“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6 NIV Soon, those of us in the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving. We remember what the Pilgrims did, thanking God for seeing them through their first year here in their settlement. They…
Category: Challenges
The Promise of Happiness
“But are you happy?” A question often heard, asked by well-meaning friends, colleagues and family who genuinely care. What is happiness? And what exactly does it mean to be happy? Dictionary.com defines happy as “delighted, pleased, or glad, as over a particular thing.” Happiness is a “quality or state of being happy; good fortune, pleasure,…
Trying to Remain Thankful
“Lord, I know Your mercies are new every morning,” I thought while creeping down the stairs in my exercise attire, “Help my eyes to see those mercies today.” My heart knew those words are true. My mind fought to see evidence of such. Have you too, struggled to remain positive, even thankful during this time?…
(Back in the) Habit of Thanksgiving
“Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift.” II Corinthians 9:15 “What is a Thanksgiving Box?” our youngest daughter asked our oldest. “It was a decorated shoe box we would fill with strips of paper outlining what we are thankful for. We’d fill it all year long and then open it on Thanksgiving Day.” Our…
Shut In, Not Forgotten
Genesis 8:1 “But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded.” It was January in Michigan, cold, dark, and stormy. As a young foreigner, I felt the weather matched my disposition. I was…
Trusting God in a Pandemic
Quarantine. Riots. Mandated social distancing. It’s been six months! Lord, make this end! Today, please! I can’t do this anymore! Not the first time in my life I prayed these sentences. Twelve years ago, I uttered the same prayer. I was a cancer patient. After four months of hard chemotherapy, I had four treatments left….
Choosing Spiritual Health
With over 30 trillion cells, the human body is amazing! And just as astonishing is the fact that our bodies utilize the foods we consume to rebuild, refresh, and renew each of those cells! Our bodies are a constant work in progress! We have learned, if we want to operate at peak performance, we must…
Thriving in a Crisis
Social-distancing. Virtual learning. Maskne. This is our new vocabulary courtesy of 2020! Our world from 2019 is turned upside-down. Socializing, school schedules, even facial care routines have all been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many in society are unsure about job stability, personal finances, and when our world will ever recover! We are not alone…
Lord Teach Me, So I Can Teach
“Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.” Proverbs 1:8-9 (NIV) Often, our children grudgingly learn the above verse in Sunday school. By mid-elementary, they almost personally connect to the meaning of this…
Intentional Humility
True story: Once upon a time, there was a pastor concerned with the potential to become prideful. To keep himself in check, he requested a certain task to be reserved for him alone: cleaning the men’s bathroom at the church. The years passed. He wrote books and spoke around the world; yet every week he…