Blog (Page 16)

You might know that I am going to China in about 40 days. And I’m going to be there for 90 days! Yes, 90! I will be going with nine other Americans for three months of intensive treatment with traditional Chinese medicine. Five or six days a week of acupuncture, electric acupuncture, massage, Chinese herbs, and physical therapy. Each day is highly regimented.  The hope and prayer is I will return with more function to my body that was lost…

1 Peter 2:9-10 – “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” I was at Faithwalkers this year, and was really struck by a teaching given by Dan…

The new year is off and running and I am trying to get things in order. I love how the new year feels like a new start on just about everything. I can implement new eating habits, get back into exercising, and start my One Year Bible reading again. “Refocus” would be a theme for me. The best lead-up to this is Faithwalkers. As good as all those habits are, they are nothing without faith. (Hebrews 11:6 – “And without…

“On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.” – Psalm 138:3 Earlier this week I woke up one morning feeling uncertainty in my heart about a number of things, and it left me feeling anxious. Of course, the obvious remedy would be to seek the Lord through the Word and prayer, but there I was… scrolling through Facebook. The words of a Christian author and pastor that I follow showed up in my feed: “If…

2 Corinthians 9:8 – “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” This verse is certainly perfect for this time of year. I notice every November as Christmas draws closer, that the “get-er-done” part of me can feel like it’s at the “starting gate” ready to run hard to tackle the to-do lists! And yes, this part,…

“All our fears are wicked, and we fear because we will not nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear!” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest, November 14th) Reading this devotional exposed some of my hidden fears. One fear came in season. Almost every November for the past several years, including this year, my health has taken a turn for the worse with returning and new symptoms. When…

The other night I was lying awake, tempted to be afraid about some upcoming and potentially overwhelming events, but the Holy Spirit reminded me, “Do not fear, for I am with you.” In the morning when Brad and I talked about this, neither of us could recall the verse reference. Then we realized it was Isaiah 41:10, an old favorite for both of us; one we hadn’t thought about in a while. “So do not fear, for I am with…

Isaiah 40:31 – “but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” A common thing I hear from women these days is, “I feel tired.” Understandably so! Our lives are so busy! I never used to answer this way. I have, for the majority of my life, been blessed with a high level of energy. Before this…

Sometimes I marvel at the way life plays out. I can be so happy and so sad in such a short span of time. The end of last week was one of those moments when the strangeness of it all hit me. A friend and former coworker’s mother passed away Monday (Oct 30th). That was the same day that Moriah returned to El Salvador and of the New York City terrorist attack with the truck. I was still in post-recovery…

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one…” – Ephesians 6:16 Lately I have been meditating on Ephesians 6 and the armor of God. I’m reminded how there is an element to our world that I don’t like to think about frequently: rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers over darkness…spiritual forces of evil who want to destroy us (Ephesians 6:12). When I jump down to verse 16…

Our church has a prayer ministry called “Renew” that I have found helpful when I am hurting. In a recent Renew session, as I was praying with a friend, an image of a cave on a beach came to mind. This cave was dark and stuffed full of events that had brought me pain and disappointment. I could not keep all the pain in the cave, and so it was overflowing on to the beach and into my daily life.…