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…

Have you ever tried to put into words why you love God? Sometimes words fail and we realize how limited we are by words. I try to imagine what it would be like to stand before God and feel His love but because I have such a limited imagination I can’t. What I do know…

Last night at our Midweek Encounter with people from different states and the Philippines, with the help from our local Pastor Steve and Dr. Hinkle from Odyssey in Christ, we were talking about the news and the affect that can have on our peace of mind and our spiritual lives. In sharing our lives with…