Good morning... When I posted yesterday's message, "The gift of tears," I did know know I would be crying within a few short hours. As he told his personal story through heaving waves of tears, he struggled to say, "These have been the best years of my life." His gut-wrenching tears wrenched my gut and I began to cry. [...]
Good morning... Heading into a difficult day, a close friend wrote to request my prayers of solidarity. God crafted through me the message below, a message I sense He wants all of us to experience. As we face various challenges requiring the brute strength of what my friend calls our "faith and courage muscles," we tap into the power [...]
Good morning... After yesterday's post, one subscriber wrote: "How to have faith and belief in God when you can’t KNOW everything is something I struggle with all the time. Your daily words help so much. I especially love your last words this morning and will keep them with me: 'My sinking heart can rise up and trust what my [...]
Good morning... My heart sank when my close friend texted yesterday morning, four days into her unexpected hospital stay: "Waiting for the pathology from the spinal tap. Yes, no doubt there is an abnormality. They have it in one of two camps: a very rare syndrome that causes recurrent meningitis or a malignant tumor. Praying no malignant or other [...]
Good morning... In my early morning hours, why has God been teaching me about boundaries? Boundaries seem like such a human construct, such a worldly theory, such a man made model for heathy living. Why focus my quiet time on boundaries, LORD? I sense God saying, "It is time to exchange your boundaries for My boundaries. As I melt [...]
Good morning... When I was training in my twenties to be a Marriage and Family Therapist, I learned a lot about boundaries. Some families have rigid boundaries. Secrets and unresolved pain grow like weeds in the petri dish of a closed system. Some families are open systems, where anything goes all the time, stripping members of privacy and protection. [...]
Good morning... God can break into our daily lives in very funky ways. I have a hilariously weird story for you. Last week, my senior in high school was playing her important lacrosse game at a faraway school. Fortunately, I thought the game started at 5:00 pm instead of 5:30 pm so I had plenty of time to settle [...]
Good morning… One line lingers in my mind from the passage I shared in yesterday's post. Jesus answered, “You don’t really know what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7, CEV). In so many confusing ways we "don't really know" what God is doing. We "don't really know" why some people are plagued by disease or [...]
“You don’t really know what I am doing,” Jesus says to his disciples, “but later you will understand” John 13:7 (CEV). In so many confusing ways we don't really know what God is doing. We don't really know why some people are plagued by disease or depression, infertility or dementia, physical handicaps or gender identity struggles. We don't [...]
Happy Easter... My friend experienced Julie's presence the day of her passing. I asked her to write the memory for me so I could share it with you. Here is her story. "I went outside to tell my husband what I’d just learned about Julie dying… I was crying and trying to talk... Right as I spoke our fully [...]
