These days are you hurried, harried or hopeful? The question popped into my mind as I felt restless during my morning quiet time. Sensing a rising urgency to finish up and move into my day, the question begged reflection. When we run into our days armed with a bloated agenda and unrestrained expectations, what are we leaving behind, or worse,…
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Tiptoeing through what felt like a minefield of mishaps and menaces while clinging to newfound Hope, I wondered how I might realize a more bulletproof Hope? The answer came in a rather shocking revelation; in fact, it came at a wedding accompanied by a miracle. Nurturing Hope through celebration was the most unusual advice I’d received in a long time….
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I found it ironic. The person to whom I came for help in processing years of emotional trauma inspired by me? When you view your life as a trainwreck, you hardly imagine anyone finding it interesting, much less “inspiring”. Yet, “despite all which has transpired in my life”, she oozed, “you not only cling to Hope, you exude it.” And…
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Walking my own healing journey, often I find encouragement in the healing journeys of others. A friend shared a quote with me which was like the balm of Gilead to my parched and wounded soul. More than that, it led me on another path to healing I had not considered: how beauty brings healing and Hope. “Never lose an opportunity…
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Some never outgrow their childhood fear of the dark, while others come to terms with the inevitability, even the necessity of some hours of darkness. Whether that darkness is the roughly twelve hours of darkness each day holds, or the more painful darkness of the hard paths of life, we acquiesce to its presence. But what if darkness wasn’t dark…
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She stared back at me from timid eyes, almost sorrowful, yet the occasion I knew well was celebratory. Somewhere in the fathomless depths of her brown eyes I sensed rather than saw hopelessness despite her mere eight years. While this month always holds conflicting memories, making peace with May memories this year seems even harder. At times, trips down memory…
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Pondering an especially dark and hard season, remembering the moments I sat by the bedside of a dying loved one, birthed a new courage from within. Daring to have a conversation with death, I came face to face with a truth which both shocked and healed me. As I felt the life slipping away from my precious sister-in-law, I contemplated…
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Not sure why encountering God in strange places continues to surprise me after forty plus years of walking with Him, but it does. I have met God in medical exam rooms, washing dirty dishes, gazing out of the open door of a Black Hawk helicopter behind a machine gun toting marine, over the Adriatic Sea; and we even bumped into…
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While spring arrived officially almost one month ago, until recently my gardens only held a faint promise of their yearly beauty. Enjoying a rich palette of gorgeous color over the past week, a thought occurred to me: “Spring is here, but will your faith bloom?” Having written about sowing seeds of faith, I now wondered when I might see those…
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