Good morning... I am grateful to be the Women's Ministry Director at Northside Church. My spiritual gifts have grown deep roots and fresh fruits in the rich nurturing soil of our family of faith. My True Self comes alive in collaboration with the diverse, creative people in our loving community. As we move toward the Lenten season, check [...]
Good morning... Life phases joined hands in the church hallway. A few weeks back, we hosted our United Methodist Women's Baby Celebration, a touching event honoring the babies born annually into our faith community. This was a particularly special celebration as five or six of the very active UMW members were new grandmothers at the gathering. These faithful [...]
Good morning... The annual tradition of our Women's Lenten Communion Service began in 2007. Working as Discipleship Coordinator in the Children's Ministry at the time, I was invited to be the inaugural speaker of this new Lenten event. None of us knew that by January 2008 God would equip me to become the second full-time Women's Ministry Director at [...]
Good morning... "I'll have a Blue Christmas without you," Elvis Presley sang into our hearts with his 1964 single, the year after I was born. As I have aged into deeper awareness, I wonder, "When people lose loved ones during the holiday season, is Christmas always tainted with the blue of grief?" Something within me feels an answer [...]
Good morning... "What is essential is invisible," whispered yesterday's post. We wake to a time of visible unrest. Hurricane devastation. Senseless violence. Political bullying. As the world looks out-of-sorts, God remains the same. Today and every day, how might we invest in the invisible? Love. Roots. Trust. Hope. Spirit. God's Word. Faith. Senses. The living Christ. When we [...]
Good morning... Life carves us down, life carves us down deep. Just scroll back through our past five posts. A cancer-free seven year old now safe in Jesus' arms. An eighteen year old breathing freely in heaven after a lifetime altered by Cystic Fibrosis. A twenty-seven year old wife and mom whose dream life was stolen by a [...]
Good morning... I read aloud to the classes in our living room two poignant pages from Paula D'Arcy's most well-known book, Gift of The Red Bird, two pages that describe one life altering day. Paula and her husband Roy were enjoying a simple life with their first toddling daughter Sarah when we pick up their story. ****** Gift [...]
Good morning... Wow. Yesterday I learned a startling truth: the word "biopsy" is not benign. Benign means good and mild, gentle and kind, tender and harmless. I know the word "biopsy" is not benign, because it caused a fearful stir. I quoted Erwin Raphael McManus in my post yesterday, a post entitled 911 Moments Form Our Faith. McManus [...]
Good morning... Yesterday, September 10th, was the first anniversary of a very significant loss. Loved ones leaned in, joined together, and shared love. Today, September 11th, is the seventeenth anniversary of another devastating loss. Our nation leans in, joins together, and resists hate. I am reminded of the life altering effects of 9/11/01 as I read these words written [...]
Good morning... Just before preparing last night's family dinner, I turned in the manuscript for our 2018 Summertime Devotional. After hours and hours and still more and more hours, the passionate patchwork of our ninety-two favorite blog posts from this school year was sent as a cozy, completed quilt to the Creative Arts Director at Northside Church. She will [...]
