WOMEN'S MINISTRIES BLOG

I dropped my laptop on the ground tonight. It’s barely over a year old, my Macbook Pro. I was getting out of the car, and grabbed onto my backpack, when it slipped out and onto the sidewalk. I heard the thud before I realize what had happened and saw it there . . . on the ground. The laptop I had spent months researching. I quickly picked it up and…

As I write this, I’m sitting alone in a restaurant at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport, awaiting a flight to Dallas and then home to Orange County. Around me, every single person is talking. The thing is, with the exception of the guy chatting with the bartender, no one is talking to anyone who is currently here in the Houston airport. The man to my right just played tag-you’re-it with…

Not too long ago I was mixing up muffins in the kitchen with our small granddaughter when she asked, “Grandma, what happens when you die?” I smiled, glad to tell her about my hope of a home in heaven and the joy forever there. She thought for a moment and responded, “When I die, I think I’ll be a mermaid!” (We need to continue our conversation on this topic.) And…

Stilllll. I breathe out the word. A long, slow exhale. I feel my shoulders drop—when did they creep up to my ears?—and my spine elongate. It’s a powerful word. In the midst of the frenzy, in the midst of the mundane, be still. Without realizing it I had lumped be still and all its cousins—do not worry about tomorrow, rejoice always, take my yoke—into the category of Some Day. An…

Somehow, in the groveling midst of pain, the sanctification happens. Somehow, in the blinding chaos of lost dreams, the gold shines. Somehow, in the utter darkness, the light gleams. Somehow, in the blinding tears, the eyes open. Somehow, as we walk with God, He walks us through it. And we don’t really understand how, especially in the thick of the darkness. We don’t feel it, don’t want it—cry out in…

I find that the coming of the new year breaks society into two types of people: me and my sister. My sister is the kind of person who LOVES new years. She also happens to be the kind of person who thrives on making to-do lists that include things like work out every day and practice watercolors and learn to like kale—and then actually does them. Me? I’m the kind…

Have you made any New Year’s resolutions for 2018? Me neither. But if we were to make them, here are some good ones to consider: * get serious about reading and studying the Bible * deepen existing friendships and be open to new ones * learn a new life skill or risk more in certain areas * be intentional about serving others The good news is that if any (or…

It is the most wonderful time of the year! The Christmas season has all the best things—quaint homes with twinkly lights, warm drinks and cozy blankets. I am a sucker for hot cocoa and a crackling fireplace. If you promise we can listen to the Beach Boys Christmas album while we sit in front of a fire, I will hop into my reindeer slippers and bring the mugs, no questions…

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. – William Arthur Ward Seriously, if I’m not counting my blessings right about now, there’s something wrong with me. We just had a lovely Thanksgiving meal with three generations of family ’round the table, enlivened by little people in high chairs, babies in arms, and enough food to feed a small emerging nation. I stood…

The year my husband Larry and I lived in Costa Rica, we attended a small church in a village, a bus ride and then a kilometer walk from our home. We loved those people, who opened their church doors and their arms to us. One Sunday Eunice asked us to her house for tea after the church service.  She stopped by a little roadside market for a couple tea bags and a…