As for you, exercise self-control in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5 CSB) Fulfill your ministry. After reading in 2 Timothy one morning early in 2018, I wrote these words in one of my writing journals. I thought that phrase could function as my “word” for…
My old high school has an Instagram page, and I follow it. It’s fun. I get to see all the updates people post, and sometimes they have features on alumni. (I have yet to be featured, but I won’t hold that against them.) In October of last year, they posted the verse Leviticus 6:12: “The…
Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it. (Hebrews 13:1–2 NLT) “What’s the matter, honey?” I heard her voice before I saw her face. My own face was bent into my hands, covered in tears. A lot…
A few days before Christmas, my phone buzzed with a text message. “Ho, ho, ho,” it read. “Santa made a special delivery. Check your front porch. Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas!” I opened the front door and looked down at a sizable red-and-white gift bag with tissue paper billowing from its top. It contained a…
The month of December can be very busy. There’s so much to be done before Christmas Day arrives in many Christian households, that a frenetic tone takes the place of Mary’s long-ago anticipation of her first child’s birth. We can read articles about taking the stress out of Christmas and try. We can set up…
While my family was living on a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic (my husband was in the Air Force at the time, and we were stationed there), my two little boys started taking tennis lessons. They were four and five. Very little. But we thought it was a good opportunity. We wanted…