An Anchor of Hope for Your Soul

/
An Anchor of Hope for Your Soul

We have this hope as an

anchor for the soul,

firm and secure.

Hebrews 6:19a NIV

I slathered sunscreen on my shoulders as my husband turned the key to our speedboat. The motor roared to life. He shifted the accelerator and pointed the bow to the farthest side of the lake. The boat’s hull split the water, and we jumped over the wakes in our path. My husband enjoyed racing across the lake, so I braced myself in my seat. Closing my eyes, I prayed, “Lord, meet me here.”

In the weeks before our outing on the water, I had wrestled with health setbacks. The headaches that I thought were gone had suddenly reappeared, and my nights included more time awake than asleep. The weight of my pain, along with a handful of other personal struggles, weighed on my heart, and I questioned if hope had grown wings and flown away.

Within minutes, we reached the....

Read More

Overcoming Fear and Walking in Faith | A Character Study of Moses→

/
Overcoming Fear and Walking in Faith | A Character Study of Moses

I’m honored to be a guest at Living By Design. You can read an excerpt below and follow the link to read the full article.

Years of chronic illness, sudden shifts in circumstances, and long seasons of difficulty decreased my confidence and increased my anxiety.

What if I get it wrong? 
How do I find the strength to show up? 
Where do I find the resources I need to complete the task?

Many of the saints of old from the Bible faced the same battle. By their examples, we find hard-won lessons to glean from––and promises to cling to––which can help us move forward and walk in faith.

One such example is Moses. By pondering the character of Moses, we can…

Read More

A Different Kind of Hunger: Fasting to Increase Our Faith→

/
A Different Kind of Hunger: Fasting to Increase Our Faith

I’m honored to be a guest at Living By Design. You can read an excerpt below and follow the link to read the full article.

It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done––but I did it. I completed a 21-day Daniel Fast for the first time. 

Choosing to abstain from meat, dairy, and sugar was difficult, but it increased my faith in ways I never expected.

After a season of grief and unending trials, I felt disjointed and stagnant in my soul. My health was suffering from bad food choices and a lack of discipline. 

Along with that, I was praying some big prayers––for the healing of a loved one, direction in my writing ministry, and salvation for lost family members. 

One day, kneeling with my forehead resting on my Bible, the Spirit …

Read More

God Will Catch You When You Fall

/
God Will Catch You When You Fall

“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.”

Psalm 56:3 NKJV

It was hard to force air into my lungs. As I stared down at the slippery rocks in the mountain stream, I thought of all the ways my steps could go wrong, and I chided myself for ever venturing into the water. Tightly gripping my husband’s hand, I methodically placed my foot in his evaporating footprint. But with the victory of reaching the other side of the river in sight, I started to slip. Panic erupted inside my mind as my body wobbled, rocked, and swayed.

My husband’s calm voice broke through the chaos. “Honey, just fall on me. Just fall on me.” Within the span of those one or two seconds, questions swirled. What if he can’t catch me? What if I get hurt? What if my falling hurts him too?

Just then, I glimpsed his confident brown eyes––and knew….

Read More

God Controls the Storms of Life

/
God Controls the Storms of Life

“Be still, and know that I am God.”

 Psalm 46:10a NIV

I can still hear the resolve in her voice. “Sit down and get quiet. God’s doing His work!”

Any time the slightest hint of thunder rumbled through the air, my grandmother gathered all of us children in her care, and insisted we settle ourselves down. For the kids, our books, papers, and pens came out, while Grandma took the opportunity to clothe her lap with the open Word of God. A hush filled her small living room, and more often than not, I would find myself curled up on a pillow, awakening after the storm had passed.

Recently, torrential rain, rolling thunder, sharp lightning, and darkness overtook my home.

Read More

Trusting God's Guidance in the Darkness

/
Trusting God's Guidance in the Darkness

He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

Psalm 23:3b ESV

I had no idea where I was or where I was going.

Darkness enveloped me, and the glimmer of my car’s headlights did little to help me see. My grip tightened around the steering wheel as I slowly wound higher up the mountainside. The tires periodically slipped on the remaining patches of ice from the recent storm, and I practiced slow, deep breathing as I searched for any signs of familiarity.

Somewhere in the darkness, I had missed the turn leading home. “Lord, please help me,” I whispered after the road increasingly narrowed upward. With no place to turn around, I stilled my nerves and begged God for guidance. The only way to go was forward, so I steadied my foot on the gas pedal.

Just like that winter night long ago, there have been many times in life where I’ve found myself in similar circumstances, unsure of what was ahead and feeling like I was fumbling in the dark. In every one of those places––long years of chronic illness, grief, financial struggles, and uncertainty––I found myself wondering what God was doing.

Read More

When God Makes the Impossible Possible

/
When God Makes the Impossible Possible

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Luke 1:37 ESV 

My leg muscles burned more intensely on the last two steps. After walking up three flights of stairs with bags of groceries strapped across each shoulder, I breathed a sigh of relief as I turned around to look at where I had come from––literally and figuratively. God had surely made the impossible possible.

If I had been told in years past that one day, I would live in a third-floor apartment and easily take the stairs to reach it, I would have said that’s impossible. For years, chronic illness kept me homebound and dependent on others to complete basic tasks like grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning. The couch was the cocoon that held my body full of pain and weighed down in fatigue.

Although we may face situations that seem impossible, the Bible is clear that our God is a God who can bring about great things from impossible situations.

