Growing up in Sweden, I loved receiving visitors in our home. I associated visitors with gifts—boxes of chocolates, beautiful cakes, and flowers—and as the recipient, it was always such a joy. My room would be converted to a guestroom as needed. Often, guests left gifts. I fondly remember running to…
“Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9, ESV). When considering difficult people, we must be careful to distinguish between truly dangerous people (who wish to destroy us) and those who are merely “different.” Culturally speaking, I have…
A beautiful old church building in Québec was put up for sale by its founding denomination many years ago. For some time, it has been rented out to people who used this old cathedral, with its cavernous ceilings, crumbling paint, and fabulous acoustics, as a used book and rummage sale.…
In her book The Story of My Life, Helen Keller stated, “Have you ever been at sea in a dense fog, when it seemed as if a tangible white darkness shut you in, and the great ship, tense and anxious, groped her way toward the shore with plummet and sounding-line,…
1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV): “Pray without ceasing.” Prayer, the act of talking to our Creator, is something I did not understand for years. I thought prayer was something done in certain places – prayer rooms, church buildings, our living room. I thought it was something done at certain times -…
Job 12:12 (NIV): “Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” I love old things. I find a happy spot when I encounter old barn wood, worn-down crates, dilapidated dressers, painted-encrusted wood doors, discarded windows, and rusted items that remind me of the “good old…
We attended my husband’s 45th high school reunion this weekend. Whew, those years sure flew by fast! We both grew up in the same small Oklahoma town. Both of our parents have passed and are buried in cemeteries just a few short miles from each other. While we were back…
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6-7 For the past few days, we have been…
“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me…