Resilient Hope I just finished reading a book called What is the What by Dave Eggers. As I reflected on the book, I was impressed by the main character’s resilient hope while he faced difficult circumstances. Oxford Languages says that the mark of resilience is being “able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions,” …
Memories and Physical Locations Have you noticed how memories are often linked to physical locations? Memories can sneak up on you when you least expect them. For instance, until two weeks ago, I lived in the house I grew up in as a child. It was chock-a-block full of memories. Right now I am busily …
Flashy Prayers I wonder at what age we suddenly begin to think that our prayers have to sound holy. “Heavenly Father, we beseech thee on our knees with our heads bowed in reverence. We humbly request…” Have you ever heard a child pray? It’s wonderfully simple. Straight to the point about seemingly inconsequential and serious …
Stop and Go Last week I saw some kids in the park playing this game called Stop and Go! Do you remember it? You have one kid in charge of yelling out the verbal directions and the rest of the kids are far away, behind a starting line. When the kid in charge yells “GO!” the …
The Heart Cries Out What is the cry of your heart? At the core of you… where your truest self is, what do you want to say to God? Is it a prayer, a request, a grateful song of worship and praise? Whatever they are, you can consider them answered prayers. God has been reminding …
Revival Under the Big Tent I went to an honest-to-goodness tent revival meeting last week. At some point between the opening song of “Our God Reigns” and later during “I Exalt Thee” a little piece of my soul came back to life. The cross section of Believers was beautiful: all ages, races, walks of life, …
Mel Monroe: Virgin River Have you ever seen the show Virgin River? From the moment I watched season one when it came out, I loved Mel Monroe. I felt a kinship with the character, a nurse practitioner who completely reboots her life from scratch in a rustic Northern California town. She experienced profound loss in …
Hello, Friends! What you see below is the entrance essay that I wrote for the School of Kingdom Writers. As a librarian with lots of book-loving friends, I thought a few of you might be interested. Also, I promised you a “part two” on my story about how I ended up changing course after 15 …
Have you ever read a really great book and cried when you got to the end? Not because the book was sad, but because you were sad that it was over. I’ve had this happen a time or two in my life. My first favorite book series, The Lord of the Rings, and also The …
Sunny Sanibel When I was young, my family went to Sanibel Island, FL every year. I was the epitome of a beach bum. I loved the beach, the water, the sounds. I even relished the bit of gritty sand in my teeth as I ate salty potato chips and drank Pepsi in the hot sun …
