Our First Response
Good morning... "Make prayer your first response instead of your last resort," a friend shared a quote she had read somewhere. There are so many different forms of prayer. Laying in bed and letting our worries fall into the hands of God. Prayers sent up like arrows to heaven. "LORD, help me." "Please guide me." "God, thank you so much." Silent prayers, sitting, kneeling, walking. Collective prayers lifted together or apart. Prayers written [...]
Develop Intimate Certainty
Good morning... Yesterday's post ended with this Scripture verse: O Eternal One, through the night, I stop to recall Your name. That’s how I live according to Your teachings (Psalm 119:55, VOICE). A few hours later, as I taught class in our home, I was drawn to read out loud one page from a devotional book I wrote in 2011, Touching Truth: Grasping the Grace of God. Now, as I interact with the [...]
9/11 – Our Crowded Hearts
Good morning... Last Wednesday, the sun rose on a new day in Winder, Georgia, a quaint, welcoming community less than an hour outside of Atlanta. Students, heading into a normal day at Apalachee High School, were suddenly terrorized by a 14-year-old shooter. Nine were injured. Four people died. Mason Schermerhorn (14). Christian Angulo (14). Richard Aspinwall (39). Christina Irimie (53). Let's write their names on the walls of our crowded hearts and pray [...]
Unimaginable Kindness
Good morning... Recently, I received an email from a faithful, longtime friend. "In a world often characterized by division, this is an opportunity for us to come together in a simple yet powerful way," she wrote. "Research shows it takes just 30 days to build a new habit. So here's the KIND30 challenge: extend one small act of kindness every day in October, which is also Mental Health Month." She went on to [...]
Choose To Be Kind
Good morning... Hope lingers from our animated discussion yesterday, as together we unpacked thoughts from the first section of The Great Spiritual Migration: How the World's Largest Religion is Seeking a Better Way to Be Christian by Brian D. McLaren. Now up in the middle of the night, I open my book and revisit underlined sentences, sentences which feel essential to God's living, breathing invitation. ...the Spirit is calling us, not to dig [...]
Audrey’s At Notre Dame
Good morning... Oh, how I remember these dorm move-in days with all four of our kids. It has been pretty amazing to receive texts and photos of Audrey DeShelter's move-in experience at Notre Dame. Yesterday, her mom Jennifer posted about Audrey's transition on Facebook. So much beauty amid so much challenge. Prayers abound. Constantly prayers abound. With Audrey in mind, I marvel at God and ponder [...]
This Is The Shining Path
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 words, and I hear Him reminding me that He is present...in this friendship He has [...]
Walking With Depression
Good morning... As I walked and talked with a friend, she pulled out her phone and read from yesterday's blog post. She read aloud Kay Warren's definition of joy. Joy is... ...the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, ...the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, ...and the determined choice to praise God in all things. She said to me, "Sue, I [...]
Learn To Live With Joy
Good morning... Today I begin a new semester of learning with women, at home and at the church. From 12:30 to 2:00 pm, I welcome women into our home to discuss Kay Warren's Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough. A book that significantly shaped my life when I taught it ten years ago this fall, I am excited to teach from the newly reprinted version with fresh introductory words. I'll teach it with [...]
Honoring Diana And Hersh
Good morning... Last Thursday, Diana's spirit left earth for heaven, released from the cancer that filled her body. On Sunday, I sat in the church pew behind her daughter, hugged her, listened to her grief, bonded over her deep love for her mother. Later, we sang the Audrey Assad song below, I Shall Not Want. First thing on Monday I revisited the gorgeous song, lifting up loved ones in prayer as they prepared [...]
Come. Pause. Rest.
Good morning... On the seventh day—with the canvas of the cosmos completed—God paused from His labor and rested (Genesis 2:2, VOICE). Created in the image of God, might we reflect the same restorative rhythm? Come. Pause. Rest. There still remains a place of rest, a true Sabbath, for the people of God because those who enter into salvation’s rest lay down their labors in the same way that God entered into a Sabbath [...]
My Dance With Steve
Good morning... Today, my husband Steve and I will reunite after his first adventure in his new role as Chaplain Emeritus at the Lovett School. Creating and directing Lovett Expeditions, a global trip program for adults in our community, Steve has passed the baton to Lovett's next head chaplain after serving kids diligently for twenty-nine years. Today is a new chapter in our life as a couple, as he returns from summiting Mt. [...]