In quietness and in trust shall be your strength (Is. 30:15b ESV). “But Lord,” she cried. “Nothing in my life feels quiet or calm. My life is filled with chaos, this fallen world is filled with chaos and noise. I’m honestly battling the ever-present anxiety that underlies my life circumstances Read more…
I had a recent day when the world’s weight bore heavy and threatened to pull me under. I work as a teacher. I’ve loved teaching others how to sing and make music with their God-given instrument. In one of my research studies, a child called teaching “helping.” Yes, I’ve always Read more…
Do you ever talk to your soul? The Psalmists did this a lot, reminding themselves of truth in God’s Word, truths about who God is and what He is doing…even when we can’t see it. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within Read more…
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…
Are you waiting for things to improve, hoping for things to become easier? Sometimes, it’s years of waiting. Sometimes, things don’t get better or easier, but worse and harder. What do we do then? What if…our waiting lasts a lifetime? Psalm 69 gives us the words to pray in the 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…
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…
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…
Do you hear pulsating fear everywhere? Do you notice an underlying “what if…” in spoken words and unspoken thoughts? I had a close soul-sister friend who could notice. She was the type of friend who saw my underlying “what if” as I talked. Her cancer brought her into eternity with Read more…
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