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Have You Spent Some Time and Prayed Lately?
“Have you prayed lately”? This was a question a dear friend asked me quite a long time ago and it has resonated with me ever since. When the question was first posed I had gone to my friend desperate and in need of solid, real answers. I needed solutions not another glib christian response to a problem that was beyond controllable. At first I was angry because I viewed the “have you prayed lately” question as glib and dismissive. It most certainly wasn’t a how-to response or the advice I had sought, but it was the advice I most needed to hear, most needed to remember. You see, prayer is…
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I Want a Faith Like That
Day in and day out there is much to take in. There are beautiful days. Days when faith comes in an easy swagger to an effortless walk, measured with an abundance of grace. Those days are the kind of days you just want to press stop on and re-wind, over and over and over again. We know there is no rewind. There is no magical stop button for time. Time keeps moving and with the good the bad comes. It’s inevitable-the hard days. The days you want to run far away from and wish away. The days when faith feels more like an impossible test of everything you don’t feel…
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To Gain Perspective, Sometimes You Just Need to Step Back
It’s been nearly a year now. For most of March and April last year I was living in a world centered around packed suitcases, car trips, and hospital visits. One hospital visit is one too many, and there were too many. I was anxious, tired, overwhelmed, sad, a mix of emotions really. Dad was dying. April 23rd was the last day I would see my dad this side of heaven. Much of that day is a blur as he passed in the very early hours of the morning. I was whisked out of the hospital and can barely remember walking through the corridors of the hospital or driving myself back…
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Are You in Need of a Little Hope Today? There is an Endless Source for it.
Spring is on the horizon. Everywhere I look life is beginning to awaken. Trees are budding, plants are pushing past the dead and the dirt to reveal the beautiful glimpse of fresh color, new hope. I love this time of year ALMOST as much as Fall. This was also one of my dad’s favorite seasons, perhaps the one he looked forward to more than any. He was a gardener with a green thumb that I DID NOT inherit. He knew the proper time to begin tilling the ground to ready it for planting. He knew what to plant and when. He knew the perfect spot for planting anything, that spot…
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Heads Up!
Happy Monday everyone! This is just a quick little head’s up to say this week is going to be a busy week on the blog. I have to apologize in advance as the blog will be undergoing some “construction” of sorts and moving to it’s own designated domain on the web. As I make the move there may be some re-working involved and more than likely a good share of kinks to work out so hang in there with me. I’m truly excited to get everything officially up and running. And I mean really excited! The kind of excited that has probably been driving my sweet husband a little nuts…
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The Father-Heart in “No”
Jesus was God walking with skin on. All the power and authority of God was also wrapped up in His son, but rather than exercising His own will and power to save, Jesus walked and acted in humble submission, fully trusting the will and heart of His father God.
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Three Things
Sit with me for just a moment. If we were face-to-face I’d probably wrap you in a tangible hug and open my tea and coffee cupboards up to you. I hope you like yours dark because I brew a mean cup of coffee strong enough to put hair on your chest, or so they say. I would also bend an ear your direction. This is a moment of full disclosure, a moment to openly share the hard. I know broken. I’ve been broken. I am broken. I’ve spent lonely nights walking circles in the rain trying desperately to find a second set of steps to calm the storm. Silence can…
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Ocean Deep
Have you been there? That feeling of being completely overtaken by something too large to wrap your head around? Have you stared out into the unknown only to be met with a vastness that was just too much to take in, too much to comprehend? You know, those waters that have left you tossed and gasping for breath? Drowning in the too deep for far too long. Yes, those deep waters of hard circumstances that wage war and churn at the heart. I get it. I really do. It’s been forever and a day ago, but I will never forget a particular evening when I keenly felt the vulnerability of…
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Sifting
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” ~ Luke 22: 31-31 The sum total of what is known, unknown and what remains of my childhood sit downstairs in stacked boxes. I’ve been putting off the going-through of them for sometime. I’ve been telling myself that I’ll wait until the business of estate handling is over, which has been a process to say the least. Now there is light at the end of that tunnel and so the “sifting” has begun. …
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Soul Days
I’ve always loved Fall. I love how the leaves turn all kinds of brilliant, especially the crimson and fire orange ones that I wish could linger longer than the Kansas wind. On the rare calm days, right after the leaves have just turned, it’s hard for me not to just stare and inhale the crispness of the air. There is simplistic beauty in changing seasons. Most days, especially as of late, my days have been brimming with a laundry list of to-do’s. There has been loud, lived-out noise in the chaos of a constant stream of life. Most of it all wonderful things I welcome. Such as racing my sweet…
