Hi, friends, I hope this finds you well as we enter a new year. January is a time of reflection as we consider the past and anticipate the year ahead. A couple days ago a writing friend (thank you, Carol!) prompted me to write about “Things That Make You Smile.” It was exactly what IContinue reading “Things That Make You Smile”
Tag Archives: encouragement
Stepping into the Light
This early November, not long after publishing the 21-day devotional “Walking Through Shadows: Finding Hope When Life Seems Dark,” I found myself reflecting on the ways the LORD has guided me through my shadows, and the encouragement I received in the process. And on questions that crossed my mind in the aftermath: How do I liveContinue reading “Stepping into the Light”
A Human?
“Oh, I thought you were a human,” tripped through my sleepy brain. My eyes fluttered open, then shut again. Who spoke those words? Were they for me, or for someone or something else? How weird. It made no sense. Yes, I am a human. I sat up in the silence, covers wrapped to my chin. WhatContinue reading “A Human?”
An Aspen Serenade
Look up look up The aspens bid Silent sentinels Waiting expectantly To quiver once more On unseen breezeAbandoned unto joyTiny clapping cymbalsHung on slender petiolesAn airy symphony For whose earsThis silent tinkling For creatures here Or those with angel wings Is the breeze itself The wake of joyous cherubs Chasing amongst branches Tempests and ragingContinue reading “An Aspen Serenade”
A Gift of Gratitude
A writing friend recently invited me to keep a thirty-day gratitude journal. To identify every day what I am grateful for, notice the surprising lessons and blessings, contemplate life minus those good things, and journal for about twenty minutes each evening to give praise and thanks to God. How do I view God and theContinue reading “A Gift of Gratitude”
Escaping Depression’s Tomb
The tomb of depression, my little room of despair, has threatened to squeeze life’s light out of me. Chinks of sadness, slowly mortared into repressive stones, attempt to close off the door of joy, oppress my spirit, and obstruct my desire to scoot out into the vibrancy of life. Looking beyond the shadowed portal, IContinue reading “Escaping Depression’s Tomb”
A Listener’s Lesson
Opening just a little To reveal a precious thing Even to beloveds Might crush a wounded wing If reins are rudely takenConverse torn away By overeager listenersIntent their words to say With surgical precision They wield an upper hand While tumbling o’er each otherIn exuberance so grand Diverting in a tangentThough parallel in kind TheyContinue reading “A Listener’s Lesson”
Hope Deferred
Waiting with prayerful petition Goes on forever at times Months slow turn into decades Years roll languidly byHeart sick heavy with sorrowRefusing to heal, to mend A shroud of heaviness hangingMulling its way in the dim Why yet no answers so wanted Those heartfelt cries to aboveOh to see the great picture See with God’sContinue reading “Hope Deferred”
Patches of Blue
Storms everywhere crowding meWith spiritual warfare cruelYet beyond great cumulus clouds The sky held patches of blueSome clouds white, others grayDarkness lofty grewYet thunder signs could not blot outVibrant patches of blueBe still my heart, all is well Though pressures fall and risePray, veer from internal storms Look up, still blue’s the skyThroughout the dayContinue reading “Patches of Blue”
Walking With Hope
We two walked there arm in arm Speaking in low voiceShe allowed me to hold on Surprised me with that choice I saw her there in my dreams Our daughter now estrangedMy firstborn a treasured giftWhom I long to see again Long suffering my heart does yearnFor closeness we once shared Before events of lifeContinue reading “Walking With Hope”
Dew Upon The Arbor 