Latest Posts

  • Everything I Do

    We are journeying verse by verse through Psalm 139. To read last week’s reflection, click here. O LORD, you examine me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; you are aware of everything I do.   Psalm 139:3 Trauma can disrupt our confidence in well-laid plans.… Read More

  • My Motives

    O LORD, you examine me and know me. You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives. Psalm 139:2   I am memorizing Psalm 139 in earnest this new year. I’ve lived between its lines since girlhood, and especially young womanhood, as I struggled to accept the embodiment of my soul in a vessel I did not love. Some portions of Psalm 139 became well-worn.… Read More

  • Examine Me

    O LORD, you examine me and know me. Psalm 139:1 At the beginning of a new year, there is much unknown. We try to know all we can, but the fact is, we cannot. We have a complicated relationship with knowledge. We want to know but we are afraid to know. We long to know and be known. We dream of being known and loved despite it all. But we are afraid of examination. Knowing… Read More

  • Prayer for the Persecuted

    His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:21 The number of secret followers of Jesus worldwide is likely in the millions. The total number is humanly impossible to track, but the Master knows every single one. The persecuted meet in secret because where they live, it is forbidden to follow… Read More

  • Pride is so Exhausting

    "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry."  Jesus, in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus' famous words in Matthew 11 have beckoned to me during many a season of… Read More

  • Turbine

    Il vostro cuore non sia turbato; credete in Dio, credete anche in me! Giovanni 14:1   Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. John 14:1, NIV I love the way languages deepen my understanding of the Word of God.  To English speakers, the Italian word turbato may sound familiar. It springs from the Latin root turbinem, and from it we derive English words such as turmoil, disturb,… Read More

  • Examine Me

    Examine me, O LORD, and test me. Evaluate my inner thoughts and motives. Psalm 26:2 Wow! Both the word examine and the word evaluate are words used in refining and purifying metals.  בָּחַן ḇâḥan, examine, means to investigate, prove, examine, test, try (of gold, persons, the heart, man of God); to make a trial.   צָרַף ṣârap̱, evaluate, means to purge away, pure, melt, founder, goldsmith, refine, fuse. To cast.To test (and prove true). Olive… Read More

  • So Attached

    Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, but she had an Egyptian servant named Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, “Since the LORD has prevented me from having children, please sleep with my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” Abram did what Sarai told him. Genesis 16:1-5 Can we be so attached to God’s promises and the way we interpret their meaning that we try to make them… Read More

  • Full Peter, Empty Peter

    From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. So Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him: "God forbid, Lord! This must not happen to you!" But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are… Read More

  • I Don’t Care

    For Pastor Dave, with gratitude And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. And God will exalt you in due time, if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:5-7, NET I don't care. This sentence brings to my lively mind a clear picture of a stubborn… Read More