(1 minute, 45 seconds) The table prayer written on the young fabric of my heart, involved inviting Jesus to be our guest as we were about to eat food;“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest…” It was good to invite Jesus to that table.But it is…

(2 minutes, 30 seconds) Hebrews 13:14, Philippians 3:20, and John 14:2 say: Here, we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Our ultimate citizenship is not here; it is in heaven.Our Father’s house (in the lasting city where our…

Last month was a doozy.Plans imploded, life skidded out of control, and my last threads of stability were shredded apart. I was walking with a limp, talking with a stutter, and figuratively, in a state of mortal bleeding. I know that discouragement and anxiety have…

(2 minutes, 6 seconds) As a little kid, I hid my money in a jar under my bed. I wasn’t saving for anything in particular; I was storing up for a rainy day… whatever that meant in my seven-year-old brain!  No, I didn’t have much money….

(1 minute, 30 seconds to read)When our third was a curly-headed toddler, and before he transitioned from afternoon naps, Austin enjoyed staying up later in the evenings with his dad and me. After his older siblings had been tucked in for the night, Austin, who…

(2 minutes, 4 seconds to read) “He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth, the Lord God Almighty is his name.” Amos 4:13 Two…

Several weeks ago I was riding shotgun next to my youngest man-cub. Glancing down, I noticed that the cupholder between his car seats held multiple square post-it notes that had cursive writing on them. Intrigued but not wanting to appear nosy, I casually asked, “Are…

“Hold your plans loosely”, a beloved mentor once taught me. Leaning in eagerly at Naomi’s kitchen table on Saturday mornings, I would come like a thirsty young mother, trying to drink in every drop of wisdom and much needed encouragement that she offered. Naomi turned…

We moved last week.For the tenth time in our 29 years of married life, our address has changed again. My husband and I both grew up deep in the country, like 100 acres of country. We rode our bicycles on gravel roads, “went to town”…

October 9, 2020Exactly 40 years ago tonight, I became fatherless. God’s promises to the fatherless have always been especially precious to me because of what happened in my life at the tender age of 12.Though my own loss of my dad was especially traumatic because…