My guess is that not many people cry when they read Ezra chapter 3. I did.  And then I kept crying right along with the old men who wept in verse 12. Ezra chapter 3 is about rebuilding. After living in captivity in Babylonia for…

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”Psalm 19:14 I like words and quotes and pretty scripty fonts. I have words and phrases and scripture references deliberately hung and…

Undaunted – adj.  Not discouraged by difficulty, danger, or disappointment. Aside from having a definition with a built-in alliteration, undaunted is an excellent and inspiring word.It seems an infinitely noble concept to face hardship and not be discouraged. Ever.Nerves of steel comes to mind. And yet…

1 John 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I leapt without looking last December.  And landed in Haiti. Throughout the week I felt generally unsafe and mildly afraid….

On a ledge above my kitchen sink, the words of Micah 5:5 are displayed in brilliant white lettering on a lovely dark wooden plaque.  “He will be our peace.” This verse is a reminder for me that when my world is spinning, my heart is…

This 100 day challenge of documenting the “Goodness of the Lord” has been good for my soul. Actively looking for goodness is quickening my gratitude response. And I’m glad about that.   It is a bit shallow though “just” being grateful for the cat (though…

On a very early Monday morning over a year and a half ago, I lay wide awake. Turning to face my clock, I sighed. There were still two more hours before our alarm was set to go off. My mind was racing as I anticipated…

I woke up this morning with a hangover. No, not “that” kind of hangover. It was a “still-thinking-too-much-of-myself” state carried over from last night. My selfishness, and more accurately my self-centeredness, manifests itself in the subtlest of forms. I was unusually vulnerable with a small…

Our dog Greta barely passed her Doggie Obedience class. She failed miserably the sit, stay, and heel part of class. But she was the all-star, the top dog in her class in one category….. it was when the command “COME” was given. During this part…

A “pit” plain and simply sounds like a nasty place. Descriptive words for a pit that come to my mind are: smelly (think arm-pit!), isolated (bottom-of-the-pit), disastrous (as in, my little brothers bedroom-pit), dark, lonely, hopeless, forgotten, cheerless, void- of-laughter kind of place. Joseph’s brothers…