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Cheryl Mendoza

How He speaks to me…..Or… can't He just call my cell when He wants to talk?

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faith

Brains day off….

IMG_5156What happens when in one day, you are going from the mid eighties to the mid ninties, after weeks of  the mid seventies?  You head to the coast.  And when your hubby wants to take sunrise pictures, you get up at dark thirty so that you can make it to the coast before the sun comes up.

IMG_5163At 3:30 this morning, I was really not in the mood to worry about my own camera, so I just decided to use my iphone.  I snapped a good amount of pictures, but not too many.  It had been a long week.  My brain had been on overload and I wanted to spend some time just enjoying the beauty that surrounded me. Continue reading “Brains day off….”

Only one thing gonna set you free…

I feel like God has really been trying to convince me how important images-6His love is.  I know that seems really silly, of course His love is important.  I mean really, He so loved the world.  This is Jesus 101.  Where the problem lies is not if I “get it” or not, but if I really choose to accept it and just do it.

Now I was really encouraged by a song I heard on Tuesday, and on Wednesday I looked a little more into it.  The song?  Well it is not your typical “christian” song.  It is “Let My Love Open the Door” by Pete Townshend.  What I find so interesting in this song, is that he writes it from God’s viewpoint. Continue reading “Only one thing gonna set you free…”

#MakeTodayBetterIn4Words

images-5You know this writing thing is not all that it’s cracked up to be.  I sit, I ponder and usually out come words.  Then I am stuck.  No, it’s not writers block, I just know that I am going to start deleting words.  I guess it keeps me humble?  So I’m gonna start where I think God wants me to, and delete those other 400 words.

“May God continue the unity of our country, as this railroad unites the two great oceans of the world.”

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Continue reading “#MakeTodayBetterIn4Words”

A good look in the mirror…

Dear Church (not the building, but those who make up the body),

Is it ok to laugh?  No, not the joyful kind of laughter, but that nervous giggle that has to do with truth.  You know.  You are sitting in service and the pastor says something that images-4holds up a mirror.  And instead of taking a breath and looking full into that mirror, you glance over thinking you know what it shows and just give a nervous giggle.  I don’t know when I stopped giggling and started being sad, but it happened at some point.

In the church we talk about sin quite a bit.  Sometimes it seems that we tend to talk about other people’s sin more than our own, and we have chosen some particular ones as our favorites.  I think the biggest problem though is when we do bring up sin that is present in the church, we seem to be met with a more relaxed attitude toward it.  Something like, no one is perfect, but that is why we have Jesus to “wash them all away”.   What I guess I am trying to say is, while God forgives, shouldn’t we be more brokenhearted by our own wrongdoings? Continue reading “A good look in the mirror…”

Ready to worship?

Unknown-1I was challenged this Easter, but it was done in a very round about manner.  It started off as a feeling I got from a couple of comments made in an Easter service.  The comments gave the impression that the congregations response was somewhat lacking.  They kind of irritated me, but then I started to ponder what was said.  I went back to the old advice that I would always give my sons.  They would do something wrong, Dad would yell a bit and then I would remind them…..”Don’t listen to how he said it, but what he said”.  If there is truth in the words, even if they were said a little harshly, then listen to the truth. Continue reading “Ready to worship?”

Actions v. Words – Mixed messages?

images-1So I was trolling FaceBook the other day and saw a post that was shared by one of my friends.  An author, Lysa TerKeurst, had come across a quote that she said had challenged her.  The quote, “who you are speaks so loudly, I can barely hear what you’re saying”, had her thinking about how our actions speak louder than words.

I totally agree, but…..  That does not let us off the hook for what we say.  There has to be a balance between the two.  I wrote the other day about how my Great-Grandmother taught me to love.  The way I learned from her, was by how she treated all of us.  I am still learning from her.  I look back at her life and I see that her actions spoke so much louder than words.  Wait though, what I think is so amazing is that her words never contradicted her actions. Continue reading “Actions v. Words – Mixed messages?”

Confession time…

I chose to do a little confessing today, so I wrote a post for the church blog.   I figured if I was going to come clean, then I might as well do it in front of everyone.  Enjoy!

So it started off on really good footing. I like the days that I go to church and the pastor is speaking to someone else. You know, you do not have that feeling that he is talking directly to you. Well I thought that this was my Sunday. He was speaking to “other” people today, not really to me. He was addressing some very relevant issues that were pointed straight at the church. The very issue of the “Do’s and Don’ts of Christianity. The rules that we get hung up on that keep us from really being able to do the “love one another” thing that we are supposed to be known for.
Continue reading “Confession time…”

Doing what I gotta do…..

So today I worked on finding an illustrator.  It may not sound hard, but it was.  Unfortunately, I probably am to blame for that.  I tend to overthink things, and try to figure out the odds before I even make the attempt to do something.  It is a self-defeating cycle that I tend to go through with many things, but I always do it when I am scared.

I should be really happy.  I am done with my picture book, frankly I have been done for a while, and I am just trying to find an illustrator.  So what is so hard about that?  Well, it seems that I am just a big chicken.  Fear eats at my soul, it runs that deep.  And it sucks!  I am tired of the fear, but it just continues to rear its ugly head continually.  I am beginning to feel like this post is a therapy session, I guess I should be laying down for this. Continue reading “Doing what I gotta do…..”

Steps to follow…

For a long time, I regretted that I did not talk to my great grandmother about her life.  She was 99 years old when she passed away, and while  alzheimers ate away at the last few years of her life, I still had plenty of opportunity to talk to her.   The thought that this sweet lady would have firsthand accounts of history never even occurred to me.

UnknownI have thought about this regret at various times in my life, and it typically makes me pretty sad.  Her birthday is St Patricks day, so thoughts of her came to mind again.  This year though, I found that my perspective had changed.  You see, what I finally realized was what she did teach me was worth much more than what she didn’t.  It was pretty funny, because I have always known what an example of love she was to all who knew her.  This year though, I realized why everyone loved her so much.  Well, it was because she loved us!   Warts and all!   She loved us all so much, that we couldn’t help but love her back! Continue reading “Steps to follow…”

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