Gaining a heart of wisdom
I had never led a question-and-answer session during any of my past women's events, but I was looking forward to the experience. I wanted to hear the questions that had bubbled to the surface after a weekend of immersing ourselves in the Bible's teaching on hope. I wasn't prepared for the challenging contexts the women… Continue reading What Happens When You Fight For Genuine Joy In Impossible Circumstances?
Every fall, when I plant the garlic, I am overcome with awe. Somehow, those small, pale bulbs not only survive a Maine winter in the ground with nothing but a blanket of earth and dry leaves. They actually flourish and start sending up green shoots in early spring, long before I would dare to plant… Continue reading Make the Choice to Stay in a Thankful Mindset
Are you looking for a good book to read this Christmas? Maybe you like to sink into a cozy story? Or do you favor something substantial to carry you through Advent? I've been doing my homework and have come up with a collection of five titles that should get you started on planning your TBR… Continue reading 5 Rewarding Reads for Your Christmas TBR List
You opened your new eyesin the garden that God Himself had planted.Born a woman, you bypassed childhoodand came into yourself with a rush of speech,a flood of images,and a seamless, three-way companionship: you, Adam, and Elohim. Was Eden’s bird song the first sound in your perfect ears?Or was it the world’s first love ballad, crooned… Continue reading One Forgotten Truth from Our Sister Eve
Whenever I open the pages of my Bible, I read about real people and their encounters with a compassionate God who welcomes the shifty and the shy, the bombastic and the bumbler, the liar, and the lecher. Grace paves over some pretty rocky personal landscapes in both the Old and the New Testaments. Even so,… Continue reading Are You Preparing Your Son To Be God’s Strong Warrior?
Today is just an ordinary day, and that's appropriate because by the reckoning of the liturgical calendar, we are in Ordinary Time—the long stretch between Pentecost in the spring and the first Sunday of Advent. Ordinary, however, need not mean tedious, especially for the believer in Christ. God has profound lessons and innumerable blessings to… Continue reading Find Joy Right Now—in the Midst of an Ordinary Day
The word judge has fallen on hard times as the universe falls all over itself to be seen as broad-minded, tolerant, and accepting. Many years ago, I had an encounter at my dining room table that has formed my thinking on judges and the practice of judgment... We had just moved into the area, bought… Continue reading Will You Let Your Heart Be Judged by the Word of God?
Fifteen years ago, we took a cross-country road trip with four kids, a minivan, and a big tent. About a third of the way across the country, weary of feuding brothers in close quarters, we were ready to throw in the towel and come home. One thought sent us westward with renewed resolve: What story… Continue reading Held Together by the Powerful Force of a Story
I wonder what you or I would have answered if we were in Solomon's shoes—or in his pajamas, actually, because the biblical text has Solomon asleep and hearing from God in a dream: What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you!” Would we have had the good sense or the optimism… Continue reading 3 Principles For Discerning The Hearts Of People
I've never been a good sleeper, and that must have been annoying to my poor mother, who just wanted a few minutes' peace. It's annoying to me now, in the third 3rd of a busy life in which I could benefit from a catnap now and then. Thankfully, I'm no longer sleepless because of fear,… Continue reading The Beautiful Truth that God Never Sleeps
Living Our Days 