“Wake Up, Jesus!”
In Matthew 8, an exhausted Jesus climbs into a boat with his disciples and immediately falls asleep. The disciples are expecting a calm trip…
A Stinging Realization
A few years ago, a light bulb went on in my marriage. While on a weekend getaway with some couple friends, we were asked: “What have your biggest marital arguments been about?” As we answered, an embarrassing and unfortunate…
Today and Forever
We have a Savior who is as much coming as he is come. The beautiful yet sometimes excruciating tension of the “now and not yet” can cause us to stumble and to doubt the risen Jesus. I look at my feet and I trip. I look ahead and I walk…
She Blooms
I might not labor or spin, but I sure do know how to worry. I can fret with the best of them—I can spin possible negative outcomes that would make TV writers beg me to lend them a twist ending…
What She Said! Part 2
I’m so excited to bring you a second series of What She Said! Your response to the summer series encouraged me to recruit six more guest writers. Each one brings a different style and personality but the same passion for offering help and hope…
Desires and Disappointments: Deep Truths from Two Mentors
We need endurance to finish a race well, and that includes our lifelong journey of faith, obedience and love. I’m strengthened to know that Jesus is with me and that He eagerly provides running mates along the way. Friends, mentors and teachers are provided by God to encourage…
Three Ways God Uses Relational Disappointments
God uses disappointments in powerful ways in our lives, if we’ll receive it! As I type this, I’m facing some disappointment in a relationship, and feel sad. Nestled in the melancholy cloud over my heart is an assurance that He is at work in me, His workmanship, whom He has created for specific good works.
The Origins of Relational Disappointment
Escape. Vacation. Getting away from it ALL! Life sometimes feels like too much, doesn’t it? I mean, the pressures of ministry, financial burdens, health trials and tough relationships can tempt me to a) dream up a fantasy career…
The Motivational Power of Relational Desires
A friend of mine shared about a painful disappointment in her marriage. Seems that her husband had planned a day trip by himself to a favorite getaway in the mountains for some solitude and refreshment. After settling the details and booking a reservation, he casually mentioned his plans to my friend…
Jesus, Our Relationship Redeemer
Have you ever, like me, had the humbling experience to realize that a certain electrical gadget or appliance wasn’t broken but just needed to be switched ‘on’? After getting myself in a frenzied, frustrated state with “Ugh! Yet another broken thing to get fixed,” I remembered to check that important little on-off knob.
Relationships and Desires: A Gift and a Trial
Most of us love a great relationship story. It might be a romantic movie like “While You Were Sleeping”, or a soul-knot friendship like that between David and Jonathan in 1 Samuel, or Anne and Diana in Anne of Green Gables. There’s something about people truly caring, loving and being devoted to one another that stirs something in our emotional DNA…
Relationships: Worth the Trouble?
Ellen Dykas joins us this week as guest writer for our special series, "What She Said!" No doubt many of you are familiar with Ellen but for those who aren’t, you are in for a real treat! I am drawn to Ellen for many reasons, but at the top of my list is that she shares powerful truths sheathed in kindness and love…
Overlooked
Through my MS, God has taught me that getting aggravated hampers my physical well-being. The dictionary defines aggravation as “an act or circumstance that intensifies something or makes something worse”. Aggravation can also hamper our spiritual well-being…
The Tantrum
My silent emotional tantrum, still cracks loud and real, and causes my body to shudder. If I go to this memorial service, then that means she is really gone. If I go to this memorial service, then the hole in my heart is reality. If I go to this memorial service, I witness the heartbreak piercing her husband.
Change Me
In our small development, there is only one intersection with a stop sign that is the entrance and exit to the main road. At the time the development was constructed, the builder had planted a tree line across the street for aesthetics. I have enjoyed each season as I have looked at this view. The warm green branches
Who Is the Planner?
Each day after breakfast, my husband and I try to start our day together by reading Scripture and a page from one of our favorite devotional books. We pull out our prayer list from between the pages; children, grandchildren, extended family, church family, community group families, friends with current challenges, neighbors…
Gratitude Turns What We Have, Into Enough
The Apostle Paul writes this letter to the Philippi church while he is imprisoned. He is testifying to God’s faithfulness in giving him opportunity to share the Gospel even in the midst of prison conditions. Paul challenges readers to be humble servants, rather than concerned about their own welfare…
Living Grateful
In our Pilgrimage Fueled by Hope devotional series, we regularly asked the question, “What’s my default mode or auto response when life comes crashing down?” We have considered the importance of putting systems in place “when the sun is shining”…