“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced…” (1 Chron 16:11-12)
As the year draws to a close, I’m reminded that this is a good opportunity to reflect back over the year. In honor of that, I’ve selected my top ten blog posts from this year. These are the posts that resonated with my readers the most. I’ll be back soon with new content for the new year! Continue reading “Top 10 Blog Posts of 2018”
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Is 9:6)
Peace is elusive. With the invention of the smartphone, we are constantly connected and bombarded by dings, rings, and chimes. Instead of finding activities to engage our minds, we pull out our phones when we’re bored and pass the time on mindless games or scrolling through social media. We have email on our phones, so even when we’re away from the office, we’re still available and always on call. “Downtime” isn’t a word that’s even in our vocabulary anymore. Continue reading “Longing for Peace”
Author’s note: Since this month’s blog posts will coincide with the four Sundays in Advent, the theme of each blog post will have the same theme as that week in Advent. The theme for the first Sunday in Advent is hope, the second is love, the third is joy, and the final one is peace.
“…the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.” (Ps 147:11)
I look forward to Christmas with great anticipation each year. I enjoy everything about the season: the lights, the music, the baking, the gifts, the cards, the Hallmark movies…and the list goes on. As a child, I looked forward to opening gifts so much that I talked my mom into letting my brother and me open a gift on Christmas Eve once or twice.
As an adult, there have been years when I dreaded the holiday season. The year my grandma and father-in-law both passed away was particularly difficult. But nothing could have prepared me for the feelings of grief and loss that tainted my love for the holiday for several years after my divorce. For a while, I lost hope that things would ever be better. Continue reading “Finding Hope at Christmas”
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (Jn 12:24)
Autumn is one of my favorite seasons, and it rarely lasts long here in Oklahoma. Sometimes, we don’t see much of autumn at all – the weather stays in the 80s and 90s before dropping into the 40s and 50s, and the leaves simply die and fall from the trees.
This year, the leaves have turned glorious colors. We’ve received a lot of rain and had many below-average temperature days in the 50s and 60s. It’s actually felt like fall. While I’m not ready for winter, I’m thankful for the glimpse these cool fall days give us of the beauty of God’s creation through nature.
We can learn many lessons from the autumn season. As the seasons change, I’m reminded that although change is hard, it can also be beautiful. The falling leaves show us how important it is to embrace change in order to move forward. Without autumn, we would have nothing to look forward to in the spring. While it looks as if everything is dead, fall is a time for dormancy – a temporary death, if you will – that results in rebirth in the spring. Fall is a beautiful metaphor for Jesus’ death and resurrection. Just as his death wasn’t permanent, neither is the death we see during the fall. Continue reading “Thankful for the Lessons of Autumn”
“Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods.” (Ps 95:2-3)
Being grateful isn’t something that comes naturally. We’re inherently selfish and focused on ourselves. We don’t always feel thankful. There are a lot of bad things happening in this world, and it’s sometimes hard to figure out how to be thankful in the midst of them.
Learning to be grateful takes practice. When faced with a trial or an unexpected bump in the road, my first thought is never how thankful I am for the difficulty or inconvenience. How I wish it were! Turning my mind from my struggles and onto the things for which I’m thankful allows me to grow closer to God and to receive physical and psychological benefits. Continue reading “Practicing Gratitude”