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God of All Comfort: Chemotherapy Reflections Part Two
This past week was the week of hair loss, hours of debilitating headaches, nausea, insomnia and the realization that I am on chemo. Yet this has also been the week of celebrating the joys of getting-to-do the mundane. Preparing a meal, creating an online shopping order, addressing Christmas cards, washing and folding a load of laundry, wrapping a Christmas gift, making annual cheese balls, dipping chocolate pretzels and making peppermint and almond bark. As the week continued to progress, the good began to outweigh the days of laying low. For this I have been grateful! Yet in the not so good days, I have found that during this holy season…
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Despite Covid I Have Jesus!
It is day nine of Covid. There is not a creative thought in my head. I am weary. When there are no words to write, it is the Word of God that gives me hope. It is here among these pages of truth that God tells me that I am not alone. He is enough. It is here that I find rest, renewal of heart and mind; as the longing to be Christ-like rises to the surface and spills out upon my blank journaled page. Today, these words spill out as scriptural affirmation and a prayer to God. Right now because of Covid, my health has failed, and my spirit…
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Stability in an unstable world
The offering of hope For many, this Christmas season has come with conflicting emotions. Past Christmas traditions have been snatched from us through this pandemic. A season of friend and family gatherings has left us wondering how to create community, despite continued distancing. In a world that may feel unstable, shifting and currently unreliable, we find ourselves looking for something steady and sure. We have grown tired of fake news. Our souls are longing for truth, for real news. The hope of redemption God’s great plan of redemption offers to all who will receive it, the gift of hope. As Christ followers our hope is planted upon the rock-solid foundation…
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Courage to Risk
Today I risked! My children’s story is now in the hands of an editor. The Bella Project has been seven-plus years in the making. When Covid hit, I decided to pick Bella back up, and see her come to life by putting watercolor to her simple sketches. It has been exciting to see the progress over these past eight months, as I have steadily plodded along, putting corresponding illustrations to the words of her story. But…just hours after hitting send on my story, I felt like my spirit plummeted. Have you ever felt this way? You finally move forward on something you feel God nudging you to do, and then; BAM!…
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Social Distancing brings an odd push and pull of emotions
Living close to the Savior is not a place of clamor, confusion and clutter. It is a place of quiet rest despite the storm clouds that come rolling in. They may look like they are going to take us under; but Jesus Christ is the only One who can calm the angry waves. If you remember, the disciples looked at the waves that could sink them while the Master of the sea, Jesus, was asleep in the boat. Through all that we are going through Jesus offers His children the gift of Himself, the gift of hope and the gift of perfect peace admit the uncertainty of Covid 19. Jesus…
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Social distancing provides the provision of prayer
This morning I was thinking of the importance of prayer during this outbreak of corona-virus. We may not be able to get together with each other, but we can pray. We can pray for our community, national and local leaders, church leadership, families, the elderly, parents who are struggling financially because they can’t work from home, parents with school age children who are now at home, loved ones whom we cannot travel to see; pray for those living in nursing homes, sick in hospitals, nurses, doctors and those incarcerated. PRAY! The list is endless of who we can pray for. Nearly daily I receive a message from a young teen…
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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…
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The Secret Sanctuary
Enter into the Secret Place Have you ever longed for a secret refuge, a place of your own? That perfect spot where you could tuck yourself away from the world so you could pray or be alone with your thoughts – unnoticed by others. As a young girl I would often watch my oldest sister quietly leave the house and disappear around the curve in our country road. I would watch with mystery, wondering where she was going. Funny how I never thought to follow her. Somehow my heart knew this was her alone time. Years later I asked my sister where she would go and what she would do…
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“Who do you say that I am?”
“Who do you say that I am?” “Then He asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:15-16 NLT) Who do you say that I am? As I write this simple question, my heart seems to have stopped. Tears threaten to crumble the dam, that I mindfully erected, long ago. A protective dam – one that holds all my sorrows, my unmet- unvoiced longings, my fierce disappointments and my unanswered prayers are all kept at bay from connecting with my one-true heart. But today, I am faced with this one question, and this dam of…
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The Giver of Hope Has Come!
Ever so slowly the slightest hint of hopelessness rises, you wonder where it comes from as it tempts to break the surface of this peaceful Christmas season. Amid “all is calm – all is bright” thin slivers of loss threaten to destroy this Christmas cheer. Making Sense of the “Not-Yets” Lately I have found my soul arguing with itself. There are many impossible situations in my life that I just can’t figure out. Every once-in-awhile, a sneak attack slips in right between “silent night-holy night” and the words “sleep in heavenly peace” and I find myself in turmoil wondering what I will do with what has not-yet-come. The future! Then I…
