Jill Noble

Sweeter After Difficulties – Dulcius Ex Asperis(2 minutes, 58 seconds -A personal testimony) I used to love running. On peaceful country roads all over the mid-west, I de-stressed as I prayed, sang, and solved oh-so-many problems. Then suddenly,  I couldn’t run. Snatched from me ten years ago were running and…

(2 minutes, 1 seconds) I heard a story about a woman who had stopped her car at a red light when a man with a gun suddenly opened the passenger side door and jumped into the seat next to her. As the story goes, this woman had recently been meditating…

(2 minutes, 15 seconds) In a self-entertaining effort to expand my vocabulary, I signed up for a daily email called “Word Daily.” The word of the day is usually somewhat eccentric and strange. I often have no clue how to pronounce the new-to-me word, and generally, the words that pop…

(2 minutes, 14 seconds) Many things are different for my husband and me now that our nest is empty. Take, for instance, the whole realm of food and eating. With our birdies gone, we sometimes eat out spontaneously. There is no longer a filled cookie jar on the counter. Now,…

(2 min, 34 seconds) I clearly remember the conversation where I was misled about the importance of women’s friendships. This wrong information was presented to me in the direst of tones and with the most earnest of facial expressions. I was told pointedly that to be a good mama to…

2 minutes, 1 second I have been joyfully turning the soil in my fruit and vegetable garden this summer. Among other things, I have transplanted into tidy rows of rich earth, previously stray, non-thriving strawberry plants which I discovered scattered about from the efforts of a previous gardener of this…

(1 minute, 8 seconds) My beloved Pastor Tom, who baptized me at 23 years old and performed our wedding ceremony when I was 24, is a Texan Baptist Preacher. From the pulpit one Sunday morning, towering in his cowboy boots, I clearly remember the booming words that he spoke in…

I watched from across the hospital room as one of my dearest friends briefly yet graciously greeted each of her visitors. No doubt, her brave and calm demeanor was the result of putting all into the hands of her faithful Savior. Only that morning, my friend had received the grim…

​(4 minutes, 14 seconds – Happy Mother’s Day!) Hesitant, I approached the registration table in the church foyer. Mingling among very young moms, I felt conspicuous. As a woman with grown children cruising in on the half-century mark, I sheepishly stepped forward to sign up to be mentored. The gray-haired…

(2 minutes, 49 seconds) Before my utterly botched hip replacement, I was a runner. For many years, I had dreamed of running in the Boston Marathon. In order to be given the privilege of an entry ticket into this prestigious race, athletes must first prove themselves elite enough runners by…