This Solves Our Problems
Good morning... Every semester, I prayerfully search for God's book of choice for the classes I teach in our home. A book that will hold us well, week by week. A book that seems to speak into this very moment in time. A book that the Holy Spirit somehow nods, "This is it for this semester." Through the years, there have been many different ways God has made His choice known. This year [...]
Trust That I Am Here
Good morning... I'm stirred awake by the Spirit at 1:23. The simple ascending pattern tickles my attention. I look around the dark room, and light plays on our walls. I snap a few photos before I step outside. In the front yard, I check. No moon. In the back yard, I search. No moon. Tomorrow night's full moon is nowhere to be seen right now. [...]
We Suffer And Survive
Good morning... We canceled class last month due to our southern snow, so yesterday was our first Sunday afternoon gathering of this new semester. How wonderful it was to share prayer concerns, unpack tangled thoughts, and glean nuggets of life-giving wisdom. Our book for this season is a treasured classic, Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. Here are some of the truths we processed together. "It is first a book about survival. [...]
Carry Grief And Gratitude
Good morning... Following yesterday's post, Expect To Be Grateful, all day long people in our written word community sent me simple things sparking gratitude. Our pets and our people. Admiring nature and noticing beauty. Savoring daily things like coffee and food, sky and sun, brisk walks and safe travels. We're grateful for doctors and churches, dear friends sharing joys and sorrows, and the healing power of fervent prayer. Then at the end of [...]
Expect To Be Grateful
Good morning... A friend shared a simple quote: "No one is grateful for what they expect." I think about her statement and humbly disagree. I am grateful to rest in the groggy phase each day, between being fully asleep and consciously awake. I am grateful to sip and savor freshly brewed coffee, morning after morning after morning after morning. I am grateful for the way our little dog Gracie tries to lick my [...]
Listen To Our Vision
Good morning... "Sue," she wrote yesterday from Jacksonville, Florida. "I'm getting chills reading today's reflection, He Closed His Eyes. When I pressed play and heard Christy Nockel's stunning, distinctive voice, I was brought back to my Mom's final moments last Valentine's Day as I played Christy's version of 'Be Thou My Vision.' Mom was ushered on to heaven to these words - and only weeks before I learned the words were written by [...]
He Closed His Eyes
Good morning... Last week in our post The Setting Of A Life, I wrote about being with my friend, Martha, as her husband was in the process of dying. That visit to his memory care unit happened on a Monday afternoon. A week later, this past Monday, two of us close friends shared dinner with Martha and thoroughly enjoyed hearing the long version of her experience. Her husband had gone to heaven the [...]
Peace In Everyday Places
Good morning... After writing yesterday's post about 2025 trips being led my husband, Steve, I received the perfect follow up. "I will always treasure the memory of my trip to Israel with Steve the year after my Mother went to heaven," she wrote. "It was not only a learning experience but a healing one that God provided." "Now I’m financially unable to travel anywhere except to Atlanta, to family, to doctors," she explained. [...]
Traveling With Steve
Good morning... "If God wants to teach you something new," one wise friend says, "God takes you on a trip." My soul instinctively nods her head. Walking ten to fifteen miles a day, traveling the sacred Camino De Santiago in Spain last fall, certainly taught me a ton. I learned about the steady inner peace found when stretched beyond my normal limits. I contemplated new insights gleaned from the meaningful devotional messages given [...]
The Spirit Exploded
Good morning... Last Saturday night, the Spirit exploded. To cap off our day of learning at the Stir Up the Gift of God in You retreat, I led a Soul Collage session with about fifty women in St. Simons, Georgia. Trained as a Soul Collage facilitator a few years back, it was really fun to share this creative gift. For each woman, I put together a folder full of random images (cut from [...]
Betty’s Healing Expands
Good morning... When I look in my rearview mirror, I savor the healing power of last weekend's Stir Up the Gift of God in You retreat in St. Simons, Georgia. With content based on the true story of Christian mystic Betty Skinner, the Spirit of our living God, and the science of awakening, we learned practical ways to renew our mind (Romans 12:2) and to enhance our spiritual resilience and transformational growth. Co-leading [...]
Cardinals Keep Speaking
Good morning... One sentence lingers from yesterday's post, Never Seen This Before. "As I looked up and around, to my surprise, we were surrounded by a huge flock of red birds." Never having seen this many cardinals all in one place, I came home from the snowy walk with our dog and googled the question, "Do cardinals live in flocks?" Here is what I learned. "Cardinals become more social and gregarious in the [...]