Good morning... At Northside Church, our Faithful Fitness class began a new semester on Wednesday morning at 9:30 am. One gift that blessed our time together was cooling down to Christy Nockel's song entitled Home. The song mirrors the truth of Psalm 23:6 (GNT). I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life; [...]
Good morning... Most of us start the day with preconceived plans. More likely than not, our plans will be interrupted. The quote above, sent by a friend last week, helps to shift our focus from, "Why, God, why?" to "Who?" and to "What?" In the Plan B moments we meet today, might we stop and wonder and learn, [...]
Good morning... Yesterday we gathered for our first Wednesday afternoon class of the semester to study Waking Up to This Day: Seeing the Beauty Right before Us by Paula D'Arcy. New faces joined our crowd of old friends, and the Holy Spirit bonded us naturally. To introduce ourselves, we shared one thing we noticed about the cover of [...]
Good morning... As my fall schedule began to fill in, a friend sent me this quote: "You are exactly where you are meant to be." What a empowering word of encouragement. Living into my twentieth year at Northside Church, I love the cyclical nature of our ministry to women. Every year, the summer season ends and a new [...]
Good morning... "Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for our home," C.S. Lewis wrote in our post from yesterday. I have heard it said, "We are just walking each other home." Our eternal home awaits us beyond. For her junior year in high school, in [...]
Good morning... On September 1st, Jennifer DeShetler posted the tribute above to her daughter, Audrey. I zoomed in close and read the plaque resting in the right front corner of the photo. "She is a mountain moving, giant slaying, world changing warrior. She walks with Jesus. That is her game changing strategy." What a perfect description of audacious [...]
Good morning... The timing was perfect. We met on August 31st, softly celebrating the end before a new beginning. We began by reading a short Scripture. After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an [...]
Good morning... Moonlight peeks through the shutters above our tub. "Another full moon is on her way," I think, noticing the slow passage of time. I am grateful for the tiny bladder of our little thirteen year old dog, Gracie. She takes me outside in the middle of most nights. Without stepping barefoot into the dark, cooling air, [...]
Good morning... As the moon thickens above our home, I think back on our sacred weekend at the Ignatius House Retreat Center. Abiding in the quietness of now, I pull out my hand-scribbled notes. I return to the first quote shared on Friday night, the first teaching, the first song. "I remind myself that we are never promised [...]
Good morning... On retreat at Ignatius House Retreat Center, we savored words from the New Zealand Prayer Book before we headed into two days and two nights of silence. Then we quietly stepped outside at the setting of the sun. Meandering through the gorgeous grounds, I took pictures of the blossoming [...]
