white flowers and leaves on an open book

Near to God as I praise Him for His character

God’s songs in Scripture drip with honest emotion. So we know He understands our emotional needs when we suffer; He gives us words to pray when our hearts run dry. In our pain and suffering, He even gives us moments of praise, interspersed within those tearful songs in His Word. Read more…

woman in white sweater and blue denim jeans praying on bed

How to sing the Lord’s song when we’re suffering

Is your landscape starting to look foreign? With head-spinning changes, escalating evil all around, pervasive hardship, and seemingly impossible suffering? I’ve had that kind of week as I write this. Many of us have. Psalms 137 and 138 have been the Lord’s gift to me this week.  God’s people, exiled Read more…

scenic view of dramatic sky during winter

Rest of a New-Hard Season

Are you walking in a new-hard season as the New Year approaches? Is this Christmas song lyric your own context right now? In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long Read more…

cardboard gift box with postcard on table

Thanksgiving through tears: Your sacrifice becomes my thanksgiving

Is this a Thanksgiving through tears for you? One of deep loss and pain? Our tears are in the tender care of the One who also wept in His loss. Beloved in Christ, our thanks-giving tears are offerings of trust to the One who understands. In the United States, this Read more…

pathway between green grass field

God’s song in the night, a song of joy

Joy? How can we possibly find any joy right now? How can we find joy when anger, pain, fear, and personal troubles seem to escalate weekly?  My heart has wearied this week, yet He beckons me through this Scripture. God’s song in the night You shall have a song as Read more…

pexels-photo-3328344.jpeg

When I’m suffering in darkness, God is my light

Are you suffering in darkness, walking through dark days? On a recent dark day filled with pain-full moments, the Lord gently reminded me that He who created my days (Ps. 139:16) also created light and darkness, sun and moon (Gen. 1:5, 14). His power spoke them into existence and He Read more…

foamy sea waves rolling on sandy beach

Praising God for what is unseen

She bowed before her Lord in desperate need. “Lord, all I can see is suffering, pain, turmoil, unrest, evil. My anxiety is ramping up and my situation isn’t improving. Please help me find rest in this un-rest.  Help me to praise You, God.  Maybe today, help me praise You for what’s Read more…

low angle photography gray sky

I praise and trust You in this battle of waiting

Are you living through a time of waiting?  Waiting for diagnosis?  Waiting for treatment to work?  Waiting for a prodigal to come home? Waiting for a job?  Waiting for a loved one to be drawn to Jesus as Savior and Lord? Waiting for this weary season to subside? Does the Read more…

rainbow on grass field

Your Love Will Never Let Me Go

It’s a week of love. Valentine’s Day celebrated it and the beginning of Lent points us to Love crucified.  “But how could I be suffering so much if God loves me?” Sometimes our enemy forces this secret question into our pain. In that same experience of anguish, the blind hymnwriter Read more…

two gold colored rings in selective focus photography

God’s gift of gold to you

My rings are precious possessions, white and yellow gold blended with diamond sparkles, representing the deep love of my dear husband. He is a treasure from God to me and the gold rings continue to endure after so many years of marriage…and lots of messy cleanups!  I Peter reminds me Read more…