Hope during suffering
She was in anguish. There seemed to be no end in sight. Like the apostle Paul, she begged God for the thorn to go away, for her chronic suffering to disappear. She read books that encouraged her to muster up her brave, to declare she is enough and an overcomer, Read more…
I found myself writing in pencil as I began filling out my 2021 calendar. 2020 taught me, “Don’t use pen!” Why? “You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?…You ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’” (Jas. 4:14-15 Read more…
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, dear sister in Christ! My birthday arrives during Epiphany, right after Christmas. As a young child, I always felt the bummer that I was on winter break from school, so I never got the same birthday attention my friends did. I always missed the Read more…
Merry Christmas, dear friends! Some of you have written to tell me you’re singing “O Holy Night” daily, even though it’s a challenging song to sing! You know, the Lord delights to hear us sing even if we don’t like how we sound. In Song of Solomon 2:14 (ESV), He says, Read more…
Do you love the Christmas song, “Oh, Holy Night” as much as I do? It’s not easy to sing because it has a wide range and requires rigorous vocal technique to sing well. This month, I’m going to focus on this song’s gospel-centered lyrics as Christmas approaches. Let’s interrupt suffering Read more…
The pandemic canceled our entire summer’s travel plans, so my husband and I decided to plant a vegetable garden for the first time. Honestly, we needed a positive home project as we grieved heavy losses of not meeting our newborn grandson, not seeing our kids and grandchildren, and missing our Read more…
We sing this hymn at Thanksgiving, but what if the words feel inauthentic to you this Thanksgiving? Do you ever have running thoughts like these when you sing? Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; Lord, I’m not feeling thankful today, at least not thankful enough to Read more…
As Thanksgiving approaches, we may not be gathering in typical ways. Our tables may not include those normally invited, we may be grieving as we miss those who used to fill the seats, we may not have enough money to feast. Our hearts may be too overwhelmed to feel like Read more…
If we’ve all learned anything from 2020, we’ve learned that our plans actually submit to the sovereign Lord who orders all things. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps (Prov. 16:9). Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that Read more…
I wondered about the author of this hymn’s lyrics (God Moves in a Mysterious Way, Cowper, W., 1773). What happened in this believer’s life? His mother died when he was six. He fell in love but wasn’t allowed to marry her. He went to law school but couldn’t handle the Read more…
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