Dear Friend, Wherever you are today, whatever you’re doing, may the nearness of God’s presence and His immense love for you soak deep. If you’re on the brink of giving up on something (or someone), may He bring comfort and clarity and infuse you with the strength to persist past your own limitations. Join me today on the Breathe Conference…
I marveled something so small, which I’d considered soft light, shone with such intensity it needed relocating to remoter darkness.
Thank you for journeying with me these last eleven weeks! We did it! We’ve looked at twenty examples of biblical look up sometimes encounters, listened to songs, watched videos, and absorbed scriptures. And please know…
When I turned thirteen, my world expanded. I was finally old enough to babysit. Oddly, jobs were scarce. There were so many kids my age in our neighborhood, these coveted income-producing opportunities were rare. Thankfully, my next-door neighbor chose me. I frequently babysat for this family. Their three children weren’t much younger than me. I often played with them even when not babysitting. One of the differences…
Ziploc of ice slung over my propped ankle, I reflected over the incident. Frankly, I found it maddening I didn’t even have a good story to tell. The moles went to town next to the backyard steps, and the past winter hardened the earth into ridges. I’d walked these steps dozens of times this summer without pain. Not this time.…
I sat in the pew and braced myself for the fear I knew to expect. I don’t know how many times I thought I was wielding the shield of faith, only to sustain a truth-knifing requiring weeks, or longer, to heal. My pastor preached a sermon last fall based on Kyle Idleman’s book Not a Fan. The sermon’s main message…
I still remember an interesting act from an elementary school talent show between two characters, “dear Henry” and “dear Liza.” If you know the children’s song, you already know Henry tells his dear Liza, “There’s a hole in my bucket.” And dear Liza answers quite practically, “Then mend it, dear Henry!” And he asks her, “With what shall I mend…
It wasn’t happening. But not because I wasn’t trying. And I felt pressure because I’d given my word that it would happen. I saw great need. I wanted to do my part. But I may as well have been in a hamster wheel. Ever been there? Besides remembering God’s past faithfulness, sometimes we just need a complete reset. We need…
I’d done what I was supposed to and it still wasn’t coming together. I knew God heard my prayers; I didn’t doubt that. So why was it so hard this week? I had thought that things get easier the more you practice them, not harder. So, I was surprised, after a decade of experience, at the unusual degree of difficulty…
In spite of my black thumb, we tended a tiny vegetable garden last year. It wasn’t the stuff of Better Homes and Gardens, but consuming homegrown produce was gratifying. And it was a significant improvement over the weeds. I like to weed; I like to see instant change. But my enthusiasm screeches to a halt when it comes to weeds…
