For All Those Experiencing Hot Flashes and Other Imperfections of Life
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter…
Tis the End of the Season
My heart’s been heavy. Even looking at the cheerful rainbow lights of our pre-lit tree has only brought unsettled emotions. Are they the sneers of inadequacy–hearing the snide inner voice telling me it’s high time to take it down, for cryin’ out loud. I know,…
Anna’s Gift
This story was inspired by the devotional reading from Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest, for January 6th (Epiphany). The idea that one’s worship, waiting, and work are to be so intertwined that they are one gift to Jesus–and, thus, a gift to you and…
A Tribute to Mia
Because we’ve just entered the new year of a new decade, we’ve been thinking a lot about some of those 4-legged “loved ones” we said goodbye to within the last ten years. This sweet girl went to sleep in early 2013, and we still miss…
Mary’s Song
Sweet Mother Mary– Labored Life for all the world, Rose daughter to Son. My name is Mary. Not yet fifteen, I’ve given birth to my firstborn son. Though there will be others, no doubt, there can never again be a firstborn. Joseph–he’s a good husband. He works…
Come! Let’s Adore Him!
While driving home the other evening, having been to a Christmas gathering filled with happy songs and smiling faces, I received a text from a friend — a plea for prayer for her family, as they’d just lost a loved one. Suddenly, the echoes of “Jingle…
Behind the Door, Beyond the Veil–Behold the Lamb
The wreath on the door was festive–a final touch to the other lovely outdoor Christmas decorations that told passersby, It’s Christmas Time again. Still, seeing the festivity made me think, One just never quite knows what’s going on behind a closed door, does she? What joys. What…
A Place at the Manger
What can I give Him, poor as I am?– If I were a Shepherd, I would bring a lamb; If I were a Wise Man I would do my part,– Yet, what can I give Him, — Give my heart. (From Christina Rossetti’s In the Bleak…
Born In Our Hearts–Adoption and Advent
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in…
The Lesson of Leaves
We’d waited… And waited. Then, just like that–the pop of western North Carolina color. Suddenly, the mountains were awash in watercolor beauty. We walked–talking some, laughing. Mostly, the sound of leaves under our feet was heard, and we enjoyed the beauty above us that we…