Good morning... Just before 6:00 o'clock in the middle of a busy week, the grocery store line was long, slow, ugh. After a full day of good work, I was ready to get home, ready to relax, ready to unwind, please. Finally walking out to my car, I noticed the setting sun sinking beneath the rising moon. "Stop. [...]
Good morning... One recent evening, I was feeling blue. Swirling, muted worries shaded my inner world. Then, I looked outside our window. The sky seemed to match my mood. Stepping out into it, I took myself on a walk at dusk. As the black silhouette criss-crossed the painted sky, new [...]
Good morning... "I love a blog called the Marginalian," a friend wrote me this week. "Here's an excerpt of poetry for today to share." So few grains of happiness measured against all the dark and still the scales balance. There is so much darkness in this wounding world. How [...]
Good morning... Early every morning, God drops new seeds of thought into the rich soil of my innermost being. Yesterday, I received the weekly email from the Ignatius House Retreat Center. It was entitled "Seeds of Hope." "Remind yourself that you are in God’s presence," began the encouraging words. "I ask God for the grace to surrender to [...]
Good morning... Hurricane hell. Deep depression. Open heart surgery. Harsh cancer treatment. War and terror. Division, divorce, and death. Darkness seems to seep into every crevice of our wounding world. "The power of God's promise stunned me so much that I actually gasped out loud," writes Kay Warren on page 105 of Choose Joy. I will give you [...]
Good morning... Much like the moon, her fullness is glowing. After yesterday's post - "It's Cancer." - she put words to God's slow, steady process of healing her whole. "Dear Sue," she wrote. "God is still molding me. Even though more refining fires are needed to purify me, I am aware of and grateful for his guidance over [...]
Good morning... Tonight the nearly full moon lit up the room, beaconing me outside. Barefoot I stood in the damp, cold grass, marveling at the light piercing the night. I thought of a book excerpt we read aloud in class this week from page 87 of Choose Joy by Kay Warren. "My brain froze," Warren writes. "I wanted [...]
Good morning... "We miss the normal this hurricane washed away." Her haunting sentence stays with me long after the interview is over. Our prayers continue, prayers for a new normal to somehow form around those grieving deep loss. The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare, and the sun’s glare will be seven times [...]
Good morning... Many people related to our blog yesterday, Walking With Depression. The first to reply was the person at the center of the post, my friend who had shared her hard, heavy feelings as we walked to and from the horse farm. "I love you my friend..." she texted. "I hear God speaking to me in your [...]
Good morning... Neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that develops in immature nerve tissue, usually affects children under the age of five. In the spring of 2006, I began working at Northside Church in the Children's Ministry. Then in January of 2008, I became the Women's Ministry Director. Throughout my time at Northside, I have been deeply affected by [...]
