you to live.  We don't have to apologize for the strength, fortitude, courage, talent, beauty, or intellect with which our Creator has given to us.

We are all "God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:10)

Kingdom woman.  The four inch heels don't look easy to walk around in all day.

But first looks can be deceiving.

The right shoe made by the right designer and with the right materials can be not just wearable, but comfortable.

God has designed a plan and purpose just for you.

We are not just fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), we are created in the image of a radiant, magnificent God who is full of beauty and splendor.

So wear his glory well.

Walk on His runway.