Gaining a heart of wisdom
When I have visiting grandchildren on a Sunday morning, sometimes I get to sit with them in the church nursery. It's a break for their mother and a treat for me. On a Sunday morning nursery date with Ruthie, we had a packed house with every rocking chair occupied and mums sitting on the floor… Continue reading Prayers from a Mother’s Heart Because We’re All Mothers Together
For me, 2024 has been a year full of opportunities for in-person teaching with lots of invitations to share God's Word here in the great state of Maine. For a writer with mostly invisible online readers, the experience of seeing and interacting with my students is life-giving, and I've loved the personal connections. What most… Continue reading Use the Great Gift That’s Been Given to All Believers!
I've lived through a good many phases of interpreting the Christian life, and maybe you remember some of them, too. In the 80s, young Christian women like me were encouraged to be fervent and verbal about our faith. It helped if somewhere along the way you'd experienced a Damascus Road turnaround with a gripping story.… Continue reading Jesus Answers the Question: What Does it Really Mean to be Righteous?
Roots and wings are the gifts Christian parents pass on to our children. We establish rules, give them responsibilities that build confidence and skill, and water those deep roots with lots of love and prayer, knowing that strengthening wings will soon carry our children away from home, out of reach of our influence and our protection. In my prayers for the four young men who are so close to my heart, I’m taking my cues from the book of Philippians.
Sometimes the words of scripture seem to be written in bold type or inscribed on an envelope personally addressed to me. Even the verses about godly mothering and the warnings to contentious wives don't hold a candle to Jesus's cautionary words to teachers in the Sermon on the Mount...
Whatever time in your family’s life feels like mud season to you, don’t let yourself get stuck! Turn your frustration and anxiety into arrow prayers, and remind your heart that there is no mess too big for God to clean up.
When Jesus encountered the Samarian woman at the well in Sychar, their conversation about water quickly became a conversation about thirst. Her life was leaving her thirsty, and even though she was the person holding the water jar, she realized that Jesus was drawing from a well from which she had never drawn. His words,… Continue reading Genuine Character Leads to Influence: Does Your Life Make People Thirsty?
To live like a Christian, sometimes we have to stand on our heads. A biblical worldview is the polar opposite of the prevailing culture in which straw is treated like gold and everyone can be "right"—even if it's logically impossible.
For everyone, seasoned believer or confirmed pagan, it’s a matter of trust, because every day is a new opportunity to hand ourselves over to God. So… let me ask you: Are you trusting in Jesus?
How’s YOUR relationship with the discipline of silence? Twice in Psalm 62, David exhorts his own soul to “wait in silence,” and 21st-century believers need to have the same conversation with our souls.
Living Our Days 