woman and child walking on beach

Lord, I Praise You Like a Child

Every time I visit with our little grandchildren, I consider the “childlike faith” that Jesus describes. It’s a dependence for our very lives, fully trusting in someone else. Little ones don’t consider what’s coming. They simply play, learn, and grow…in the moment. They offer much wonder, curiosity, and love as Read more…

withered leaves photo

Yet, I will rejoice in the LORD

My suffering appeared hopeless. Every circumstance pointed to endless hardship, permanent challenges, a life of tribulation. It felt Job-like, impacting health, finances, family, work and home tasks, relationships. My husband and I were now walking through years of long-suffering affliction and endless pain. And now my soul is poured out Read more…

gray concrete triumphal arch surrounded by flowers

Sing of God’s kingdom plan to battle today’s fears

I was afraid of what might happen. My tiny human mind couldn’t figure out how the situation could possibly resolve. Like the songwriters of the Psalms, I needed to battle today’s fears about the future. I needed to battle the enemy’s made-up lies by singing truths of God’s Word, as Read more…

old castle on rocky cliff

Battle Fear with Praise to God

David’s Psalm 56 song lyrics resonate with me when I battle serious illness symptoms and have fearful thoughts of “what if.” David was afraid of what might happen because, practically based on his human understanding, his enemies would likely kill him (1 Sam. 21).  David’s lyrics acknowledge our very real Read more…

big wooden cross on green grass field under the white clouds

Weary soul? Come to Jesus for satisfaction

Are you weary today? Maybe you’re like me and chronic illness has brought fatigue and pain. Or are you weary of caring for your family in this ever-changing and despairing world? Weary of the fallen world? Tired of it all? Maybe you’re suffering with a sin-sick soul, weary of your Read more…

gray concrete triumphal arch surrounded by flowers

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms in Crisis

Crisis screams. A phone call that shatters, symptoms that destroy, an emergency that swirls into chaos. If you’re like me, you grasp for control and try to hold things together as you pray, “Help me, help me” or just “God,” until you finally breathe and melt. In the siren lights Read more…

green mountain

A Song of Joy When I’m Broken

Do you feel broken today? Wounded? How could my broken body, broken emotions, broken life be one that sings with joy right now? In this ultra-broken world? As we walk wounded, perhaps the song is a quiet one that someone else needs to lead for us, like the flutist. And Read more…

photography of barrel wave

You hold me up in waves of suffering

My dear husband took me to a small rocky beach on the Great Lake. We rested in God’s gifts, feeling warm breezes, watching holiday boaters, hearing gentle waves splashing stone piles. Under the canopy of blue sky and wispy clouds, we noticed seagulls soaring, carried by the wind. Carried. One Read more…

selective focus photo of bottle with cork lid

Loving Jesus In Our Suffering

Mary was about to lose our beloved Jesus to the cross. What did she do in the midst of this sad and stressful time? She broke her precious possession, an alabaster flask of expensive perfumed ointment, pouring it over Jesus’s feet (Jn. 12:3).  She has done what she could; she Read more…

ocean water

Take heart, I have overcome the world

I wonder what they were singing. They’d been attacked by the crowds, stripped naked, beaten, thrown into prison, and fastened into stocks.  About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:25).  Which hymns? What were the lyrics? Did Read more…

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