The next few weeks I am hosting a group of guest bloggers. These very special ladies all offered to help fill in while I check off an item from my bucket list: a pilgrimage to Scotland and England. Today my blogger friend, Johnnie Donley, joins us. I met Johnnie the first time at the Florida Christian Writers Conference. Now she is one of my best friends! We are part of an online writers group called the Kindred Heart Writers and help each other through sharing resources, encouragement, critiques, and prayers. I love Johnnie’s deep love to teach the Scriptures. She is also a budding expert in WWII stories, which she incorporates into wonderful novels. Her first book, currently titled Where Treasure Hides, will be published by Tyndale Digital First as an ebook in January 2013. Don’t forget to check out her web site too.When Your Life Verse Doesn’t Say What You Thought Your Life Verse SaidFor over a decade, I have claimed Colossians 3:1-3 as my life scripture. In the New International … [Read more...]
The Highest Place of Honor is Bottom – Lectio Divina
Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not to be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for many who are held hostage.Mark 10: 43-45 (The Message)Lord my ego wants to be first.I want to be number one, the winner, the one everyone looks up to and cheers for.My sin drags me into the spotlight, seeking the accolades of the world.Yet You call me to be servant. A slave. A common laborer with no rights.My hearts wants to obey, but my will tugs me into the glitz and glamour of how others define success.I feel torn in two like I don’t belong either place.I ask for Your help restoring me to mirror Christ in the world.Clothe me with Your spirit; I can’t do this by myself. I need You.Help me to be a servant, Your servant.May all of my actions for others also be attentive to You.Let me walk in Your footsteps.May I be centered on You and on others, not … [Read more...]
A Scottish Blessing
In honor of my pilgrimage to Scotland and England, I send you all a Scottish Blessing todayMay the blessing of light be on you - light without and light within. May the blessed sunlight shine on you like a great peat fire, so that stranger and friend may come and warm himself at it. And may light shine out of the two eyes of you, like a candle set in the window of a house, bidding the wanderer come in out of the storm. And may the blessing of the rain be on you, may it beat upon your Spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there a shining pool where the blue of Heaven shines, and sometimes a star. And may the blessing of the earth be on you, soft under your feet as you pass along the roads, soft under you as you lie out on it, tired at the end of day; and may it rest easy over you when, at last, you lie out under it. May it rest so lightly over you that your soul may be out from under it quickly; up and off and on its way to God. And now may the Lord bless you, and … [Read more...]
The Sweet Aroma of Crushing
The next few weeks I am hosting a group of guest bloggers. These very special ladies all offered to help fill in while I check off an item from my bucket list: a pilgrimage to Scotland and England.Today my blogger friend, Lynn Mosher, joins us. A few months ago one of the posts she wrote really lingered in my heart and became one of my favorites. In fact I copied her prayer and added it to my morning devotions. With her permission we are reposting this post here today. I connected with Lynn though Jen Ferguson’s blog, FindingHeaven, and we are partners in one of Jen’s Soli Deo Gloria small groups. Getting to know her in this group has been such a pleasure. Being part of a small group that prays for one another is so encouraging.I have enjoyed getting to know Lynn and hope you will too. Married since 1966, Lynn is a wife, mother of three, sister, grandmother, and writer seeking to follow God’s will.Stop by her blog, Lynn Mosher, Devotions that Encourage, and stay awhile. I love her … [Read more...]
God’s Canopy
The next few weeks I am hosting a group of guest bloggers. These very special ladies all offered to help fill in while I check off an item from my bucket list: a pilgrimage to Scotland and England. Today my blogger friend, Katharine Barrett, joins us to talk about listening and learning. Katharine is from Canada and enjoys a good cup of coffee. I have enjoyed getting to know her and hope you will too.I connected with Katharine though Jen Ferguson’s blog, Finding Heaven , and we are partners in one of Jen’s Soli Deo Gloria small groups. Getting to know her in this group has been such a pleasure. Being part of a small group that prays for one another is so encouraging.Stop by her blog, Just a Thought, and stay awhile. You will be blessed! And check out her e-book, Grace and Fresh Ink, 52 Devotionals for theSeasons of Faith. Thanks for being here today, Katharine!God's CanopyIt’s almost time to put it away. I always feel sad when we take apart our garden swing and store it in the shed … [Read more...]
Pay Attention – Lectio Divina
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.Hebrews 2:1Pay AttentionOK, Lord, I hear You.Everywhere I turn I read the words, “Pay Attention.”I hear them in sermons and notice them in conversations.The letters jump out from the Scriptures into my heart during my devotions.Friends write about taking notice in their blogs.Speakers mention being aware in their presentations.Pay attention. "Pay the most careful attention." I hear You, Lord. But to what?You gently answer, “Pay attention to what is right in front of you.”Pausing I look around me with unshielded eyes and an open heart. May I be more mindful when You speak to me in nature. Your love beams from the bright orange and yellow colors of fall. Your voice calls me in the crunch of fall leaves. I feel your smile as the squirrels scurry along the tree branches, busy with their autumn preparations.May I fully notice the people You bring to me: the unnamed, smile-less store clerk … [Read more...]
12 Quotes about Traveling
I have been and will be traveling quite a bit this month. Only fitting to share some great quotes about adventuring out into the world: 1. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine2. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”Henry Miller 3. ″A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.”Moslih Eddin Saadi 4. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain5. “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”Miriam Bears 6. “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Maya Angelou7. … [Read more...]
Sacred Space
Ever watch Hoarders on TV? When flipping through the channels if I see this show is on, I pause for a minute and remember.I had a relative who lived among ceiling high stacks of old newspapers, leftover food containers and over the top messy clutter. When I was a child, my mom told me what I would see so I wouldn’t freak out or say something out of turn, but nothing really prepared me for the sight. When we visited, we weaved our way through her living room like rats in a tunnel. There wasn’t any place to sit so I stood near my mom, never leaving her side. I looked at the overstuffed drawers filled with “I may need this someday items” and scattered wadded up notes taped to sides of cardboard boxes. When she offered me a drink all I could do is silently shake my head no, fearful of what could be lurking in the grimy kitchen.After we left, my mom laid her head on the steering wheel and cried. I know all I wanted to do was to shower. This lady was an intelligent, loving woman, but that … [Read more...]