WOMEN'S MINISTRIES BLOG

Gratitude is pretty en vogue these days. Whether it comes up during a podcast, is mentioned at the end of an exercise class or engraved on a bracelet, the word itself is even hard to avoid!

I was supposed to be in New Zealand today. Well . . . “supposed to be.” Clearly when I bought the ticket I had plans that look very different from the current state of affairs.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12) Sick again?! Another Sunday rolled around in Romania. Another day headed to the village to play the guitar in the unventilated, tiny church plant filled with old women and small children and a few…

I learned a new word this spring. Not part of the novel Coronavirus vocabulary we’ve all acquired and not a word that I’ve heard before and never bothered to look up.

Does it seem like you could use a rollicking family reunion about now?? My husband Larry and I have boatloads of family on either side and our own four kids and their families flung far and wide.

As we flipped the calendar into 2020, the church was thriving with new faces each week and great worship services drawing all of us closer to the Lord.

Growing up on the other side of the country, the summer was full of green hills, fireflies and intense thunderstorms. As a child living in a house with no air conditioning, it was hard to know when September rolled around if it was time to celebrate relief from the heat or time to mourn the loss of those glorious summer pool days.

I read my friend’s text, “I have alternated between teary and hopeful all day. It’s just more recalibrating.” Recalibrating. Yes. Constantly trying to re-standardize, to get back to true, to recognize the pendulum has swung again and nudge it back toward a balanced center without sailing off to another extreme, to grope for the rug pulled out from underfoot. Recalibrating. Or, recalculating. I can still hear another friend’s GPS unit…

How is August already here? It seems like I’ve been waiting for summer to start and my calendar tells me it’s almost over.

In my early twenties, the world was my oyster, the sky was the limit and I had what seemed like endless amounts of energy. I didn’t think twice about pulling an all-nighter before finals. Fast forward to my late twenties, and I was still pulling all-nighters . . . only this time, with a newborn. In my thirties, reality began to hit. My body didn’t bounce back the same way…