Good morning... As God continues our ongoing conversation about walking barefoot through deep grief, courageously facing painful challenges, and trusting that we were each made for more than breathing, I am drawn to a song by Ginny Owen. Regular readers of our everyday blog will remember that Ginny is a talented singer who mysteriously went blind at age [...]
Good morning... I have never understood the phrase fear of the Lord. It seems like such an oxymoron to fear a God who loves us unconditionally, beyond our wildest imagination. The things we fear we usually stay away from, so why does Proverbs 1:7 make it clear that fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge? [...]
Good morning... "I'm afraid God," I reread my handwriting in yesterday's journal pages. "I finally deepen down to feel my fear. I am afraid of not listening well enough to be Your scribe for a class of seventy-plus women awaiting this week's study segments. I fear that, for sake of timeliness, maybe these words will become my concoction [...]
Good morning... If you have been tracking God's recent movement in my life, you realize that I feel feeble and powerless as I try to hold steady my small sails, seeking to catch the strong, healing winds of God's powerful Spirit. Writing from scratch a companion study to Anne Morrow Lindbergh's classic Gift from the Sea feels like [...]
Good morning... "Sue, I’m pretty sure you get these Henri Nouwen meditations," she emailed me yesterday, "but this one is really beautiful to me and I want to make sure you see it. Also, we need prayer for a six year old boy that is the son of our daughter's close friend. This little boy has a really bad [...]
Good morning... I am prayerfully considering which book to teach in our living room next fall, in small groups, sitting six feet apart. With a short stack of possibilities, I read through piles of pages. At the right moment, I trust the Holy Spirit to nudge, "Sue, this is the one I have chosen." "When the sun goes [...]
Good morning... "The following is from C. S. Lewis," wrote a very special friend. "It was written in 1948 after the dawn of the atomic age." ****** Mr. Lewis wrote: In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: [...]
Good morning... I open Biblegateway.com and read the verse for today. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things (Ecclesiastes 11:5, NIV). An old favorite poem pops to mind. I google the phrase "God's [...]
Good morning... Quietly reading this poem aloud, I slowly mulled over every word. ***** Lead Me out of My Doubts and Fears by Ted Loder Eternal God, lead me now out of the familiar setting of my doubts and fears, beyond my pride and my need to be secure, into a strange and graceful ease with my true [...]
Good morning... Just after sending you yesterday's photo of the frigid, frozen Norwegian landscape outside one subscriber's front door, I opened Henri Nouwen's morning message to be greeted by the luxurious photo above. What a gorgeous contrast. Land, white snow versus green grass. Sky, winter grey versus springtime blue. Feeling, chilly cold versus welcoming warmth. God's breathtaking beauty [...]
