Today my sweet friend buries her mother. As I sat and chatted with her a few weeks back, she shared how she had helped her mom pick out the dress and jewelry she would be buried in. As I stood at the casket admiring the sparkle of the fabric and the beauty of the necklace,…
Category: encouragement
Finding My Place
Before I begin, I want to emphasize: *1. I am writing in the spirit of Proverbs 11:14 where it says “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; In the multitude of counselors there is safety” I am hoping to spark a discussion on a subject that has been kind of taboo. It may not…
Choosing Rest
Exodus 33:14 NIV The Lord replied, My presence will go with you and I will give you rest Who among us really gets enough rest? I’ve been engulfed in the hustle and bustle of raising children for nearly 14 years. Rest has not been high on my list of priorities. In the midst…
Beautiful Words
Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Proverbs 16:24 The knots in my stomach got a little tighter. I felt my heart breaking into teeny tiny pieces as I sat with my husband listening to the angry voice rage on and on at the other end of…
Beautiful Scars
What if I told you I had a marvelous tip for dealing with scars? If I’d have known at the beginning of this summer how many scars I’d soon acquire, it would have been discouraging. 2 years of illness and a previous major surgery and subsequent hospitalization with sepsis and staph had left me anxious,…
Between Two Camps
When I first started writing in public places, I set my heart on writing from real places about real things, real emotions, real life, hoping to focus on the blessings and finding joy in life. Lately, I’ve been accused of airing dirty laundry, of speaking before thinking and being to critical, just to name a…
New Things
Isaiah 43:19 – Behold I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. New things. For me, new means change. Sometimes “new” is welcome. Like the new blooms after a long winter. Other times…
Choosing Joy Over Fear
I’ve been pondering a lot of things as I sit thinking about the year that is leaving and the year that is to come. It’s been a not so fun year with all my crazy health issues that lasted through out most of 18 months. My last living grandfather went to heaven this year. Some…
Discounted Miracles
We as Mennonites are real big into discounts. The cheaper the better. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that…I do think how ever, that we do a tremendous disservice to the name of Christ when we “discount” the miracles He does in our lives.Like the most recent “big miracle” in my personal life…Don’t get me wrong….
Real. Different. Real Different…(and all that entails)
I have always had my quirks, those things that make me me. I cherish the unique, the stuff that sets me apart. Sometimes it’s been simply clothing. I love my multi colored shoes from 10th grade and my black and white dress that had both stripes and polka dots on it. I derived a sense…