I had so much to do that day . . . that week . . . that month . . . that moment! Demands were pressing in on me from everywhere!
Dusty Books
I sat down to read and turned on the table lamp beside me. As light spread across the table, I saw a fine white powder coated its surface and even the books resting there.
The Whole Truth
Have you ever pulled out a Bible verse to use because it fits what you want it to say? Then later, as you studied that passage more in depth, you realized it didn’t fit at all?
The Abundant Path
Offers for ways to live an abundant life are everywhere. If you just have this or do that, you will be fulfilled. Really?
No Shame
What makes you feel ashamed? I hate making dumb mistakes, like smarting off without thinking before I speak. In the past, I made many choices that I’m ashamed of. And I still do today if I don’t set my heart on Jesus.
Boldly Speaking God’s Truth
Is speaking God’s truth to strangers easier or harder than speaking to the people you know? If those you are with desire God’s truth, are you bolder in talking about it?
Bloom Where You Are Planted
Are you blooming? The day I took this photo, I was sitting outside on the deck having time in the Word and kept looking at this new spring flag on our deck. I loved the vivid colors, but more than that I want to do what this says.
My Soul
I have learned why my soul blesses the Lord.
David understood this too and says…
Speak with Boldness
Now, after seeing God’s movement in healing, I am inspired to live in a new way.
Change Within My Heart
Purifying. Refining.
These are godly words that sound good and they are good… in the end.
But have you been through it?
I have.
Refining can… hurt.
Strength of My Heart
Recently, I was walking behind a grandmother holding her granddaughter’s toddler- hand.
The hands intertwined were a precious picture… two extreme ages, with the aged lending strength to stabilize the young.
The visual made me realize… aging is not what I expected.
The Gift
I struggle with needing to feel… needed.
But sometimes this is a way that I make myself feel important.
It is a way of showing what I can do in my own strength… making it about me.
PEACE JOURNEY
No suspicion of a cancer diagnosis was in my mind that day—it was just a routine checkup. The shock of the radiologist’s brief clinical explanation caused me to sense a surreal atmosphere. I visualized to-do lists and calendar pages flying through the air like paper airplanes landing directly into the wastebasket. Recovery from shock was gradually realized in a few days when a reservoir of inner peace began to flow.
Unity
A small rock sits on my kitchen window sill as a reminder of a recent summer day. I attended a prayer gathering on our downtown square.
Side by Side
My heart soars when I watch a certain young man joyfully assist the worship minister rehearse with the choir before entering the sanctuary. His body bends over his crutches, yet he stands as if his posture was perfectly straight. His face reflects the joy and love of Christ with an unguarded smile. His eyes look to Heaven as he sings. Christ’s radiance on his face inspires me every time I see him. This man is famous to Jesus. Jesus is famous to this man.
Found!
At the moment of realization that I had left my wallet in a busy interstate highway gas station two hours earlier, my heart began racing while my brain began rehearsing the rapid steps of what to do next. Call the bank card company. Call the credit card company. Call the station where I left it. Tomorrow, go to the driver’s license office to reorder my license.
FERVENCY
Have you ever listed the women who have most influenced your life? Luke’s list makes me wonder why Mary, Joanna, Susanna and the many others who served Jesus during his life were notable in first century AD. Surely these women suffered. I’m not sure if I could have endured an exorcism administered over Mary to cast out seven demons. Who would have the stamina to serve and live in the household of Herod?
Thereto I Pledge Thee My Troth
The depth of the love story in Hosea certainly caught me by surprise when my girlfriends and I studied it in the fall. Prophecy has a way of sneaking up on you like that.
Covenant Love
It is finally dawning on me that God’s love is beyond definition: “For I am God and not a man—the Holy One among you” (11:9).
Way back in Hosea 2:14-15 God hinted at His tenderness, at the renewal of Israel’s blessings and their hope, at the restoration of His intended relationship with them. “In that day” (2:16) He will be like the dew to Israel, refreshing its roots and its blossoms, its splendor and its fragrance. His covenant love will kick into gear; He can’t go back on His promises.
Return and Repent
Unfortunately the lessons of the thornbushes can be many and exceedingly prickly if you wander your own way, as the nation of Israel persisted in doing. Sin became our downfall way back in the garden.