A Prayer For the Ones Carrying Suffering and Sorrow Jesus, thank you that you are not distantly removed from suffering. Thank you that you meet us in our suffering. You endured suffering to share in our heartache. Jesus, you bottle tears. You soothe fears. Your comfort and compassion relentlessly carries us through the quicksand. Endless […]
Emmanuel God With Us
Emmanuel • God With Us. Every era.Every kingdom.Every nation.Every nationality.Every person created in His very image.Every size and shape and age.Every skin color.For mighty. For meek. For the strong and the weak.For the questioning.For the doubter.For those waiting longingly for His appearance.For shepherds. For Pharisees.For women. For children.For friends and friendless. Enemies and strangers.For the […]
I Was Happily Singing
“I was happily singing.” The words drifted from the backseat in petulant tones as only a put-out four-year-old could utter them. My laughter bubbled out as the words permeated our vehicle with the same petulance for a second time. “I was happily singing.” Nothing about the complaint seemed to indicate much happiness of singing. It […]
Bringing the Christmas Blessing Cash Giveaway 2021
The Christmas season has always been a favorite of mine. I’m sure in part, because of all that is cozy in it. My Christmas tree has been bringing me so much happiness this year. It always does, but the twinkle lights have felt especially hopeful this year. It feels like the world is a little […]
Pilgrimage
Perhaps we find these days of December a bit like a pilgrimage as we wind our way through aisles and tissue and lists. As we navigate sorrow and loss co-mingled with joy and hope and peace.We mourn what was, sometimes what is, or what could have been.The bright and shiny sits next to the disappointed […]
The True Light Was Coming
John 1:4-12 ~“The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he […]
A Prayer of Light
A prayer for this day, this month of December ~ Our Lord God ~ Adonai Elohim Your word tells us the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. We sit in darkness on these long winter evenings and we long for This Light to make a way in our weary world.We pray, […]
And As It Happened
And as it happened….the heavens began to count down the days when they would need to offer the greatest gift to a broken and needy world. As many things are, this moment wasn’t an either/or but it held the weightiness of both/and. The glorious extravagance of what God was doing was a grace amazing. Yet […]
His Name Is Holy
Luke 1:46-50 ~ “And Mary said:My soul praises the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, because He has looked with favor on the humble condition of His servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed, because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and […]
Hope Infused Music
Three of my favorite musicians/groups: Andrew PetersonCasting CrownsMercy Me Here’s the commonality they share ~ They sing real. They speak authentic words. They talk about worry and struggles and fears. They tell of doubt, even despair. They acknowledge life, and how it hurts and happens and hurls hard things at our heads. Then they press […]
Hope Come to Us
Seeking God. Sitting with Him. Considering the Word made flesh. Wrapped right up in baby form. Hope come to us. Innocent. Needy. Vulnerable. Helpless. Completely reliant on a mother and a father for feedings and changings and bundling and snuggling and singing over. He who sings over us, cooed up at his mama as she […]
Little Mole’s Christmas Gift
This Thursday brings us a super sweet book with a great big lesson in generosity and kindness. Little Mole’s Christmas Gift.Little Mole has found the absolutely perfect Christmas gift for his dear mama. But as he makes his journey home, he encounters his woodland friends who need a helping hand until his gift for mama […]
Wherein We Have Our Christmas Blessing Cash Giveaway 2020
It’s time for our sixth Christmas Blessing Giveaway. I’m delighted to join in with other women and bloggers to bring a cash giveaway as a gift and blessing to one of our readers during this Christmas season. Participating Bloggers:Woman to Woman Ministries http://w2wministries.orgJenifer Metzger http://jenifermetzger.orgKatie Hornor http://katiehornor.comHomeschooling Dietitian Mom http://homeschoolingdietitianmom.comA Delightful Glow http://adelightfulglow.comGROUNDED Ministry http://groundedministry.comMama’s […]
Listen + Light
As I ponder and praise Jesus’ coming as a baby, the coming of Christmas this year, and His return at the end of the age, here are a few ways, words, melodies, and moments lighting my life with hope and peace and gratefulness and reflection during December and Advent. 1. Lighting a candle on my kitchen island […]
The Hope of Further Up! Further In!
We awoke to the most gorgeous blanket of snow we’ve seen on our Kansas plains in a long while. Cedar branches powdered, porch posts piled, and my round outside table blanketed. I gazed in awestruck admiration out my front window. Venturing to the basement door, I flung it open for a few frosty pictures. Retreating […]
When Hope Is Long In Coming
There’s a beautiful batch of snowflakes filtering down outside my window this afternoon. They make me unabashedly happy. Big, glorious flakes of snow aren’t entirely common for my part of Kansas. It’s a bit like living in a snowglobe. The snow spells out Christmas, Advent, and cozy all swirled together. As I’m contemplating hope during […]