What joy when the words of the Bible jump off the page, fresh and alive! It makes writing fun, and words flow easily. But sometimes, reading the Bible isn’t my favorite activity. It can feel dry, boring, and even pointless.This month I had a writing dilemma; I needed to figure out what to say. I usually have a story or three, a verse or seven running through my mind as a starting point. This month...  Read More

Do you ever feel like your thoughts become scattered and consuming? Does it leave you worried or discouraged as you try to sort through them to find peace? God’s word can bring clarity and truth to our chaos. Scripture replaces the worries and hurts that consume us with the joy of His promises.For me, my mind is my most significant spiritual battlefield. A whisper of doubt from the enemy can insta...  Read More

I don’t know about you, but nothing on earth brings me as much joy as treasure hunting!I fondly remember tromping around in the sand hills behind our house with my father. He began taking me up there as a toddler. It was all so exciting! Like exploring some wild and possibly dangerous far-off land. I remember that at around age four, we first began discovering fossil shark teeth and sand dollars. ...  Read More

“I’ve lost my joy,” declared my friend. The look on her face said it all. Her demeanor screamed sadness and defeat, and her smile turned into a frown. A lack of joy indicated that things were not right in her world.It’s hard to hold onto something as elusive as joy. Dictated by circumstances, joy is fleeting, here one minute and gone the next. If all is right with the world, we feel happy and cont...  Read More

Do you ever feel bogged down by life, exhausted by minuscule responsibilities, and stuck in the tedium of tasks, errands, and chores? If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.I, too, have found myself in this place. And often, when I’m tired and overwhelmed, I complain and argue about trivial matters with those I love the most. When I find myself in this rut, I’m often reminded of a short but powerful ...  Read More

"But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob, He who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy On...  Read More

My husband and I sat on the balcony of a vacation home overlooking the Caribbean Sea. We were able to have deep conversations in this place. Feeling so removed from our problems, it was easy to put words into what I had been feeling for the last eight months.Overwhelming sadness.In June of 2022, we lost someone we loved dearly to a self-inflicted injury. How do you go forward with all the feelings...  Read More

Let me start with a confession. I am terrified of storms, especially tornadic ones.Recently, my husband and I were on our way home when a storm “broke” with blinding rain and pounding wind that made it impossible to see past the hood of our car.  Tornado sirens began to blare, a transformer exploded in a shower of sparks, and I went into panic mode! I was immobilized by fear and too afraid to driv...  Read More

It seems that as we live our lives, every stage has its struggles. When we are young, we struggle with being accepted by our peers. When we are teenagers, we struggle with love and heartache. This continues into adulthood, where it becomes more complicated with more struggles, too many to count. This life can be challenging. God did not say our lives would be free of troubles. He assured us that w...  Read More

I was only ten years old when I first heard the “C” word; cancer. My mom was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and the adults whispered information around me. I knew what was going on. My mother had a life-threatening disease. She was very sick.Mom required radiation in the summer of 1976, so five days a week, I drove her to a town 35 miles away. Cancer treatments at that time were rudimentar...  Read More

Where in the Bible is the promise that if we follow Christ, we will never have any struggles? That promise is not in my Bible. Once I accepted Christ as my savior, I was promised eternal life! I am forgiven for the mistakes and sins in my life; however, that does not mean I will not have struggles or frustrations.I do get frustrated, and if I am completely honest, I get frustrated a lot! That does...  Read More

I didn’t plan on being single with a one-year-old baby. I was married right out of high school at eighteen, and by February, I was pregnant at nineteen. Back then, my only aspiration was to be a great mom. I didn’t have that positively modeled for me growing up.As things go with people who don’t have great role models, I chose someone who abused me like I had been abused as a child. It took a few ...  Read More