Running Toward the Physician

Our newest, furry addition underwent surgery for several issues last week. We brought Kai home from the vet sporting his cone of shame and with a lot of pain medication. When the pain meds ran out, he was a wreck, finding ways to scrape his wounds and lick them, even while still sporting his cone. …

The Heart of Confession: The Third Step of Prayer

One of the strongest indicators of God’s existence is the consistent sense of morality found in the hearts of men from every culture, tribe, and nation. Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican priest and philosopher from the thirteenth century, introduced this moral argument as an observation to consider. He noted that men compare values and goodness in …

Women Who Pray Influence the Future

Last week, a small core of six praying women met for the last time for this school year. Nearly every Thursday throughout the year, these women faithfully got together to go over the burdens and needs of the Christian school their children attended. I had the privilege of joining them, running straight over to teach …

God’s Image Reflected in Motherhood

               What is a woman? In a post-Christian world, this query apparently stumps many who have spent their lives studying medicine and biology. However, my preschool and kindergarten friends understand perfectly what a woman is. Many little girls show me their baby dolls and excitedly tell me their plans to grow up to be a …

Prioritizing Worship When Life Is Hard….And When It Is Good.

If you have ever entered church, barely putting one foot in front of another because of the swirl of out-of-your-control circumstances going on in your life, you have prioritized worship over fear of the unknown. If you have ever chosen to make your reason for going to church God alone, amid church hurt, you have …

I Nearly Died in the Wilderness

Birthdays have a way of making you reflect on your life. The bigger the number, the fewer birthdays are left to have in the future. This week, I thought that with how close Jesus’s return is, this very well could be the last one I celebrate. If so, what would I want to share as …

Because of Easter

Because of Easter Life is not spent In hopeless search For reason in the sorrow. Because of Easter, Your name is called, Like Lazarus from the tomb With purpose for tomorrow. Because of Easter, Every life has hope Beyond sin’s deadly grip That binds in endless pain. Because of Easter, There is a choice: Gain …

Casting Burdens

I am away from my computer this weekend, but this thought so encouraged me this week, I wanted to share it with you. I hope it encourages you as much as it did me. There are burdens in life that are so heavy, we must seek God’s help to carry them. The longer we attempt …

Turning Trials into Triumph

Corrie Ten Boom’s story resounds generations beyond her own. Yet, it is not Corrie’s story alone, for it was her sister Betsie who often encouraged her when Corrie had no will to continue in the pit of Ravensbrück. Together they dreamed of the day God would use their story to encourage others who suffered the …

Effective Prayer

One of my classes required me to read a book that is out of print, but well worth reading—“Effective Prayer” by J. Oswald Sanders. It has encouraged, convicted, challenged, and instructed me on the topic of prayer. Because of its influence, prayer was the subject of one of the classes I taught this week, which …