I love how Christmas Eve invites us into a holy pause. The lights feel softer, the world feels quieter, and our hearts lean in toward wonder. It echoes the first Christmas, when the earth was still, and a heavenly choir arose. Angels, a host of […]
I Wonder If
After our children were born, I began praying for their future spouses. I was praying for women that I would wait years to meet. I had no clue how, or even if, my prayers would be answered. A few times, I would see someone and […]
Prepare Our Hearts
Like a reporter, Luke begins his Gospel with a careful investigation. Because of him, we have the accounts of Elizabeth and Mary’s miraculous pregnancies. Through their personal stories, we glimpse the wait for the Messiah and see how we can prepare our hearts for His […]
From Confused to Confident: A Look at Mary
We meet Mary as a young teen in the gospel of Luke, suddenly swept into God’s redemptive story. She is “confused and disturbed,” before she declares, “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”. In her story, we see one of Scripture’s most beautiful progressions of […]
Pause, Pray, Prove
How quickly do you repost something you see on social media? For many of us, the impulse is almost automatic. This is the age of scroll, react, share. Scroll, react, share. Over and over. Just today, I saw a post that felt relevant, sounded credible, […]
Becoming a Modern-Day Anna
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few weeks reading and re-reading about Anna the prophetess. I think what attracts me most is her age. Especially since I am one of the oldest women at the gym I go to, I love having […]
Unwrap Him
I remember the exact date I lost my childhood faith: February 22, 1985. I had believed with all my heart that Jesus would raise our daughter from the dead. But after four days of praying, hoping, and believing for a miracle, our first child, Patricia […]
A Wrinkle in the Rug
There was a wrinkle in the rug. More than one, actually. I’m not sure how long they’d been there, maybe 20 years or so. It wasn’t simply annoying. It was a fall risk for my mother-in-law that we needed to mitigate. My husband bought a […]
Make Your Life a Prayer
I used to think that to make your life a prayer required grand gestures. You know, like hours of crying out to Him each day with a list of petitions, or shutting yourself away from the world in a quiet retreat. I’m not condemning those […]
Ugly Truths and Beautiful Gifts
I love to walk, but there are days when it’s all about getting the steps in and not about connecting with God. Yesterday, I realized that there are ugly truths and beautiful gifts in prayer walking. Contemplative prayer walking is part of a lifestyle of […]