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You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance (Psalm 32:7). As a girl, my favorite place was a hiding place. To be honest, it probably still is. A good hiding place makes life’s storms easier to bear. I grew up under the shadow of a great mountain. Rocky crags and moss-covered cliffs rose like watchful protectors above our small community. I ran to them for… Read More

To read Part One of this series, click here. After they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored there. As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Jesus (Mark 6:53-54). When the winds of the storm alter your course, you may be tempted to think you’ve failed. Not only does Jesus send us into storms, but He also allows storms to change our plans. To bring us to an… Read More

[caption id="attachment_3985" align="aligncenter" width="805"] This image is copyright owned by David Padfield 2015 and used with his kind permission, with additional images copyrighted by the LUMO project or public domain from WikiMedia Commons and StateofIsrael.[/caption] Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. After leaving them, he went up on a mountainside to pray. Later that night, the boat was in the… Read More

For Bruce. Thank you. See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands (Isaiah 49:16). I was dreaming, but I could feel my breath. Slow and shallow, full of fear. I stood before a weather-beaten house. Its rough-hewn wooden door was colorless from years of storm and sun. There was no knob. No place for a knob, either. Open the door. Jesus stood beside me, like a friend who goes with you to… Read More

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Isaiah 52:7 I thought my heart would burst with joy as I glimpsed our parents coming around the bend of the dusty African road. They are here!!!!  With them, they brought good news, comfort, and refreshment to our souls. Not to mention chocolate. We… Read More

And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” Mark 5:9 “What's your name?” the kind man in the appliance department asked my eighteen-month-old daughter. Blonde curls framed her dimpled face and her blue eyes sparkled as she answered. “Fweetie.”  Fweetie was her version of the affectionate name we always called her: Sweetie. Unashamed of her name, she knew who she was: dear to her father and me, no matter how she pronounced it. Not everyone… Read More

I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating words of praise.” The Lord says, “Peace, peace to the one who is far or near, and I will heal him” (Isaiah 57:18-19). She was shouting on the phone. I’d never heard her shout, not one time. But she’d had it. How could God allow this? What is He doing? When is enough… Read More

For Steph. Thanks for answering the phone. Again. Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place…they made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him (Job 2:11). “Just change my name to Job in your contacts.” My sister-in-law didn’t laugh at my nervous joke. I was calling her for the third time in a year with devastating… Read More

I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. Joel 2:25 They sounded like tiny tap dancers in chaos. Wings flapping, jaws chomping, they stumble-flew all over each other, ravenous. Like a cloud they swarmed; like a machine, they destroyed. Up till now, I had only read about locusts. Today, outside my window in… Read More

Can a woman forget her baby who nurses at her breast? Can she withhold compassion from the child she has borne? Even if mothers were to forget, I could never forget you! Isaiah 49:15 Mother’s Day reminds us we need mothering. That may make us angry, or it may make our hearts swell with gratitude for our mothers. In any case, no matter our age or status, we don’t outgrow our need for an encourager… Read More