I have been enjoying the many layers of beauty in the iris. I fold back petals only to find more. It's not just the layers of petals that entice me to investigate, but also the incredible detailed handiwork on the petals. Yellow fuzzy lines sit on the middle of each inner petal like sleeping wooly bear caterpillars. […]
I stuck my feet in the sand and she buried them deeper...again. How many more ways to pass the time could we come up with in the sand volleyball court while waiting for brother's baseball game to end? I watched the leaves rustle and the tree limbs sway against the wind. Children were playing all […]
I was a young Christian just beginning to serve the church. I had just finished teaching my preschool Sunday School class when I saw the commotion. I went back inside my room because I knew who this child was and what was going on. I knew that she experienced seizures frequently and that her mother was used to handling them. My co-teacher, […]
Does Christmas bring out the crazy in you? Do you give what you don't normally give? Create what you don't normally create? Think about Jesus a bit more than you normally think about Jesus? Well...I was filled with a little last-minute Christmas-in-July crazy this morning. I was inspired early this morning to compile and finalize the Christmas […]
Did that title resonate with you? Does your heart long...even ache...to see and understand God's work in your life? Those who are in Christ, I believe, naturally desire that. I'm on vacation this week so...giving you an old story from the past year. It is a timeless reminder of our need to expect to see God's […]
I love my country and the people who serve and have served me...us...with their lives. I join today with others with thanks to God for our freedoms and our nation. We are blessed. But I can't help to think each Fourth of July about how I feel a bit strange declaring our independence. Is it because […]
A peek inside my Journal: 6/18/13 "Do you, the good shepherd, also protect me? Do you protect me and care for me too?" That is all I'll let you see! Sorry...no further details! My journal has become, not merely a recording of my thoughts and the events in my life, but my side of a life-long conversation with God. I try to […]
Just a short post this week. I was feeling particularly discouraged yesterday. The day I normally post on this blog. So much so that I didn't finish my article and gave up. I decided to let it go and write next week but I was encouraged this morning and thought I'd share. So...did I mention […]
There once was a boy. His home was often in turmoil with arguing and yelling. He dreaded hearing footsteps at night. Footsteps at night meant there was going to be a fight. How he hoped there wouldn't be fights...but there were...often. The boy learned how to cope though. He would leave...flee...escape. God's word was absent from […]
Last week I had the opportunity to take in some incredible beauty at Carlyle Lake, Illinois. My family roasted marshmallows at sunset at a picnic spot that my husband's family visited often in his childhood years. As the sun went down, the beautiful backdrop to all that was around me became brighter and more glorious. […]
Advent Joy isn’t shallow or sentimental—it is rooted in the appearing of Christ. When Scripture speaks of Christ being manifested, it means that God has made Himself clearly seen, known, and encountered in order to save. “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation…” — Titus 2:11, ESV The Child in the manger is the […]
Where do you long for Christ’s Peace to enter your story this week? Or have you given up hope for that? Perhaps it would be good for you and me to remember Jesus' words about the kind of peace He gives. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the […]