he has taken away my reproach
Being misunderstood is a part of this life. A difficult reality, but a reality nonetheless. In our current society, I have found that children are considered a blessing if you have the requisite one or two and then done, but the responses to much more than that can be...
how can it be?
This time of year fills me with a sense of awe and wonder. It's the time of year that I choose to deeply ponder the coming of Christ in flesh. The reminders are all around me; the house is decorated for the month long 'birthday party'. The city streets in our rural...
dear worship leader
Last week I wrote a letter to all the worshipers of the Lord everywhere. This week I write a letter to all my fellow worship leaders who are leading God's people in worship week after week. Dear Worship Leader, You are leading so you must serve. God has placed you in...
dear worshiper
Dear Worshiper, We are all worshipers, whether we realize it or not, we all worship something or someone. We were designed that way, and we will fill our spirit's with something or someone until we surrender to the living God. Worship is all about relationship. It's...
where is hope?
2 Corinthians 1:9-10: ‘Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he...
a beautiful brokenness
She bows down. Low. Heart aching. Wondering. Seeking. Questioning. If this is what freedom is, do I really want it? She raises her fist to the heavens and shouts her anger. She lets her heart ugliness spill out and over, and then falls to her knees keening her...
the three paths
Our human nature is bent towards compensation. We screw up and try to fix things by doing more or giving more. Our kids are mad at us for a decision made and we try to 'make' it up to them through various ways--whether it's a gift or privilege or event. We hurt our...
light of grace
Light fascinates and intrigues me. I love natural light. I love to watch the intensity of the sun change through the seasons. I love the gentle light of spring and the bright light of winter and the intense light of summer and fading light of fall. I prefer...
the grace of looking down
My shoulders slump. My eyes fill with tears. 'The waiting, God, is so hard. Is this dream a dream from you or is it rooted in my selfish ambition?' I imagine with Abraham what it was like to wait 25 years for the promise of God to be fulfilled. What must it have been...
the practice of abiding
Abide. Rest. Remain. This is the key to making it through those days when you get up out of bed and want to crawl back into bed, throw the covers over your head because there is a big, hairy, scary monster out there called 'To-Do' that just might chew you up and spit...
beauty of harvest
Fall is whispering its arrival in the cool nights and the turning of the fields. I have always thought the fall sky is a different sort of blue than the blue of summer or spring or winter. It takes on a brilliance that is emphasized with the myriad of colors in the...
graceful beauty
you are full of beauty. Psalm 27:4, 'One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.' you might look at yourself in the mirror and...