Matters of the heartare not “an eye for an eye.”Gracious love is awkward —especially for oneself.Amen. This visual prayer was created using the Prayer Squares creative practice. Prayer Squares are designed as a bite-size creative practice to lead you to surprise, delight and vision in your prayer life. Join me this year to create one Prayer Square per week. Find out more about 52 Weeks of Prayer Squares here.
Love is not to be earned or worked for. Love is nothing to strive for. Love is. Love is God. God is love. God is within us and with us. With our God, love is free for the taking. Love is there to freely receive! This is too good to be true! What sabotages this love? Despair, fear, cynicism, doubt, anger, guilt, the sense I am not good enough. If I ask Why do bad things happen? I must also ask Why do good things happen? Why do wildflowers line highways? Why do babies smile? Why do trees clap their…
Last week, I wrote about resting in uncertainty in restless times. I began to think about Scripture as the source we can look to remind ourselves of God’s restoration. From the beginning, God shows up as a loving God who doesn’t oppress but frees. When evil lurks, God is in the midst rising up new leadership. When people are hungry, God provides manna. Where other systems use the high and mighty, God uses the outcast and least of these. When people fail God, God forgives and gives another chance. Our faith lies in a God who restores peace and wholeness…
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9 When it all bears heavy, your fixed flaws, petty imperfections, the error of your ways, wretched rejection, irreverent thoughts, voices from the past, unholy actions, your whimpering, weak human you. Be…
This coming week we celebrate the birth of the Christ child. I find it simply amazing that 2000 years after His ministry on earth, Jesus is still the topic of conversation. We continue to seek Him, worship Him, learn from Him and lean on Him. I can’t help but question, “Why? Why Jesus?” Well, this past week, I had the pleasure of taking our newest family member, Kylo, to the vet’s office for the first time. A yellow Labrador Retriever, Kylo is a one-year old energetic, lively dog. He came to us through a local lab rescue ready to be…
