Category: Challenges
Willful, Yet Loved
Our fur-baby Minna loves her people. All summer she enjoyed parks, kayaking, and picnicking excursions with the us. Then August hit. My husband and I were back at school preparing our classrooms. The younger daughters started back to school. The college student returned to college. Minna moped. After school I would find Minna with her…
Think, and Thank
Will this list never end? I thought as I dashed off to the grocery store. Filling my cart with milk, produce, bread, and meat, I zipped up and down those bulging aisles wondering, does my family consider how much thought goes into providing for their nutrition? One daughter is headache prone: water-rich produce and the…
Mine! Or Not…
Have you ever watched otters search for clams? I spent the afternoon at the zoo recently, and watching them made me think how I often perceive others’ gifts. The otters live in a wonderful habitat: a waterfall flows into a shallow stream. Rocks climb from the surface of the riverbed, providing a staircase of sorts…
Feeling Like a Fraud?
Ever feel like a fraud? A few years ago, I switched careers from nursing to teaching medicine to high school students. Before I accepted my teaching position, I had various volunteer teaching experiences. I had even homeschooled my own children. Yet, I didn’t see myself as a teacher. The first week of class proved more…
Identify the Enemy
I awoke to instant itching, scratching brought no relief. I examined by arms: long unfamiliar appendages pink with red splotches and angry-looking welts. What I saw certainly looked like poison ivy. But I had not been in poison ivy. I knew poison ivy- all too well. I mentally retraced where I’d been the last few days….
Lust or Pride?
What can take down a strong man of faith? King David and his son Solomon are two of the most revered men of faith, and rightfully so. David, named a man after God’s own heart, was awe-inspiring in his faith throughout his life. Solomon, the wisest man ever, knew what to ask of God. There…
One Stone At A Time
Sighing, the prophet surveyed the site before him. Never had he imagined the City of David would look like this: Desolated. Devastated. Destroyed. What was even worse was the poverty afflicting the people: Physical poverty. Emotional poverty. Spiritual poverty, How could this happen? Nehemiah knew God. He also knew the city needed rebuilt. This was…
Trusting God to Bridge the Gap
When faced with a new task what is your general approach? Do you take anything and everything offered, or do you rely on what you already know? David’s answer to that question might surprise you. While a young man, David, as instructed by his father, left his sheep and went to visit Saul’s army, checking…
He Calls Me By Name
He roused himself, still groggy from the unplanned afternoon nap. His half-open eyes registered the dark, glass bottle. Somewhere, through the hazy stupor, a rising panic punctured his heart. He’d broken his promise. Again. He guiltily glanced at the coffee table. Yep, his worn, leather-bound Bible lay right there in plain sight. Why hadn’t he…