Jill Noble

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…

(2 minutes, 5 seconds) This time reading Leviticus, I’m slogging through, rather than skimming, the third book of the Bible. Every day as I read, I face two glaring facts: the holiness of God and my need for Jesus. In chapter 10, two of Aaron’s priest-sons offered unauthorized fire before…

(Don’t!) Put Another Log on the Fire(2 min, 26 sec) Musical confession: I like to polka. Second musical confession: Oblivious to the words or gist of the song, I have polka tunes in my head that make my feet start in on a polka jig. Consider the song “Put Another Log…

(3 minutes, 15 seconds) The Appalachian Trail is a hiking path in the Eastern United States. The trail is 2,185 miles long, extends from Georgia in the south to Maine in the north, and passes through 14 states. In 2011 as an experienced hiker, Jennifer Pharr Davis set the overall…

Imitators(1 minute, 57 seconds) A friend recently asked me if I knew who Sally Clarkson was because she thought I would really like her. She said I reminded her of this author/speaker because of Sally’s and my shared delight in candles in the winter, our heart for offering hospitality, our…

Someone dear to me chose to pass on her tradition of sending a Christmas family picture and letter last year. Challenging circumstances had pummeled her heart raw, discouraging her from documenting the previous year. Christmas letters aren’t the place to process grief.  Like her, perhaps you turned the calendar to…

My husband suffered a terrible blow a few weeks ago. After working for a company for almost 32 years, his position was suddenly eliminated. His boss, his boss’s boss, and an HR person dropped this bombshell on him in an impromptu meeting, assuring him it was not performance related. The…

(Advent) 2 minutes, 5 seconds I called gently from the other side of the door to my 22-month-old son who had accidentally locked himself in his room. He was too young to have much of a vocabulary, but he knew my voice and could follow simple directions. Calmly I said…