So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. ~1 … Continue reading →
A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken. ~Ecclesiastes 4:12 NLT On the dairy farm where I grew up, I learned the value of a cord of three. We had a couple of apple trees. On one, a swing hung from a sturdy branch. Unlike swings found on modern playgrounds, this one consisted of a wooden board approximately two feet … Continue reading →
Be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. ~Ephesians 5:18-19 NLT As much as I long to see vistas from high above, the course I must take to ascend them puts me into panic mode and has since I was a child. My husband drives sedately and carefully, taking my anxiety into account. But even then, I am filled with fear in the mountains. … Continue reading →
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. ~Luke 15:20 NLT As an amateur photographer, I find the golden hour one of my favorite times to look for photo opportunities. It requires the sun to be visible towards the horizon during the sixty minutes before it sets or the sixty minutes after … Continue reading →
All whose hearts were stirred and whose spirits were moved came and brought their sacred offerings to the Lord. They brought all the materials needed for the Tabernacle, for the performance of its rituals, and for the sacred garments. ~Exodus 35:21 NLT While I am no architect and would be all thumbs, or at least whack my thumbs with a hammer, were I to try to build anything, there are times when I feel called to create. One time in … Continue reading →
Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. ~Psalm 119:35 NIV I needed to travel the path of delight, regardless of my feelings. Standing in front of a crowd and speaking tends to intimidate me and fills me with anxiety. Thus, one evening when I received a text asking me to pray about sharing my testimony at an upcoming women’s breakfast at church, sleep evaded me into the wee hours. Then I spent time asking … Continue reading →
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. ~Isaiah 58:11 NIV I admire people with gardening skills. Although my parents were garden-minded, they did not pass that gene down to me. Still, I learned the Lord supplies all our needs. Our Needs Every summer, Dad set up his garden in well-fertilized soil by the … Continue reading →
Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. ~Psalm 27:3-4 NIV When my kids were young, we enjoyed reading a book about Louis … Continue reading →
Who is like the LORD our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth? ~Psalm 113:5-6 NIV When God stoops, our perspective changes. As I walked out the front door early one winter morning, a few sprigs of green greeted me in one of the planter pots on the steps. Oh, yes! Where I live, the daffodils start to emerge in the middle of winter, promising future sunshine. I … Continue reading →
