• Blog

    Wasting Energy On What May Never Happen

    The sun is shy, blinking its way through the rain-filled clouds. On days like this, I awake in a mood. I want to stay asleep instead of bounding out of bed with anticipation of what a new day will bring. I click on the white, year-round Christmas lights in my studio. An apparent need for extra light on this dismal summer morning. On my way for coffee, I click on the set above my dining room hutch. Some days just call for extra illumination. This is one of them. Rest Robbers How is it possible to wake up just as tired as you were when you went to bed eight…

  • Blog

    Prayer for Direction

    Oh God, I want to know your ways. Lead me in your truth and teach me; for you are the God of my salvation. You chose me before the foundation of the world that I would walk in you.   Make known your ways to me, O LORD. Illumine your path before me. Exchange my aimlessness with godly purpose. Show me the righteous way to walk. I need to know your path, for here my footsteps will be sure, steady and purposeful.   God, I trust in you to lead me in the very best pathways for my life. I wait for you to guide me. Give me a patient…

  • Blog

    Comfort for Life’s Storms

    Come… weary and burdened As my husband and I joined in prayer, an overwhelming sense of God’s nearness pervaded my anxious soul. As we invited the Father to handle our deep concerns, I was flooded with a sense that in the end, all would be well. God was at the helm and we could lay down our habit of holding on to the controls – by relinquishing all to Him. In this I knew that He has our best interest at the center of His heart. How I needed to rest in this truth! Despite our ineptness to personally mange our angst, we knew that there was nothing humanly possible…

  • Blog

    Rest, Walk, Stand in God’s Love

    The Voices in Our Head What would it take for me to know that I can live fully loved by God? I can live loved when life is smooth, and the sun seems to be shining down on me. When all is good in my world. But when it crashes down around me, I struggle to look up. I wrestle with knowing that this could be a part of the plan of a loving God. I suffocate under the weight of the crush of life. How do I live loved when life is not what I want it to be? When there are not people in my life telling me…

  • Blog

    Beneath His Wings

    FOR THIS I HAVE JESUS   NO MATTER HOW STEEP THE HILL I CLIMB NO MATTER HOW SWIFT THE CURRENT I SWIM NO MATTER HOW ROUGH THE ROAD I WALK OR SWIFT THE BREEZES OF THE WIND   NO MATTER HOW STILL THE SILENCE IS NO MATTER HOW THROBBING IS THE PAIN NO MATTER HOW MANY TEARS THAT FALL I KNOW THAT JESUS KNOWS MY NAME.   NO MATTER HOW DEEP MY LONGINGS ARE NO MATTER HOW EMPTY IS MY SOUL NO MATTER HOW MANY PRAYERS I PRAY OR CRIES TO BE MADE WHOLE   NO MATTER HOW WIDE THE CREVICE IS NO MATTER HOW FAR I FEEL FROM HOPE…

  • Poetry

    Compassion

    Compassion God, help me to see you in this situation Help me to know you’re there. To rest upon You completely In an attitude of prayer. To speak when the Spirit prompts With holiness and truth. To listen with a heart of care May my grace exude. Fill me with your Spirit’s power As you nudge me to speak. That in this holy hour I would boldly be. The sharpness of an arrow That strikes the heart of lies. Hitting its mark of anything Against the Word of Christ. Encouragement to the wounds Compassion filled with grace. A vessel emptied of myself For Jesus took my place. Linda Jane Dingeldein:…