Tagged: hope

My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is. Lamentations 3:17 To be bereft is to be deprived of or lacking something. In particular, it describes the sadness and loneliness accompanying the death or departure of someone dear. We who follow Jesus have the peace that surpasses all understanding available to us through Christ, indeed (see Philippians 4:6-7). But loss can blot out the truth; grief can loom between us and that marvelous, available power, for a time. Like a sudden blackout dashing us into complete darkness, unexpected tragedy and loss can temporarily blind us from the light.  The blindness may be artificial, it may be temporary, but it is real. May we have grace for ourselves and others in the family… Read More

This is from Audrey's Most Read Posts and has been updated from its original publication in October 2018. Then one of the seraphim flew to me, holding an ember which he had taken with tongs from the altar. He touched my mouth with it. “See,” he said, “now that this has touched your lips, your wickedness is removed, your sin purged." Isaiah 6:6-7 A golden fleece of evening sunlight spread over the gentle hills, inviting the village to slow down and rest after a dusty day’s work in the fields. The murmur of women and children as they exchanged their short-handled jembes for water buckets rose like a lullaby. Wrapped in the commanding red linens of head wife, an old woman made her way slowly to a girl,… Read More

Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and I will lay your foundations with sapphires. Moreover, I will make your battlements of rubies, and your gates of crystal, and your entire wall of precious stones.  Isaiah 54:11-12 There is a fat-bellied bird in Britain who has two names. Ornithologists call him a Mistle Thrush, but in the countryside where he is often seen, he is known as the Storm Thrush because of his tendency to sing in the midst of strong winds. A story is told about a poet who was awakened in the night, not by the fierce storm that ravaged outside, for indeed it was enough to wake the deepest sleeper, but by a rich and… Read More

He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age. Ruth 4:15 Restoration and nourishment are possible for the young… and the old. But can this be true in the face of excruciating loss? Loss brought Naomi and Ruth’s lives to a halt. Huddled in hopelessness, they clung to each other wondering what to do. So many losses. The death of a husband, a father, a patriarch. Loss of home, nation, and community. Death of sons. Shattered dreams: the dream of children, the joy of inheritance. Cessation of the family name. Death of identity. Who was Naomi if she was not the wife of Elimelech, the mother of two strong sons and their beautiful wives, the prospective grandmother of… Read More

Unless a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24 The mountain perches on the fine line between winter and spring. The steep forest floor is dotted with tiny green shoots, leaves unfurling like a child peeking out from the covers in early morning to see if it’s time to get up. Scattered in the gray deadened brambles of last year’s life are empty seed shells. The abandoned homes of winged creatures hang from old milkweed stalks, their occupants long since flown away. Cracked and decaying acorns crunch under my feet as I hike the mountain trail, marveling at the ancient oaks giving me shade. Brave and strong, new peony stalks… Read More

If you missed Part One in this series of Stories of the Redeemed, click here. Last week you heard Cecilia Sakatira’s story of how the Master Weaver gave her a new vision and purpose out of a time of darkness and suffering. She is the founder and director of Creative Hands, a ministry that empowers women on the refugee highway in Greece to find gainful employment and learn about the Messiah. This week, read with me as she shares the story of one woman at Creative Hands whose unraveled life is being woven into something new and wonderful.       For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.… Read More

For Celeen, a meditation on Psalm 34   I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be in my mouth Even as bombs destroy my home and the provision of my people.   My soul makes its boast in the Lord; Let the humble hear it and be glad As the bells ring over Beirut Above the chaos of hope disappointed.   Oh, magnify the Lord with me, And let us exalt his name together! Over the burned landscape of our dreams.   I sought the Lord, and he answered me And delivered me from my fears. Rise, little one, go to your mother’s room where you’ll be safe.   Those who look to him are radiant, And their faces shall… Read More

By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. Psalm 42:8 Ever feel like your life is a movie, maybe a blockbuster, maybe B-rated, but an epic tale nonetheless with an original soundtrack narrating the minutes and the hours? The soundtrack tells a story, sometimes before the story can be seen on-screen. Today I stood on the balcony just beyond my writing desk and listened for what the soundtrack of my life might be saying.  The base rumbled low, harvest tractors crawling back and forth, back and forth, loaded down with piles of juicy grapes. Dissonant tenors struck in minor notes as children kicked a soccer ball around the village square. The… Read More

In the region of Abruzzo, Italy, amidst rolling hills of vineyards and olive groves, is a fountain. It flows with new red wine and is free to anyone who finds it. The fountain intentionally sits hidden along what is known as Il Cammino di San Tomasso, or, The Path of Saint Thomas. Pilgrims may stop for a drink on their way to the Basilica of Saint Thomas the Apostle, a beautiful twelfth-century church sitting beside the sea in the quiet town of Ortona. In 1258, a captain brought the remains of Thomas the apostle of Jesus there to be venerated and protected deep within its walls.  Thomas is famously remembered as the Doubter. Honest pilgrims will admit The Way of the Doubter is a well-worn… Read More

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne (Hebrews 12:2). Everyone eventually faces a season of letting go.  Sometimes we are ushered into this inevitability without warning. The day we raced through midnight chasing the helicopter that bore our son to a burn trauma center was one such moment. The night my best friend sped over twisty mountain roads to the hospital where her dying daughter lay was one such hour. Strange and terrible that so many seasons change in the darkness of night. Sometimes we know a season of letting… Read More