An Argument for the Importance of Silence in Your Noisy Life

An Argument for the Importance of Silence in Your Noisy Life

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.

For the Days When You Question God’s Wisdom

For the Days When You Question God's Wisdom

Are there chapters in your personal story that you wonder about? “Why this, Lord? What good thing could possibly come from bringing this across my path?” If so, you are in good company, for many spiritual giants have pondered the same question. Amy Carmichael, a pioneer missionary to India, did her pondering in poetic form… Continue reading For the Days When You Question God’s Wisdom

Wait, Trust, and Declare Your Allegiance to Easter Hope

Wait, Trust, and Declare Your Allegiance to Easter Hope

I hardly ever bake our very favorite homemade bread. It's delicious and moist with just a hint of molasses. We enjoy it with soup, and it makes the best toast, but I don't make it very often because it has to rise twice in the bowl and then, again, in the pans. (I'll be sharing… Continue reading Wait, Trust, and Declare Your Allegiance to Easter Hope

When You Are Wondering if Spring Will Ever Come

When You Are Wondering if Spring Will Ever Come

Waiting for spring, hanging off the northeast end of the U.S. mainland, it’s a challenge to get into an Easter frame of mind. The dark is still holding sway over the light, and resurrection-thinking requires a muscular faith. Although the calendar tells me that spring will come, this hope in a future date can seem like a… Continue reading When You Are Wondering if Spring Will Ever Come

Observe Lent Full of Hope Because Easter is Coming

Observe Lent Full of Hope Because Easter is Coming

Have you ever noticed people's reactions when they are unexpectedly confronted with their own reflection in a mirror or a storefront window? Tiny corrections of posture, expression, or clothing seem to be called for to align the image with the person's self-perception: "Oh, no! Is that what I REALLY look like?" Lent comes to us as… Continue reading Observe Lent Full of Hope Because Easter is Coming

How Has God Demonstrated His Love for You?

How Has God Demonstrated His Love for You?

I've recently taken up my knitting needles and resumed the practice of making mittens. My homemade mittens used to warm the hands of my four sons, but these days I'm working on making mittens for my six grandkids. Right now, I'm over halfway through the second tiny pink pair.  I love being “Bam” to six… Continue reading How Has God Demonstrated His Love for You?

An Unexpected Love Calls You to Rise and Follow

An Unexpected Love Calls You to Rise and Follow

An Old Testament Love Story—My Valentine to You! Oh, how she had grown to hate him. Ten thousand offenses, both small and large, had accumulated over the years since their arranged marriage. Practical and traditional, Father had seen a prosperous match:  “Abigail, you will marry a descendant of Caleb,” he had exulted. Abigail had found… Continue reading An Unexpected Love Calls You to Rise and Follow

Every One of Your Days is Given and Designed by God

Every One of Your Days is Given and Designed by God

Early in 2024, little Margaret Louise added her voice, her turned-up nose, and her indescribable cuteness to the Morin family.  Our sixth grandchild, fourth granddaughter, and sixteenth member of our immediate family, she is already a tiny and unique human. Because she is so very young, much of who she is and who she will… Continue reading Every One of Your Days is Given and Designed by God

The Urgent Difference Between Legalism and Faithful Spiritual Practices

Legalism And Faithful Spiritual Practices (1)

We've all met the woman who treats her daily quiet time like a lucky rabbit's foot or a spiritual vitamin pill. And we've heard from the guy who announces financial blessings in direct proportion to how long he fasts or prays. In an article at Christianity Today, James Bryan Smith pressed on that fragile boundary… Continue reading The Urgent Difference Between Legalism and Faithful Spiritual Practices