Category: Advent Series

    My childhood home was a safe place. I never remember being afraid to enter the house. I never once worried about an abusive father who might beat me or drug-addicted mother who might be strung out in a stupor. Within the walls of our home, I always felt safe and secure. My husband …

  When our children were small, my husband read a book by Gary Smalley entitled The Blessing. It influenced Gene deeply and thereafter he made a practice of blessing our three children each night as they headed to bed.

    Every day I write in my prayer journal. In addition to prayers for others, I include in that book my most personal thoughts, my failures, my hurts, my needs. Some of the entries record wonderful blessings. Others reveal times when I wrestle to understand God’s perspective on life.

    One time I was on a road trip with friends from college. We stopped for gas and, eager to stretch our legs after being cooped up in the car, several of us raced to the far corner of the parking lot. I was just reaching full stride, when my friend Gary grabbed me …

    Sometimes I laugh and say that there was no way I could have escaped coming to Christ. My family has a long legacy of faith that goes all the way back to the pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower. Both my grandfathers were pastors. My father and uncle were pastors. My brother and several …

My oldest son protested my recent devotional where I mentioned that Jesus touched each person he healed. I didn’t make it clear that I was referring to only to the specific event mentioned in Luke 4:40. Of course other places in scripture tell us that Jesus healed people without ever being near them, let alone …

    When our son John was a boy, he had a special pillow called his “comfy pillow.” He took it to bed each night and fell asleep with his arms wrapped around it. He hugged it while he sat in the family room and watched TV. Very soon the pillow became a dirty gray …

      One summer, our friend Tom created raised beds for my backyard garden. It was a dirty and time-consuming task. He had to remove the stubborn weeds and pull back the sod. He dug deep and removed stones from the soil. He built a sturdy frame of wood. He carted in loads of …

    This past year began with the death of seven of our friends. Every week we attending another funeral. Some of the services were joyful ones. The person had lived a long life and served Jesus. In other cases, however, the person was young – one was still in his teens – and had …

    When our children were small, a young woman came to live in our home. The woman, severely depressed, had made multiple attempts to end her own life. Her arms were covered with scars where she had cut herself. My husband and I offered counsel to our guest during this period, but our children …