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…
In Christmas 2020, our world clings to hope for rescue in so many places…vaccines, government power, cultural movements of justice, justice in the court system, human-made organizations. Honestly, my heart has been gripped this year by an overwhelming disbelief in possible rescue through any human system. This pervasive gripping hasn’t 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…
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…
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…
Did you take music lessons as a child? Did you sing in the school choir or play in the band or orchestra? Does music fill your home daily, drowning out the noise in your head? There’s something to that, you know. Researchers have found that music uniquely fills our minds, Read more…
My sister in Christ shared her weariness. She was just “over it all.” The fatigue of earthly life felt weighty and weary to her, mostly because it seemed unending. Even in her tiredness, she wasn’t sleeping well; insomnia compounded her emotional and physical weariness. Sister, don’t grow weary! Jesus came with Read more…
David was in trouble. In Psalm 55, He cried out to the Lord, complaining honestly about his upsetting situation. He lamented, moaned, got it all out there as He prayed. He was hurt, burdened, and filled with anxiety. Can you relate? I sure can. As my students often say, “The Read more…
I detest being in conflict. Relational conflict keeps me up at night. I run past conversations on repeat in my mind, ruminate on words I might say tomorrow, and kick myself with guilt for what I did or didn’t say today. When someone disagrees with me, my knee-jerk response is to Read more…
As I live with chronic illness, my body forces me to listen to symptoms of unpredictable flares. Sometimes, my symptoms force me to cease striving (Ps. 46:10a NASB), to rest, to be still, as I use all the therapies doctors suggest. My calendar and to-do lists are wiped clean until symptoms subside. Read more…
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