Tagged: suffering


In The Father’s Arms

My eyes had been glued for a while to the little boy in the row ahead of me. He must have been about a year old. Fussy on his mother’s lap, I could see the parental exchange. “Should I take him out?” she mouthed to her husband.  The church was packed that morning, with few […]

Continue Reading

The Best Kind Of Love

His little fingers dripped with orange greasy pizza oil and stuck together with chocolate fudge-vanilla. I checked his face and found it wreathed with those same streaks of orange and black.  Quickly I stretched across the table, searching for a napkin to wipe his mess before it migrated to my jacket. But before I found […]

Continue Reading

If Jesus Wanted To

“If Jesus wanted to,” my little seven-year-old fellow classmate declared, “He could flatten my thumb and make it big enough to go around the whole world.”   He held his thumb inches from my wide eyes. I stared at it without saying a word. I could almost see it spread and widen. I imagined it circling […]

Continue Reading

Handling Behemoths, Leviathans, and Those Other Monsters of Life

In the shadows of the farmhouse where I grew up, monsters dwelt. They hid in the barn after dark, in the upstairs midnight hallways, and most certainly underneath my bed. Big, hairy, but unreal, they prickled my skin, chased my feet, and mademy heart gallop. For a little girl sleeping alone with a mammoth imagination, […]

Continue Reading

Did God Show Up?

“…for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5 ESV Recently I was asked how I feel now about God’s response to our daughter’s illness in the past. We prayed for complete healing, we looked for a miracle and we expected Him to “show up,” even at the last minute. In fact, […]

Continue Reading

It’s Not Fair

So, my grandson who is four years old beat me at a game of memory. There are a lot of reasons this happened. The cards, for example had some sort of out of this world superpower heroes. I didn’t know them. He did. By name.  They had tentacles, fangs, green goop, and could fly through […]

Continue Reading

Incomprehensible Faith

The incomprehensible actions of God are far beyond my feeble understanding or explanation. But they are real.

Continue Reading

Watch and Pray

Jesus’ admonishment to the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane is intriguing. “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Mark 14: 38) NKJV I have always felt just a tiny bit sorry for the disciples. They fell asleep. They simply couldn’t stay awake. It […]

Continue Reading