-
Secrets of the Desert Place
There I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. Hosea 2:14 Have you found yourself in a place where you never thought you would be, doing things you never thought you would do, searching for something you never thought you would lose? Aching with the empty of it, knowing there is something more? Welcome to the desert place, a place where there are more questions than answers, a place where the out is discovered only by going through. We know from the story of Hagar in Genesis chapters 16 and 21 that God sees us in our desert places.…
-
Hope for the Holidays; the Single Momma Way
God sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68:6 This is my ninth turn at the holiday season being a single momma. If this is your first or even your second turn, it gets better, I promise. I am not able to tell you how long it will take before it is better, it just will be, someday. My first year, I spent Thanksgiving at my parent’s house, not even without my kids, crying in a corner in an upstairs bedroom. Alone, not because they were trying to stay away from me, but because alone was how I could manage. Fast forward to Christmas of the same year (celebrated after Christmas)…
-
If Only To Be Seen
So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.” Genesis 16:13 I love the stars, the planets. Rare, if ever, do I step out into the night without immediately looking up. It never gets old, searching for the familiar shine of the planets, Venus stunning and bold, Mars, just shy of bright orange, Jupiter, faithfully shining in the south. Saturn, Mercury to be found based on their proximity to the bright ones. I know only the most common constellations, but the satisfaction of finding them does not disappoint.…
-
Discovering Joy in the Pressing
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16 Do you remember joy? Do you remember the last time you felt an overwhelming sense of delight, anticipation, and confidence in what you were hoping for? When I think of joy, I remember the sense of excitement that left me sleepless on Christmas Eve waiting for dawn, a slide down a long snowy hill moving faster and faster until the inevitable bail, or being launched into the water by my father on a hot…
