Yesterday at Church our Pastor encouraged us to come to God and tell Him what hurts – whether the awful reality of children being murdered in their own schoolroom, which is incomprehensible, or hurts from our own pasts that we still grapple with. Martha did. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here,…

Yesterday was a special day of being with our grandkids as they played and celebrated our youngest grandkids combined birthday celebration. There were babies, one just learning to walk, toddlers and kids of all ages playing together in huge bouncy houses, trampolines, a zip line, and then enjoying apple juice, chips and colorful cupcakes! Come,…

Last night my husband and I were watching the behind scenes discs of the making of The Lord of the Rings because New Zealand where it was filmed is so very beautiful and we hope to see it one day. My favorite part hands down was the part of the horses they used in the…

This morning in our Prayer and Practices Group, we talked about Ascension Day…the day Jesus ascended to the Father, 40 days after His resurrection. We talked about the importance of the event and what it means for us. Honestly, I don’t remember a lot about Ascension Day growing up. I’ve been reading in Hebrews and…

I have been really struggling with this latest mass shooting of beautiful, young, innocent children. It feels my heart isn’t just bruised but bleeding. I can’t come to terms with people lamenting the tragedy for those children and how we can allow an 18 year-old to buy weapons and ammunition for war and decry his…

We had another elementary school shooting yesterday. 14 children, 1 teacher and 1 Grandmother killed by someone barely out of childhood himself, who was also killed. I keep thinking about those kids who had to have been so scared. I think by extension about the kids in Ukraine and in every nation where war rages,…

One of the richest blessings in drawing close to God is His knowledge of me. Psalm 139 is rich with promise. You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. My husband and I have been married for over 46 years. You would think I know him very well…you would think I know myself even…

Within our extended family there have been two graduations. Our grandson “graduated” from preschool. Two nieces graduated from High School. Along with so many others, they are each ready to embark on the next phase of their lives. Before and after. We all of us have our before and after in the dance that is…

As a person of faith, one of the hardest things for me is to look at the bad in this world and make sense of it. It’s dark and I’m afraid of the dark. I’m afraid of being hurt. Young children are afraid of the dark…afraid of being hurt. I can’t begin to imagine what…

Reading in Hebrews this morning, it talked about the Children of Israel who refused to enter God’s rest. As I read that I pictured my granddaughter, who when we were walking through a busy parking lot drew her arms close to her body and tried to hurry ahead of her Mom and me, determined to…