40 Days To Purpose Whenever God wanted to prepare someone for His purpose, He took 40 days. So the power of fours is a real thing. Interestingly, the bible is full of transformations that happen in increments of four. The reason I began this 40-day challenge is that I want to make a shift in my life.... Continue Reading →
The Forty-Day Challenge Hello friends!Welcome to the Forty-Day Bible memorization Challenge! I've decided to challenge myself and my family for the next 40 days. One of my children will be headed off to college in the Fall, and there has been this gnawing conviction in me that I have not spent nearly enough time having... Continue Reading →
My Happy Place I found myself browsing campsites and mountain rentals longingly. The mountains are my happy place. I love the isolation, the quiet penetrated only by the rustle of leaves, the call of the loon, the shuffle of a chipmunk through the leaves. It restores my soul. The peace brings me clarity. I can... Continue Reading →
I Will Restore To You The Years The Locusts Have Eaten My mom had a special prayer for restoration for me. It was a promise based on her hope for the future but grounded in the reality of a harsh present and past. She knew that life had not always been easy for me and... Continue Reading →
The soft, grainy sand between my toes, rising and falling with the cold waves, the push and pull of the current, the warm sun and the gentle breeze - the joys of a beach trip. The end of summer brings cooler days that lend themselves to lazing away from late morning to early evening without... Continue Reading →
A savage storm ripped through my community earlier this week uprooting trees, downing power lines and knocking more than 210 thousand people off power. We are one of those people. We did our due diligence, went out and bought bags and bags of ice to stuff the fridge, freezer and coolers with, but in the... Continue Reading →
My son came home for a surprise visit last evening, so we all went for a walk by the water around sunset. It was nice to have him back, and while we walked and talked together, my shoulders relaxed, knowing he was safely beside me. It's an odd feeling this growing older and children leaving... Continue Reading →
At the risk of being branded a heretic, unAmerican, or a millennial, I have to admit, I'm not a huge Country music fan. I do, however, have several Country Music artists and quite a few singles on rotation on my phone. I Love Kenny Rogers wake up rasp, Willie Nelson's plaintive clarity, Dolly Parton's sass,... Continue Reading →
The important thing in life isn't that you know everything, or have everything, or can do everything; it's that you know your limitations, are honest about them, and work accordingly. As a single parent raising two young children, Mom was always on the lookout for good role models. If she thought someone, usually from church,... Continue Reading →
After things have collapsed around us, it's tempting to collapse with it. The weight of broken dreams, broken relationships, broken lives or careers is so massive it can weigh you down, trap you, cripple your mobility, and crush your spirit. What is that ineffable quality that some people have that preserves them during these times? What... Continue Reading →
Shattered - But God Is With You In my early 20s, I was working in a rundown industrial area of the city. On this particularly bitter day, my boyfriend drove me to work because he needed to borrow my car. Making our way from one frozen intersection to the next, I wasn't thinking much about... Continue Reading →
I chuckled as I washed the dishes, my eyes looking at the sudsy plate in my hand. It was my youngest daughter's week, but she had fallen asleep after school so I figured I'd help her out. So while I washed, I wandered. The plate reminded me of one of the senior youth group leaders... Continue Reading →
