discover soul rest
How do you manage stress? Picture these modern stress management scenarios. A young woman rushes into Starbucks, brows knitted, fists clenched tight and orders a Venti Mocha Latte, “Double espresso please.” A child chews on the eraser end of her pencil as she bends over her social studies test. Fighting through rush-hour traffic a man […]
Continue reading...How do you define a successful day? By how much you get done? This is my to-do list for today: Clean bathrooms Dust furniture Do grocery shopping Finish this blog post Some days my to-do list is longer. Some days it is shorter. But on all days I tend to think that I am only […]
Continue reading...Many, like me, imagine desire and faith in a boxing ring, facing off like opponents. Jen Pollock Michel makes that statement in the first chapter of her book, Teach Us to Want: Longing, Ambition & the Life of Faith. This engrossing and challenging book is a theology of desire explored through the words of the […]
Continue reading...
This month has been a time of celebration for my family. My son (the baby of the family) got married on August 9! My husband performed the service, I sang a song, the little grandsons were all ring bearers. At the reception we feasted, laughed, and danced until our feet ached. August 9th was not […]
Continue reading...
This week I’ve needed to make an effort to rest. Somehow my husband came down with a summer cold and though I really tried to avoid getting it, I was unsuccessful. All week long I’ve been dragging around the house, sneezing and sniffling. My body has felt very tired. So I’ve gone to bed early. […]
Continue reading...
The only reliable source of joy is in God’s presence. But how can we find that? A little experiment with three common objects helped me focus on God’s presence and find more joy. Lighted candle. Silver cross. Smartphone. What do these three items have in common? At first glance in might not seem they have […]
Continue reading...
Solitude and silence are elusive commodities. But sometimes we need silence to hear God’s voice. When I was a young mom, the thing I craved more than anything was to be alone. An introvert at heart, I draw energy from time by myself with a good book. But in the days of babies and toddlers […]
Continue reading...
Don’t you love watching little kids run? I mean they don’t run because they really need to up their fitness program. They don’t run because they are trying to get their 10,000 steps a day in a shorter span of time. They don’t run because they are trying to burn a few extra calories. Little […]
Continue reading...
Do you struggle to rejoice? Does the command in Philippians 4:4 make you wince? Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! I certainly have days when it’s hard to be full of joy. Hard to rejoice in anything. And what is rejoicing anyway? I looked up the word rejoice in […]
Continue reading...
Sometimes I have a hard time accepting God’s plan for my life. You too? I remember a conversation I had with my daughter as I was tucking her into bed when she was about four. I said something like, “Anna, you are getting so big! Pretty soon you’ll be all grown up!” And Anna, very […]
Continue reading...