Night Seasons
Sometimes, it’s dark. {image source} Sometimes,light eludes us, understanding eludes us, even hope eludes us. Deep inside, we know God is there, we know He’s promised not to leave or forsake us, we know He is the light of the world. …and yet the question sneaks in: even here, Lord? The answer, I think, is especially here. Last night as I read Psalm 55, verses 16 and 17 wound their way around my curiosity. They were words I’d read who-knows-how-many times, but there was something strange about them… what was...
read moreMagnify
{picture source} The Greatest Strength in all the world, stooping to whisper, to embrace. The Greatest Strength. The Creator of the universe, the Author our faith, the God who is mightier. “Magnify Him!” is the call, the beckoning that resounds in Psalm 34:3. I always had trouble, back in my middle school days, finding the tiny amoebas under the microscope in life science. This, though, is a far different connundrum: How does one put such a fathomless God… under a microscope? He’s macro, if ever macro was. And...
read moreHumbled
My breath caught in the early mist of the day. Solitary I stood in a grove of towering Redwoods; a breeze swooped down through the forest giants, swirled about me, swelled my heart. {picture source} All this majesty… with only me as audience? If the mighty hand of the Creator-God is displayed in a quiet forest moment, and (almost) no one is around to see it, does it still move mountains? Yes. The greatest strength in all the world, stooping to whisper, to embrace. …a taste of things to come. In the following days, I soaked...
read moreThe Beautiful Truth about Numbers
Numbers fascinate me. Yes, yes, I’m a word nerd and all, and unfortunately I’ve made my share of number blunders over the years, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a fan of mathematics. Right? But recently, I needed a little reminder that the number equation in life, whatever it may be, is not bigger than its Creator. (image source) Ratios. Odds. Statistics. So often stacked against us. But what of the God who has set us on the path we’re on? The God who created numbers, enabled ratios, is not bound by them. I...
read moreSpring Cleaning…for the Heart
Ever take a look around your heart and notice something amiss? A few cobwebs collected, weaving across dark corners in haphazard fashion, corners dusty with neglect either purposeful or accidental? Why not offer them up, let the Spirit blow through and sweep them away, breathe new life into you today? Listen to a beautiful song about this very thing by Shaun Groves: Welcome Home (Lyrics...
read moreIs Anything Impossible?
I have been knocked off my feet lately (and I’m not just referring to my inherent clumsiness) with encouragement and reminders that He is mightier. {image source} Today when thinking and praying about what to share with you, I could come up with nothing better than to pass along the words of truth that He’s funneled my way… “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.” Psalm...
read moreWaiting on His Best
A follow-up song to yesterday’s post about holding hopes with open hands. FFH, “What if Your...
read moreHolding Hopes with Open Hands
Do you ever find your heart at war with itself? {image source} You have a hope, a dream, a desire. You’re sure it must be God-given, but you know you need to pray over it. Somehow, hours…days…weeks…and sometimes beyond… you find that prayer still unspoken. The words won’t form, the relinquishment of that dream to our Lord withheld because… What if the answer is “no”? I found myself in that place recently. It was a good dream, a sweet hope, nothing monumental… just an idea....
read moreLight Bulbs and Lifelines
I had a lightbulb moment. {image source} I mean literally… there were lightbulbs involved. Three of them. It all started as I was mixing something in the kitchen with my trusty wooden spoon. Some high-pitched buzzing shrieked into the silence, and I began hunting for the source of the cacaphonous hum. It’s perfectly normal to circle the kitchen alternately putting your ear up to the fridge and the outlets, right? The source of the buzz eluded me, until finally, I turned my gaze upward. A lightbulb was the culprit, shining...
read moreRain
I love it. I mean really, really love it. {how I spent a rainy day a few summers ago} The smell, the way the grey sky makes everything look greener, the way a coming storm ushers me into a cozy chair with a cup of tea and a candle nearby, sends me flying to the windows to let that rain-laced air in… I love it. A few weeks ago, we helped out with a retreat. Into a winter storm we drove, winding our way through slush and clouds and mountains. My cabin was perfectly quirky and complete with its narrow spiral staircase, lofts and...
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