Good morning... The scheduled speaker reached out to me, asking if I would be a part of Tuesday's Lovett Moms in Prayer gathering, a group Julie Harlan had helped to facilitate weekly since her oldest son was in kindergarten. She emailed: "It should be a morning of celebrating our sweet Julie with prayer and you were so close to [...]
Good afternoon... I got home late from a fun Bunko Night with friends, hence the time of this midday post. "I just read a research article today," said a friend at the party. "This study found that 68% of all cancer is random, that means only 32% can be attributed to poor lifestyle choices." Random. Wired to crave control, [...]
Good morning... "Telling my boys that their mom had gone to heaven Sunday was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in this life," wrote Chad on Julie's Caring Bridge page yesterday, "but they, like me, cling to the peace and comfort that they will see their mom again and get to be reunited with her in heaven. [...]
Good morning... I am grateful for technology, for the ability to communicate with loved ones near and far. I will keep forever the beautiful string of texts Julie Harlan and I shared privately over the final thirty-eight days of her life. I scroll through the eighty-five text messages exchanged and I smile, so grateful for my friend. Some texts [...]
Good morning... In my message yesterday morning, I honored my faithful friend Julie Harlan and by mid afternoon I got word that Julie had passed on to heaven. Her husband's words posted earlier this week have met their sequel. Chad wrote on Julie's CaringBridge page, "EVERYONE wonders how this rare form of cancer could happen to a healthy, fit, [...]
Good morning... When I shared lunch with my longtime friend Julie Harlan on Thursday, February 16th, the word "cancer" did not enter our meaningful conversation. The next Tuesday she had her annoying symptoms of reflux checked out medically, and by Thursday she was given a shocking diagnosis. Stomach cancer. On Saturday when I visited her at home to listen, [...]
Good morning... "Please transform my desires," I hear my deepest self say. "Please transform my desires into Your desires." I desire love. I desire power. I desire beauty. I desire wealth. I desire comfort. "LORD, help me to rest in Your love, Your power, Your beauty, Your wealth, Your comfort. Gradually surrendering more of me to more of You, [...]
Good morning... Betty Skinner walked slowly from the rugged valley of clinical depression up toward the mountaintop of joyful oneness with God. How did she do it? Betty took one healing step at a time. Solitude. Silence. Contemplative prayer. Eating well. Journaling thoughts. Creating art and poetry. Focusing on life's positives. Talking honestly with others. Enjoying long walks outside [...]
Good morning... Did I tell you that in January God brought a dog walker-whisperer into our Tuesday afternoon Bible study? Let me paint you the picture. We got our 8-week old puppy last June from Adopt-a-Golden Rescue and, when I began hosting daily classes in my home in September, Tate's puppy-ness was full-blown. She was an all-out-crazy bundle of [...]
Good morning... "Beautiful young people are accidents of nature," said Eleanor Roosevelt. "But beautiful old people are works of art." Last week, I shared my birthday lunch with beautiful 91 year old Betty Skinner. She truly is a work of art. Kitty Crenshaw and Dr. Cathy Snapp, authors of The Hidden Life Awakened, the book chronicling Betty's extraordinary life, [...]
