On:
In: Bible Journaling, Grace, Recess with Jesus

  The writers of the Psalms did it all the time… they poured their hearts out to God in cries so loud that sometimes we imagine we can almost hear the confusion, frustration, and grief in their words. Sometimes I feel like their words could have come from my own tongue. But those Psalmists never camped out in those emotions. They poured them out and in the next breath they were aiming their heart’s eyes toward praise and thanks and its fruit – a better perspective. As is typical of a season of victory, or at least moving forward to victory, one day I was filled with joy at beingRead More →

On:
In: Grace, Uncategorized

At the first hint of fall in the air and the calling of the blue jays telling me it’s coming, excitement begins to bubble inside of me. It’s almost time for Jesse Tree… time for the season of quiet (or not always so quiet) waiting. In hot and humid Papua, Indonesia one year I picked up a Jesse Tree book from another expat family’s yard sale. I had never heard of the Jesse Tree and so I read with curiosity and a small searching for a way to make Christmas feel like Christmas two degrees below the equator. I had no idea that it wouldRead More →

On:
In: Grace

“I’m bad at finding your gum but I found you a living room set.” “You found me a living room set????” I received this text from Ron at my desk last Friday. “Better. It’s a gift if you want it.” “What!?? Who?” The response was… “God”. Texting turned into quick emails and he sent me a link to a picture of the furniture. I liked it so much and knew it would look perfect in our dragonfly blue family room. (Really. That’s the name of the color.) Just the fact that one of the main colors in the pattern was red hinted to me thatRead More →

On:
In: Grace

Every now and then our Heavenly Father reaches down with a gentle hand and touches our lives in can’t-miss-it kind of ways. Those times when we can sense His delight in showing us, His children, that He knows deeply, He sees deeply, and He loves deeply. He did so again for me recently…. Beginning on June 26, 2011, life took a turn for traumatic and heart breaking for our family. Hope seemed pretty distant and sometimes God did too. I didn’t understand what He was doing in our lives. At the same time I was determined that I would not miss whatever it was thatRead More →

On:
In: Adventures in Learning, Grace, Uncategorized

While I figure out how to write about what the Lord has been teaching me these last few months, I share something my husband wrote shortly after we bought our house two and a half years ago. (The title is mine.) After 25 years of renting…… the Lord has given us the privilege of home ownership.  We have learned a few lessons over our 25 years as home renters. One of the biggest lessons is stewardship: When renting a home we know that it isn’t ours, but we need to take care of it as if it were ours. At some point the owner willRead More →