A small-scale tour of the goodness of God in 2021.
Tag: relationship
Delight and seek
Taste and see that the Lord is good.
The greatest storyteller ever
If you read my daughter a story, she’s going to sit on you. It’s just a fact. In preschool circle time, she’d crawl into the teacher’s lap in defiance of all propriety. At home, she insists on cramming into the recliner alongside me, wedging into my armpit as I read, and I frequently find her …
Take the RISK: The ministry of reconciliation
Pastor Mike Todd’s message on racial reconciliation, re-presented, is the best out there on Christians’ role in racial healing. Watch the video, read the notes, change your life.
Letters to and from God
This is me. This is how I pray. It’s how I prayed for two years, actually. Scurrying to the secret place and writing longhand every morning through intense soul-pain, repressed emotions, and life changes, tears of rage and gratitude dried in the margins. I stopped last December after a major revelation brought closure to issues …
I need an adult
As the news escalates, a previously-rare thought is surfacing more: I don’t want to be the grownup. I don’t know what I’m doing! I don’t know if it’s time to wear masks to the store or for my husband to shower when he gets home. I don’t know how to explain that the mall, …
Love is available even here
A friend of mine has a reminder tattooed on the outside of her wrist where it’s always visible. It says: “Is Love available even here?” I haven’t seen that tattoo in person for a long time, but I think of it often, especially now. In the wild, weird world of today, in the frustrations and …
Don’t Martha it up
I can’t be the only one whose brain is too full. There’s just so much to think about right now. (You know—a list will just make us both anxious.) Weirdly, I feel like I have less bandwidth, time, and energy than I did before COVID despite being home more and having fewer responsibilities. My mind is …
Your forever valentine
Don’t you just love love? Whether it’s romance or friendship, there’s something about truly being known by and knowing another person that really does it for us. What’s interesting (read: amazing, beautiful, shocking-in-a-good-way) is that if we raise our eyes just a bit above our everyday experience, we can see the source of love itself. …
Never not in His presence
Where do you encounter the presence of God? At church? In worship? In prayer? What about while you’re cooking? Or exercising? In line at the store? God is not separate from your daily life. He’s not hiding or absent or locked in a building you visit once a week. He’s WITH YOU. All the time. …
All He wants for Christmas is you
Have you finished your Christmas shopping? Or are you speedwalking the mall, getting all sweaty in a dire search for the last Sven plushie in the tri-city area? (Not that I know anything about that.) Don’t worry, it’ll all work out. Always does. But as you’re checking off that gift list, I suspect there’s someone …
How good it is to be near God
What do you notice when you stop running and pause to sense the closeness of God? Today is my child-free day, but it’s the opposite of relaxing. I’m writing, planning, scheduling, formatting, errand-ing, meeting. I’m an Enneagram Type 1 anyway, and adding the OMGHURRYUP of making the most of my “day off” means I’m a …