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I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth (Psalm 34:1). The rhythmic thump of the drum reverberated off the dehydrated African hills, beckoning the children to come. I stood under an acacia tree, one hand beating the cowhide surface with a homemade stick tipped in old tire rubber, the other crested over my eyes searching the horizon. Like ladybugs the boys and girls clustered, scrambling down dusty… Read More

What wall are you facing today? For it is you who light my lamp; the Lord my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. Psalm 18:28-29 I have found comfort in this promise in some of the hardest places on earth. Facing life's challenges can seem like looking up at an immovable wall. Islam is certainly a wall, as… Read More

I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me (Psalm 69:2). The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior! (2 Samuel 22:47) The sand sucked away beneath my feet as the waves pushed in and pulled out on the seashore where I stood. The ground was literally giving way from beneath my feet.  Looking… Read More

And Solomon assigned 70,000 men to bear burdens… 2 Chronicles 2:2 There are projects in God’s kingdom that cannot be completed without burden bearers.  Those stones hewn from the mountain would not carry themselves, assemble themselves into towering walls forming Solomon’s glorious temple. They needed strong arms to bear them to their purpose. To think burden-bearing may be one’s assignment! I daresay not many would choose it voluntarily. God’s assigned burden bearer must be careful… Read More

for Susan Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe (Psalm 107:2). “You stopped before telling me the story. Go back and tell me the story!” Her request rang against the slap, slap, slap of our footsteps on the pavement as we ran in the early morning sunlight. My friend Susan had been listening intently as I shared a painful betrayal, a celebration stopped short by… Read More

We do not have to carry our burdens alone. The Lord lifts up all who are bent over (Psalm 146:8, NET). The women of the Kikuyu tribe in Kenya make their way slowly down the sun-dried path, bent beneath loads equal to 70% of their body mass. The large baskets they carry on their backs are supported by a strap across the forehead. A doctor working among them once told me that this habit often… Read More

My upcoming book, Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World, releases August 20, 2019 (Harvest House Publishers), and you are invited to join my launch team! What is a launch team? Edie Melson, my stellar writing mentor, says, “A street team—also called a launch team, dream team, tribe, posse, road crew, etc.—is a group of readers passionate about your book. These are people who believe in what you've written and… Read More

The Lord sets prisoners free. Psalm 146:7 In former Muslim Esther Ahmad’s brave new release, Defying Jihad (Tyndale Momentum, 2019), she describes the supernatural peace she felt even as an angry mob outside her family's home demanded her death. As she stood inside listening to their cruel threats, she thought of Daniel’s three friends in the furnace and the fourth man who stood with them in that fiery prison. Even in the face of possible… Read More

During the month of June, I will be writing a series of devotionals based on my upcoming book, Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World, published by Harvest House Publishers August 2019. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand (John 10:27-28). Eager to hear the… Read More

During the month of June, I will be writing a series of devotionals based on my upcoming book, Covered Glory: The Face of Honor and Shame in the Muslim World, published by Harvest House Publishers August 2019. You will no longer be called, “Abandoned”…Indeed, you will be called “My Delight is in Her”…For the Lord will take delight in you…As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so your God will rejoice over you (Isaiah 62:4-5,… Read More