A man once told me he would have become a Christian sooner if it hadn’t for some of the Christians he knew before he was saved. Specifically, one arrogant person turned him off from wanting to know God. I tremble sometimes, to think of the people I may have turned off in my arrogance, in my floundering that looked like arrogance when I put up a good front faking… Or in my sincerity when they weren’t in a place to hear all the words I have to say about God. The religious are usually a joke in the media, but it’s an old (pre-pandemic) complaint to dismiss Jesus because of his (professed) followers. And I hear often enough that you click to continue reading…
Category: Intimacy with God
Deep calls out to deep…
Making time for intimacy
I’m trying to practice the rhythm of consistency, but sometimes it’s not possible. Last week’s blog was quarantined as non-essential and stayed inside. Rhythm There are people in my life whom I love but no longer share a rhythm of relationship with. Some are friends who used to visit regularly, others are out-of-state family with separate lives. It can feel like we start again right where we left off, but unless it’s one of those rare connections, we spend our time on updates during occasional visits. Checking in is fine for some connections, though. We need to be willing for friend and family relationships to morph as need and availability changes. It isn’t necessary to have everyone you’ve ever met, click to continue reading…
The drinking bird
For some reason, I think every new season will be easier to wrangle my routine into submission than the previous three months. Right now, I’m trying to get back into working out consistently. I had almost a month off the gym when was Covid in the house and then a 50th birthday party for my husband right after. Then it was just laziness and lack of routine. Camping and travel stilted any momentum after that. I’m still trying, but fall has brought several changes, including Spanish Class at BSU. ¡No puedo creer que soy estudiente de nuevo! When you start or restart exercise, there’s a period of transition from too tired to do anything except the workout, to training and click to continue reading…
My life’s work at a garage sale
Many years before the Breaking Bonds Series, I had two completed manuscripts which only family had seen. I met a man with a published book and told him how wonderful that would be—it was my dream. He sort of shrugged and said, “Yeah, but then one day you walk by the bargain bin and see your book, and it’s worth so little.” Regardless, I wanted to see a story of mine bound and to hold it in my hands. A decade later, I had to let go of those first two stories to be ready to write Sovereign Ground. After Heart of Petra was published I found it in a discount bin. It was almost like a bucket where a hundred click to continue reading…
Accepting Grace
We’re spending a week camping and working at Payette Lake in McCall. It’s like normal life but with walks in the forest, yoga on the beach, ukulele by the fire, deer in our campsite and mountain bike rids in between work and…wait no, it’s better than normal life (even with the day the rain made me crazy). I didn’t post last Monday, and like everything else, it seems to be easier to fall out-of-intention than it is to maintain good habits. Until you’ve done something long enough for it to become your lifestyle (or if it’s both easy and pleasurable) you have to put conscious effort to continue. Years ago, we started using cash for groceries and gas money. It click to continue reading…