There we were, celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary in the beautiful ancient city built on several islands of a lagoon, linked together by bridges. The city of romance, Venice, Italy. On the sixth day of our ten-day dream vacation my spontaneous husband decided to treat us to a romantic evening concert. The string ensemble, called “Interpreti Venzian”, played Antonio Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” at an historic eleventh century cathedral. Red carpets were laid out as we walked in and since there was no assigned seating we just sat where we pleased. Of course we chose the closest seats we could possibly get. While waiting for the symphony to begin, I admired the beautiful ...

You’ve heard the saying, “You have to make a mess to clean a mess.” In part 1 we cleaned out our closet and started going through the “stuff,” where we talked out the issues and sorted through the muck that was in our hearts. We were now putting back together all of the unorganized pieces that had been broken from the mess by walking out the hurts and frustrations in part 2, allowing the Lord to begin healing our marriage. This was painful at first, like rubbing alcohol to clean an open wound, but it was cleaning us out and doing its job, ultimately healing and soothing our hearts. Yet the wounds were still very tender, and our emotions vulnerable during this recovery. God’s ...

With any wound or pain you have in your body, there is going to be some kind of remedy you must go through in order to get rid of it. In the first article of this 3 part series we talked about “the itch,” the part where you have to really bite down and face the pain. This second part is about the cure, walking out the pain, through the pain, and even though it hurt, sometimes more than we thought we could bear, we knew it needed to happen. Here we go, the rubber was meeting the road, our laces were tied, and we were ready to walk it out, weren’t we? For the next year (yes that would be 12 whole months or shall we say 365 of the longest days of our lives) we stayed up late into ...

We’ve all heard it said, Hollywood expects it to happen, others who have gone through it warn us about it, yet nothing could prepare us for it, yes, you guessed it, the seven year itch.  At seven years, most marriages are put to the test.  The test against time, trust and respect.  All of a sudden leaving the dirty laundry on the floor isn’t as cute any more.  The love taps we used to give so kindly to tell our “significant other” to stop snoring have now become more of a death grip to the neck.  If you have been married 7 years, one year, or 50 years, you know what I’m talking about, or soon will. You are about to read a three part article.  It has a beginning, a middle ...

“The Stories I love the best are the ones written about your life.” ~Marissa Star I love being surrounded by people who have a gift for drawing you in with their story. True or not, if you are a good storyteller, you will most likely find me sitting at your feet believing every word you say. My dad is a great storyteller.  On family vacations, when we would drive through small towns and cities, he would make up these really funny stories about “how” the different places got their names. This tradition became one of my favorite highlights of our trips. He could also tell a great bedtime tale. Although he usually made them up as he went along, they would always end with some ...

Have you ever wondered what’s really over the rainbow? Dorothy sure thought about what might be “somewhere over the rainbow” in her timeless song.  She thought it was a place where dreams come true and troubles melt like lemon drops, a place where happy little blue birds fly and clouds were far behind her.  Why did she put so much hope in a rainbow?  Why do others think there might be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?  Why does the rainbow hold so many magical beliefs?  I believe it is because God chose all those magnificent colors to represent His promise to us. What if we could know what’s on the other side? What if we could not just dream,  but live out the things ...

I can still hear the crowd cheer as my name was called for the starting line-up of our senior year volleyball game. Game on. I played hard, watching my opponent’s every move, completely focused, and when she went for the kill, as the ball hit her hand, with a passion in my eye, my heart beating and adrenaline pumping, I jumped to block, and yes, victory! What a feeling of accomplishment! Throughout my life the Lord has shown me many times that in all my passions, and sometimes when least expected, He had been preparing me for Glory. Being an athlete in high school, to win a game meant the world to me. I loved to win! I mean who doesn’t? Like everything you do in life, if you want to ...

Growing up I always loved butterflies.  Okay, I was a little obsessed with them.  My entire bedroom was “butterfly” everything and when I got married I had to tone it down a bit because I wanted my whole house decorated in butterflies.  From the popular Monarch’s to the beautiful tropical ones, they are some of God’s most magnificent creatures.  To many, the butterfly represents a transformation from a cocoon to a glorious creation uniquely made.  I believe this is true, however, in my life experience, the metamorphosis represents growth in finding my own set of butterfly wings. Throughout my childhood I had a pretty close relationship with my dad.  I can remember getting ...

I want to take you along on a journey in my life in which I had to bare it all; totally exposed, out of the darkness and into the light of the One who made me.  I ask you to have an open heart to the things the Lord wants to speak to you through my Naked Truth. Let’s begin about ten years ago, at age 19, when I got married.  I was very young to most, but this day was long waited for.  One of my biggest dreams was to fall in love, get married and have lots of babies. My parents were an amazing example of the love and devotion that I wanted in my own marriage.  My dad, who gave me a foundation for my faith, and my mom, a faithful housewife, who is the closest thing to purity and ...