Tagged: Audrey Frank

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 help you be brave. But it has no knob. And I’m afraid. He placed His hand on the door and it swung wide. Entering first, He reached out his hand toward me. I gripped it and followed.  To our left in a small room, a man cradled a baby. His… 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 lived among a tribe in the bush of East Africa. We slept in a mud house, collected water from our tin roof, and read by lantern light at night. Beans and rice were regular fare. We hadn’t seen our family since we waved goodbye at the airport over a year… 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 knows how precious they are. Too many call themselves by dishonorable names, names like Hopeless Case, Ugly, Unlovable. Shame has forced them into isolation and stolen the affectionate names they were given by the One who made them: Talented, Beautiful, Loved. Shame’s goal is to steal our name. Shame itself… 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 enough??? My dear friend, she who had followed Jesus alongside me for decades, was struggling to understand. My pain, the crushing circumstances God was allowing in my life, was forcing her and other friends like her into a faith crisis. Could she trust Him despite all He was allowing in… 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 news. The kind you think you might receive once in a lifetime but hope never to hear at all. Our life had become a series of traumatic events, and our friends and family were beginning to dread our phone calls. I dreaded making them. But one thing was clear to… 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 Africa, I was witnessing their demolition derby first-hand. Amidst the whirring, clacking cloud of little winged invaders rose another sound… a keening. The kind reserved for death and funerals. The villagers were mourning the loss of all they’d worked so hard for. Their families’ sustenance. Their livelihood. The very food… Read More

For my oldest son. You are doing a great job and I love you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 Decisions, decisions. How can we make a solid decision when the present and the future are uncertain? The global pandemic seems to have stripped us of the privilege of planning. Plans make us feel better about the future. When we plan, we feel like we have some hope, some measure of control. Something better than now to look forward to. Something worth working toward. But plans require decision-making. And who can make a solid decision these days? A wise… Read More

With heartfelt thanks to Kaylene, at The Soul Care Institute.  I am thirsty. John 19:28 Jesus was very good at asking for help. He was the prime example of vulnerable asking.   These words from my friend stopped the breath in my throat. I had never, ever, considered this before. Jesus, asking for help? He asked the disciples to go find a donkey for him at the Triumphal Entry to Jerusalem. He asked to borrow someone’s room for the Last Supper. He asked his disciples to please go with him to the Garden of Gethsemane, to wait with Him. He asked for help from the cross. Twice. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom Jesus loved standing nearby, He said to His… Read More

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3 His espresso eyes welled with sincerity as he sat gingerly on my bed. What sin have you committed, sister? I have come to ask God to forgive you and heal you. My migraines were exponential in the equatorial heat, and carrying water on my head in five-gallon buckets was not helping. I was spending more and more time in the welcoming relief of my shadowy mud house, retreating from sun and exertion.… Read More

He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us… He will raise us up… That we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth (from Hosea 6:1-3). When we finally were able to receive visitors, we tried to prepare them for the pain. Are you sure you want to come? It will be hard. A hospital intensive care burn unit is a terrifying place to spend days and nights. Pain is a constant, cruel, raging, loud companion. In the long parade of weeks we spent… Read More