Simplifying… me

I successfully delivered three truck loads of old baby clothes, furniture, books, toys and various kinds of paraphernalia to Goodwill today.  With the help of my parents, I confidently tackled the most ominous space in our house: the garage.  For six years it has taunted me, and I’ve been too wimpy to face the junk. [...]

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Problems.  They either get your heart pumping with adrenaline or bring weighty worry.
One thing that I am slow in learning, but growing in just the same, is trusting in the Lord no matter what my outside circumstances – or pending deadlines – look like.  God is always in control, and He has never let me [...]

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“We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
Recently my friends and I were discussing this scripture.  Each one of us expressing its impact on our lives and [...]

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Adam and Eve.  Theirs was truly a life to be envied.  Can you imagine walking and talking with God in the cool of the day?  Can you imagine the lushness and beauty of the Garden of Eden?  What must it have been like to be fully exposed, naked, and unashamed?  Their relationship with God and [...]

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Last week an Ethiopian church planter was martyred, a wife and four children left without a husband and father.  A friend of mine miscarried her baby.  My grandfather passed away only a few days ago.  And we are all aware of the recent tragedy in Japan.  This has had me thinking about eternity.  Life after [...]

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She didn’t have anything.  She was probably all crumpled up with tender joints and dim with age.  Her posture low due to her poverty and humility.  She was the poorest of the poor.  And yet…she gave out of her nothing and gave God everything.
I haven’t been able to get this poor widow woman from Mark [...]

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Herodias wanted John the Baptist’s head on a platter.  She was an angry woman spurred on by the cancer of bitterness that permeated her entire being.  The NIV says she “nursed a grudge.”  She was not only offended by John’s confrontation of her sin, but she invested time and energy into nursing her wound and [...]

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I could hear the squeals and giggles traveling down the hallway this morning.  The kids were awake on their first day of Christmas break.  Joel offered to get up and take care of breakfast.  I started thinking about making the coffee.  Then, before we jumped up to start the day, we remembered that my parents [...]

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A friend of mine has been going through a difficult season.  It seemed that when things couldn’t quite possibly get worse, well…they did.  Two days ago God did a miracle in her life.  He not only answered a prayer that would effect her present circumstances, but he took care of past issues that were holding [...]

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There are difficult seasons of life that God, in his sovereignty, allows us to walk through.  Loss, depression, fear, or sickness, they sneak up and shake the ground beneath us.  In moments of faith and clarity we speak beyond our circumstances and look to the hope that awaits us.  But sometimes those seasons last longer [...]

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