Why We Need Not Worry About Anything: A Short Devotion
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens, From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise Because of your enemies to silence the foe and the avenger. Psalm 8:1-2 You call me to walk with you this day. And […]
Into the Woods
I meander through conifer forest next to our home, whipped by white pine branches and pricked by wild rose stems. Trails cleared years ago for riding horses in summer and cross-country skiing in winter are now overgrown from lack of tending. Some paths are hardly visible. Others are too near eroded banks of the creek […]
New Life
Here it is, the day between death and life. Our Lord Jesus was off the cross and in the tomb. And the waiting—the waiting is hard. The hoping—holding onto hope can be so hard. But when God makes a promise, best believe He will deliver. Nothing is impossible for God. He’s all about resurrections, restorations, […]
Faith in the Ice Storms of Life
The rain came pouring down. At 2 AM, I wake to God’s fingers sifting crystal beads onto roofs of house and barn. Horses are shedding winter coats. I wonder where they stand during this dark, icy night. Are they out vulnerable in the paddock, frozen rain pelting their bodies? Or have they sought shelter in […]
Finding Purpose in the Sick and Tired
I have been sick and tired. Literally. For exactly two weeks as of today. I’m familiar with respiratory ailments like bronchitis and I’ve even had pneumonia a couple times in the past but nothing has ever leveled me like what turned out to be Influenza A. I’ve always wondered why people die from the flu. […]
Fall Fresh
Crystal white fell softly after dark. Flakes by the millions, not one like another, accumulated on the flagstone path meandering through the perennial garden where plants are sleeping the winter away. Some kind of peace comes over me during a fresh falling . . . Next morning—all white—all pure, all untracked by human. Snow’s still […]
Duckies and Dads and Mountains
I went to church with my dad and stepmom while visiting them in Arizona. To some, this might not seem like such a big deal. To me, it was a momentous occasion. During our phone conversation the day before my flight, Dad asked me if I would go to church with him on Sunday. I […]
A Beautiful Nightmare
The whole family was in our Toyota Highlander last night, buckled in. I was driving, my husband was in the passenger seat, and our three kids were in the back. Southbound on I-43, we drove in the dark to Milwaukee on our way to a play. We were cruising along, happily chatting about random subjects […]
The Fix and the Fixer
I started my reply to her email the other day like this . . . My dear friend! I can feel your aching heart! I wish I could wave a wand and make it all better. But we both know better. I can’t. You can’t. We just can’t make all these huge problems go away. […]
Tree of Life
I knew there was something special about her, the first time I saw her standing solitaire on that grassy bluff a year ago. She fascinated me, maybe more than the grizzlies across the Shelikof Strait from her, stuffing themselves on salmon as I stood not twenty feet away. Last September, I watched her blown about […]
Transparency
Disclaimer: Do not read if you are uncomfortable with REAL—with TRANSPARENT. Then again, maybe it might be good to stretch beyond comfort zone . . . to see the beauty of transparent? He held the wheel with one hand driving the two of us home last night. And I sat numb, looking at the bruised sky […]
Falling Apart
Some may be appalled at the honesty and transparency of what I write below. I have prayed hard and sought input from godly people I trust most. My husband and I know our daughter better than any. We know her heart for God and that, more than anything, she wants to love Him and others. […]