Do you ever grow tired, and perhaps more than a little frustrated at waiting for an answer to a prayer?  Maybe you’ve been rattling the gates of heaven for what seems an eternity about an acute need, such as a job, or a home, or the salvation of a loved one.  Now you’ve come to a place of just about giving up…except that you can’t just give up.  People depend on you, your energy is running on fumes, and disaster is

Let’s explore our ability to dwell in the Secret Place from another perspective. Hebrews 4:15 and 16 tells us,

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

The reason why we can dwell in safety, in the secret place, is because Jesus has given us

The lady was pale and wasted; extremely debilitated from battling the long fight for her life, she seemed as though a gust of wind could have toppled her. Her hair was nearly non-existent under her colorful scarf. It was almost as if you could see right through her if she stood in front of a strong light.  Her very presence was amazing.  She was one of the attendees at the launching service of a mission church, the wife of a minister who was participating in the service, and had been battling cancer for quite some time, enduring a long series of harrowing chemotherapy regimens. Unless you’ve been through it personally, you can’t imagine how incredibly difficult and incapacitating chemotherapy really is, or just exactly how hard it is to live with the ravages of the disease. I got a fair idea of the toll of her battle from her appearance that night. Yet she was there. She endured a car ride of several hours to be a part of what God was doing there that evening, and I could not help but admire her, but it was more than that.

Have you ever suffered from “green eye” ?  It’s a pretty common ailment, especially in our culture of American Idol  and the various other “talent” shows that have sprung up and virtually spawned a cult following.  It comes on when you start looking at somebody else’s ability and wish you could be just like that.  Everybody wants to have that “voice” or that “look” or those dance moves.  It has basically driven many, whose talents may lie elsewhere, to expose themselves to public ridicule and humiliation in trying to emulate another’s gift.  But, come on, we’re all subject to that temptation, aren’t we?  How often have we worn ourselves out just trying to be like somebody else?  If only

OK, so it’s been a good long while since I posted here. A lot has happened in the interim. Since my last posting, I’ve moved to a new place, started a new job (re-entered my former nursing career, actually), and made a stab at getting my Bachelors (still on the back burner) among a myriad of other changes. I don’t know about you, but it just seems as I get older, changes become more difficult, and sometimes take on a life of their own. I’ve begun to wonder some days just who I am and what happened to the former, comfortable me! Whatever happened to just going through your day with a plan, and getting stuff done according to said plan? Is it just me, or does everything seem to be getting more complicated? I could elaborate, but I won’t. It’s just too complicated.   Well, I’m rambling.
The main point of this blog when I started it was to give me a forum, an outlet to get my writing out in the daylight. To share what’s on my heart, to build a readership. Recently I watched the movie Julie & Julia, in which the main character, Julie cooked her way through chef Julia Child’s cookbook and blogged about her experiences over the course of a year, one day and one dish at a time. It was a great movie about personal growth and goal-setting. Now I’m not going to do any cooking – I try to avoid the kitchen altogether; I find burning the chicken and slicing my fingers not at all relaxing. But I’d really like to get my writing out of the deep freeze and stoke the fire under my creative juices. I plan start out by cleaning out my “pantry” and breathing some life into some of my former work to share here. We’ll see where it goes from there. Hopefully you’ll find something new on the menu at least once a week.

It occurred to me the other day that I was carrying something around that I didn’t need to be carrying.  I had awakened very early for some reason, and was lying there trying to fall asleep again, and my brain started in on a familiar rant.  I thought about my kids, and what would happen to them if there was a war.  I thought about my parents, and how they might be affected if the government gets its way with our health care services.  I wondered what I would do if the transmission fell out of my van, especially if it happened on my way to work the first day of a new job.  What if I made a terrible nursing mistake by accident and a patient died.  What if, what if, what if!  I caught myself after about a half dozen what ifs, and thought, “Good grief!  Why am I laying here letting my brain rattle on like this?  I need to be praying about all this stuff.”  Naturally, the moment

Looking out the window at the little lake near our cabin this morning, I noticed that there was a guy standing out there fishing. It’s a dreary sort of day, rainy, but there he stands, casting out, reeling in, casting out, reeling in, oblivious to the weather. I didn’t notice him catching anything, but he keeps at it. I know there are fish in the lake, because I’ve seen them jump occasionally. My grandson even caught one, earlier this summer. But if I were to judge

Several weeks ago (o.k., it’s been two months) I mentioned that, in my attempt to break back into the job market, I was going to attend a Nurse Reentry program to refresh my skills and make me more “hirable.” Well, I’ve now completed the program, and feel somewhat less overwhelmed by the idea of returning to nursing. Somewhat. It’s been around 15 years since my last actual nursing job, and I can tell you that the changes in the field are nothing short of stupefying. When I worked as a nurse, “back in the day” for example, there was virtually no computer component to nursing. Yes, there was computer technology being utilized in the hospital setting. While I was an admissions rep – during nursing school – the hospital I worked at introduced computers and CRTs into the admissions department. It was a glorified combo of fancy typewriters and computer screens, but, hey, it was a computer and I, for one, thought we had arrived! Of course, once I got to actual nursing,

I’ve been working on this week’s post, and it’s about half done.  However, I also started in a nurse reentry program this week; an hour and a half drive each way, and I spend about eight hours in class.  Needless to say I’m pretty shot by the end of the day, and writing anything else is low on my list.  The blessing to all this – besides the extra quality time I get to spend praying while I drive – is that my classroom time will be over in less than a week, and after that I will be working on 160 hours of clinical time, which will be pretty flexible.  My posts will continue as regularly as I can manage, so thanks for hanging with me.  In the meantime, you can find some great reading on The Builder and the Architect.  Go to http://www.thebuilderandthearchitect.org/ The latest posts there are a daily diary of my son’s experiences in Honduras with Habitat for Humanity.  Blessings to you all!

Most of the disciples were present when Jesus made His appearance to them in the closed, locked room where they had hidden themselves. In the midst of the staggering struggle between what their minds knew and what their eyes beheld, here was Jesus, speaking peace, assuring them of His real, flesh and blood presence. Yet still, they may have battled doubt during that week when He was nowhere to be found; but they had each other to confirm that what they had seen was real and not a figment of their grief-stricken minds. Thomas did not have the benefit of seeing. No matter how the others tried