Archives

  • Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow

    “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise”—Philippians 4:8 (NLT). “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow” is a hymn that when I sing it, springs up […]

  • My Prayer That Will Save You Ninety-Five Dollars: Prayers That Change Things

    It was at the height of the pandemic with all its uncertainties. Driving home from an evening church service, I pulled up “The Blessing” song by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes on YouTube. As I drove, I poured out my heart in prayer for my children and their families, utterly absorbed in the moment, the anointing, the […]

  • Do We Ever Learn to be Patient?

    “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer”—Romans 12:12 (ESV). Straight-line winds, reported up to 100 miles per hour, hail and several tornadoes toppled trees and power poles, ripped off roofs and sparked structure fires across Oklahoma on June 18. Over 350,000 power outages were reported across 20 counties. Oklahoma electric companies […]

  • What not to do when you feel like you’ve missed the mark

    Since the beginning of time human beings have been stumbling their way through life. Making mistakes and missing the mark. The truth is, God doesn’t expect you or I to be perfect, but He does give us a free will to turn to Him or away when we fall short. Our response when we fail […]

  • Are You Hiding Something?

    “He has paid a full ransom for his people.” Psalm 111:9 NLT You don’t have to look far in our society to find someone who has suffered at the hands of wickedness. Prejudice, discrimination, verbal and physical abuse or molestation can lead to feelings of shame—even when you’re not at fault. If it’s happened to […]

  • There’s Hope for the Brokenhearted

    “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit”—Psalm 34:18 (ESV). For more than five months, one of our church members was ill. Despite the loss of two teenage grandsons, she was a spirit-filled joyful woman. She gladly volunteered at church and in our community, and those who knew Terri have […]

  • Christian woman faith heroes: Phillis Wheatley fought the horror of slavery

    Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved black woman who became one of the first published writers in North America, was a Christian who fought the horror of slavery. Phillis was born in West Africa in 1753 but as a young girl was sold by a local chief to a slave trader and, in 1761, transported to North […]

  • Timing, common ground, and fruitfulness in witness

    After more than a decade of cultivating a relationship with one of our neighbors, I finally got around to having a conversation with him about spiritual matters.  I’ve been thinking, “why didn’t I do this sooner?” It’s so easy to get into a perpetual cultivation strategy and procrastinate about addressing spiritual issues.  Sometimes the timing […]

  • Living a life of no regrets

    “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.”  Ecc. 3: 1 A Different Track When I was 38 I was still single, never married, and quite satisfied.  But it wasn’t always that way. Growing up I dreamed of marrying, raising children and cheering my husband on in his career.  Not in my […]

  • Faith heroes: Katharina von Bora, an inspiring figure 500 years on

    Katharina von Bora, the nun who married the former monk Martin Luther, continues to be an inspiring figure after nearly five hundred years. Katharina was born into a family of nobility in Saxony, near Leipzig in Germany, in 1499. At the age of five she was sent away to a convent for education, with the […]