How does the love of Jesus drive your mission statement? The board and team that run MARKINC Ministries, a non-profit that we started after the death of our son, Mark, struggled to carefully identify our mission. We agreed that we exist to offer help and hope to hurting people. We then described the ways we will fulfill that mission....

When our sons asked me what songs I wanted sung at Mark’s memorial service, I didn’t hesitate to ask for O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.  Though we wanted to rejoice in our faith, I wanted a way to express the anguish and desperate need for Jesus in the coming days. Remember the puddles of grace that...

Paul and Silas died to self when they sang at midnight. They didn’t just sing, they sang loudly! They sang so loud that the other prisoners heard them. I often smile thinking about how bad they might have sounded! No doubt they proclaimed the faithfulness of God by singing hymns from the Old Testament. Maybe Today’s...

Throughout Scripture we have stories of people faced with circumstances that crushed their plans and their dreams. Many were walking by faith, doing exactly what God was directing them to do. Paul and Silas were imprisoned...

Someone has said: I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacation with better care than they do their lives. Perhaps that is because escape is easier than change. That’s the risk of a mission statement, isn’t it? Write it down, commit to it, knowing that to fulfill it will require change...

Last week we took a glimpse into the life of the Proverbs 31 “virtuous woman” and recognized that Lemuel’s mother used military terms to describe the dream wife for her son. Instead of calling her “virtuous”, let’s call her a warrior woman because the word for virtuous, hayil, regularly describes military action...

Where do you turn when life turns upside down? What if that crisis means you cannot work the job you love, build the family of your dreams, or enjoy the last years of your life in good health? In the months following the death of our son, Mark, I struggled to understand my role. I was not finished mothering our son...

When life came crashing down and I wanted to run away from life and faith, those many years of intentionally seeking out the wisdom of those ahead of me in life kicked in. One woman in particular imprinted a warrior woman image...

Let’s finish this week with the same question with which we started: What is your default mode when life comes crashing down? What is your automatic response when confronted with a crisis too big to imagine, overwhelming grief, or sudden loss...

Mention Job and even those unfamiliar with the Bible, immediately know that you’re talking about someone who lost everything. One of Job’s friends, Bildad, the Shuhite, tried to comfort him by exhorting him to ask those who had come before him for wisdom..

When life comes crashing down, knowing I don’t belong “here” and that this earth is not my Home, fuels my journey with hope. About two years after the fatal car accident of our son Mark and his friend Kelly,  I tried to comfort Leslie, another bereaved mother, by telling her...

Sometimes we mindlessly obey rules with little thought as to why they are in place or how they protect us. How many times have we yelled because of too many red lights or slow speed limits, with no thought to how such rules are fences that not only protect us, but also protect others? We forget the blessings of traffic rules...

The family room looked like a scene out of a Hallmark movie. The fireplace glowed, Christmas lights twinkled, and five of our grandchildren quietly explored their Christmas gifts. Our son, Dan, suddenly exclaimed...

As we start a new year, we are excited to announce that we are continuing to offer Daily Treasure as a podcast.

Have you ever looked back on your life to see the evidence of God’s hand in preparing you for the future? This verse in Hebrews 11 is a definite neon light in the history of my life. God knew a long time ago that this verse would…

A young mother recently lost her child to illness. She spent many long days and nights in the hospital room by her daughter’s side before life gave way to death. Although life as she knew it had stopped in its course…

“Sometimes it’s so hard to talk to God and to trust him when I can’t see him or feel Him.” My daughter said this to me while we lay there cuddled in her bed one night. I always take time to lay with my children while…

Have you ever listened to the words of the song you are singing? Do you ever stop singing because you realize that you cannot truthfully sing something you do don’t mean? Or perhaps something you don’t feel at the moment…

Early one morning during a family vacation, I walked along the ocean as the others slept in. The waves crashed on the sand, the sandpipers ran back and forth with the ebb and flow of the tide. The breeze was cool as the pinnacle…

“If you don’t have good roots, you won’t have good fruit.” I heard my father in law say to my husband as the sat eating breakfast in my kitchen one morning. They were discussing the process of growing quality plants in the greenhouse…