To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” Isaiah 61:3 Do…
“And Elimelech Naomi’s husband died; and she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years. And Mahlon and Chilion died also…
“But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job 23:1-10 Job, as he declares, “I shall come forth as gold,” is going through the trial of his life. It seemed like the blessings and favor of God were stolen away…
“To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79). We were laughing as we left church that Sunday afternoon—playing with our toddler cousin, vying for the attention of the small child, making lunch…
Growing up going to Sunday School, I remember being taught that the shortest verse in the Bible was found in John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” When called upon to recite Scripture, I always had that one in my memory bank! But there is so much meaning and depth in those two…
I have the privilege of working in a place where two people come in as a couple and leave as a family. I get to watch the tiny newborn take her first breath. As she sucks in the unfamiliar oxygen, her purple body slowly fades into a healthy pink. Her…
The valley can be a lonely place, but there is hope in the valley. The valley can be beautiful if you look for it, but it is not a place to stay. She could not stay there anymore because nothing was left to hold on to. The grief, shame, anxiety,…
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten…
Job chapter 1 and 2 surveys the heartrending account of Job’s loss. First, he loses his material wealth and possessions, and then he learns that all of his children died in a desert windstorm. There are still terms that lack in our world. For instance, there is a word to…