Jan 09
It’s often said that there are two kinds of people in life: optimists and pessimists. You probably think I’m going to tell you to be an optimist, but I’m not. And that’s because optimism will not always change the inevitable. Take the case of the optimist who fell out of the twelfth-story window. As he went …
Dec 19
Last week I shared with you my pastor’s thoughts on not being consumed with trying to make all our pain go away, but instead learning how to be invincible to it–“incapable of being conquered, overcome or subdued” by it. Those who accomplish this “are an unstoppable force,” Pastor Brian said. I’ve been trying to be …
Dec 12
Guest blog by Brian Jones Our goal as disciples of Jesus shouldn’t be to eliminate pain. Our goal should be to craft the kind of life that is invincible to pain. Those who learn how to be invincible to pain–“incapable of being conquered, overcome or subdued”–are an unstoppable force. This is what Jesus meant when …
Dec 05
Everybody feels homesick once in a while. Even our older daughter, a very independent, self-sufficient young woman, admitted she was homesick when she first went away to college “It was in the fall of my freshman year,” Danielle recalls. “I remember I was homesick for a couple of hours…but it went away.” (I told you …
Nov 21
It’s Thanksgiving week and most of us are pretty busy getting ready to eat lots of food…I mean, say lots of thanks. So instead of me pecking away with only one hand (yep, broken wrist still healing) to write words you don’t have time to read, I’m posting a couple songs of thankfulness. You can …
Nov 14
Put waist-length hair in a ponytail or up into a shower cap Tie your sneakers Signal touchdown Put the little backs on your pierced earrings Peel potatoes…or cucumbers…or carrots..or anything else Change a wiggling toddler’s diaper Hold your playing cards while playing one of them Give a bear hug Clap Type very long blogs It’s …
Nov 07
In honor of November being National Family Caregivers Month, I’d like to offer some special encouragement to all the weary folks who faithfully attend to the needs of loved ones. You’re physically tired. Probably emotionally exhausted. Maybe even running on spiritual fumes. Been there…done that. Way too many times. I’ve cared for relatives with dementia, others …
Oct 31
May 8, 1977. Mother’s Day. The day before I had been excitedly opening” mother-to-be” cards and looking longingly at the maternity clothes I would soon need to wear. Now I was lying in a hospital bed with an empty womb. Really, Lord? A miscarriage on Mother’s Day? This would be awful on any day, but …
Oct 26
So I said to my nearly recovered husband, “I’ve cared for you the last year-and-a-half with your four knee surgeries and I think it’s my turn for a little TLC!” But my knees didn’t need replacing, so Monday night I decided to just miss a step and fall on my wrist, badly breaking the …
Sep 26
The above quote from 20th-century American author/pastor A. W. Tozer is for me a mind-blowing one. What I think about God–who He is, how He acts, what He can and cannot do–is the very most important thing about me. Our view of God shapes our attitude, our emotions, our responses, and our plans in unimaginable …
