“Looking Good is the Best Revenge” and Other Worldly Myths

Last month the famous editor of Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown, passed away.  She was a pioneer of sorts in the feminist movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s.  During that time, I was an impressionable young preteen with a fascination for fashion magazines, intent on studying my budding womanhood and looking for role models anywhere I could find them. Don’t get me wrong here – my mother was a wonderful role model for me, and the older I get the more I’m grateful for her and appreciate who she was and what she gave me. She not only was a Continue Reading

Tearing Down the Walls, Weeping to the Hymns, and Singing in the Rain

This week some walls came-a-tumblin’ down. Inside the sanctuary of my church, we began a three day tear down—after 30 years of non-stop use, our church home is being remodeled, reworked, and being called The Restoration Project. A few hundred of us showed up with tools, axes, gloves and elbow grease, and the demolition began. Crowbars creaked planks apart, axes were wielded with aplomb, and lighting fixtures came down; the people of my church earnestly tackled the demolition just as earnestly as they have tackled missions trips and singing with Continue Reading

Perseverance – My Saturday Morning Devotion from Exodus 2012

I have always thought the end of a conference was one of the hardest times to navigate: we’ve been in a cocoon-like world, a back-to-the-womb time. We expressed, received and gave. Then the inevitable happened: we came down from the mountain to face a huge paradigm shift and a series of ups and downs. (Mine included delayed flights, stuffy airplanes, and chocolate binges). But reality tends to check us at the door of home sweet home. The things we sought to understand in the insulated safety of that mountain now present themselves squarely Continue Reading

About Last Night

Last night while the West Coast was at ease, I began to reflect on the events of the day.  Our WifeBoat Group meeting had ended, all those courageous ladies sharing, baring and holding their hearts open to the Lord and to each other. I was so grateful for            God's presence and work.  I sat straight up in bed and wrote this:           Today, I was your partner. I set out to prepare for the work You had for me      and my heart became so full-- ideas, thoughts, compassion, pleadings--      all mingled with joy and anticipation. The Continue Reading

Personal Worship and Healing

“Oh, there is in contemplating Christ, a balm for every wound;  in musing on the Father, there is a quietous for every grief;  and in the influence of the Holy Ghost, there is a balsam for every sore...   I know nothing which can so comfort      the soul... as a devout musing upon the subject of the Godhead”.  --Charles Spurgeon I learned this during the time I worked through the pain of my first husband’s betrayal: personal worship leads to healing.  At first I was so numb; the jarring realization of what had happened left me wounded, Continue Reading