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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At the Edge of Faith
Spring is Here, Will Your Faith Bloom?
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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When God’s Love is Eclipsed
After seeing so many social media posts on the April 8th solar eclipse and imaging everyone writing about it, I hesitated to share my story. Yet the beauty of a very personal lesson refused to be silenced. More than a story of when God’s Love is eclipsed in our lives, it is the story of a Love which would not…
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When New Life Comes Through Trial
The rain cascading off the roof like a waterfall reminded me of the overwhelming emotion which paralyzed me the moment I heard the news. Though the passing of time blurs the sharpness of the memory, the old ache validates its truth. When new life comes through trial, we seldom value the process as much as we treasure the outcome. New…
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Will You Wait with Me?
As Holy Week moves toward a well-known bittersweet ending of grief and anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane, my heart ponders what the wait meant to Jesus and His three closest disciples. Asking a simple question of John, James, and Peter, “Will you wait with me?” Jesus moves deeper into the garden for His last encounter with His Father before…
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Love’s Invitation May Shock You
“I love you because you are my daughter, but I don’t like you as a person.” These words spoken over me as a teen defined my view of how others loved me for many years. In fact, they defined how I viewed God’s love for me. That is until Love’s invitation shattered my preconception. Like no other, God’s invitation of…
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A Lenten Journey of Love
When asked to describe Lent in one word, the only word which came to mind was Love. While most people think of Lent as a sad time of repentance, fasting, and a journey to the Cross, my mind sees a Lenten journey of Love. What singular emotion could have motivated Jesus Christ to not only journey to the Cross, but…
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The Movement of Rest
For the longest time contemplating the movement of rest simply failed to make sense to me. Encountering a quote mentioning the concept, my mind labored in reconciling movement with rest. Yet a myopic view of rest implying a complete cessation of movement kept me stuck searching for a flawed image of rest. In my journey to the Cross this Lenten…
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How Repentance Brings Deep Rest
Following the Lord’s lead into a time of rest during this Lenten season, my heart feels free to draw near to the Throne of Grace. To my dismay, God is inviting me into a place of repentance. No easy task, but the work of true repentance brings deep rest to the Christian. Lent offers a time for spiritual recalibration, which…
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