Read More

Cultivating an Attitude of Prayer

/
Cultivating an Attitude of Prayer

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

For years I struggled with prayer. We may not know how to pray, what to say, or find it difficult to find time to pray. Additionally, there is always something vying for our attention––cell phones, tv, family members, or responsibilities––that get in the way of time with the Lord.

My grandmother once told me that one of her friends exclaimed, “Rose, I pray every minute, every hour, every day.” And with laughter in her eyes, my grandmother followed up with, “You know she was lying.” But in 1 Thessalonians, Paul instructs us to “pray without ceasing.” If it is an impossible task, why would God implore us to do it?

Because it’s not impossible––but it is a choice. I am learning that this instruction is less about the task of prayer and more about having an attitude of prayer. So how do we cultivate an attitude of prayer?

Read More

Hope in Troubling Times

/
Hope in Troubling Times

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life.

Psalm 138:7a (ESV)

The first daffodils are blooming here in the South with bright golden hues, and the first day of March ushered in 80-degree temperatures. Certainly, Spring is in the air, and I must say I’m welcoming it after two snow falls in January (a rarity). And just as the weather has already set records in this new year, this season in my heart revealed its own record of pain––my family has experienced another great loss.

Read More

Replacing Lies with God's Truths

/
Replacing Lies with God's Truths

Holding the crisp pages in my trembling hands, I kneeled and spread the note before the Lord. My sense of direction, peace, and joy was lost. The enemy’s whispers had become resounding. I realized the only way to regain steadiness was to go to God for answers. It was time to face the enemy’s lies that had replaced God’s truths in my life: the lies that kept me bound to fear, disappointment, and discouragement.

The paper I held so tightly contained the lies from the enemy that constantly swam in my mind. And I came to petition God for reassurance of the truth. At the Holy Spirit's prompting, I searched His Word to find out His answer to the taunts, and I replaced them with the truth.

Read More

When Only Peace Will Do

/
When Only Peace Will Do

And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”

And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.”

Mark 10:51 ESV

I could hear the low rumble of my car’s motor as the cool air from the ac blew strands of hair into my face. The summer heat in the South pushed a band of perspiration across my forehead, and with one swipe of my hand I pushed back the hair, patted the sweat, and wiped a stray tear from my eye.

The summer of 2019 was a rough season for me as depression sunk deep into my soul. The welcome of new crops to the local farms signaled new life all around me, but I felt like I was slowly dying. I couldn’t contribute this heaviness to just one thing. There was a list of uncertainties consuming me.

That’s why, for the second time on that same Sunday, I drove back to church in hopes of hearing something that would shake me out of the doldrums that I felt locked inside. As my grip tightened around the steering wheel, I whispered the same words again, “Help me, Lord.”

Read More

A Christmas Prayer for Grieving Hearts

/
A Christmas Prayer for Grieving Hearts

Today is the day.


I sit here staring at the twinkling white lights on my Christmas tree as “Silent Night, Holy Night––All is calm, All is bright,” rings softly in my ears. But I’m struggling to stay calm and things don’t feel so bright. There’s a knot in my stomach and a choke in my throat as I walk through this day with a weight on my chest that I can't bear on my own. The beauty and the pain of the season intertwines together. And I wonder if this is what it truly means to hold joy in one hand while grief weighs heavy in the other.

Read More

Steadiness in Changing Seasons

/
Steadiness in Changing Seasons

To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV

Spring turned into summer, and summer has turned into fall. I’m not completely sure how it all happened so fast. Time does fly.

I sit staring out the balcony window as leaves flutter from the trees in bright hues of gold, orange, and red. The temperature is 68 degrees (today’s high), and it will be followed by a low of 43 degrees tonight. I don’t know what your dream temperature is, but these days are like heaven to me. I would like for it to stay like this forever. But nothing in this life remains the same. It is ever changing––leaving us with the before and after.

Read More

Glorious Hope in Despair

/
Glorious Hope in Despair

“As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God.” (Psalm 42:1 NASB)

My hands tremble and my body shakes uncontrollably as the cold air of loss blows deep into the hollows of my soul. Like a broken record, I keep hearing the words, “He has passed…He has passed.” In my mind, I’m running away. It’s as though my heart has grown feet and they leap in response to the runner’s gunshot as I speed to out-run my opponent—in this case, reality.

Read More

Finding Provision in Praise

/
Finding Provision in Praise

“Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!” (Psalm 47:6 NKJV)

Anxious thoughts and an unsteady heart propelled me to my quiet place on the porch. Sitting in the old, paint-peeled rocking chair, I slowly began rocking as I opened my Bible. I plead with God to give me the words to pray because I felt empty.

Read More

When I Need Comfort

/
When I Need Comfort

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you”. (John 14:18 KJV)

In times of uncertainty, we look for someone to tell us that we’re going to be okay. We want assurance that we’re going to make it through to the other side and be better for it. For me, that woman was my grandmother. And, according to my recollection, my grandmother was a towering woman.

Read More

The God Who Hears Our Cries

/
The God Who Hears Our Cries

"This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." (Psalm 34:6 KJV)

Looking into the mirror, the dark under-eye circles were evident on my thinning face. I hardly recognized the gaunt person staring back at me as I questioned how much weight I had lost. The totality of the loss was sinking in.

Read More

Trembling Faith: When Doubt Begins to Whisper

/
Trembling Faith: When Doubt Begins to Whisper

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24 ESV)

A lady once shared her testimony of healing from cancer. She attributed it to ”trusting and never doubting.” At the time, I was in a dry, barren wilderness and could see no way out. I was trembling. I was questioning everything I believed. Honestly, I was wavering. I thought, “Oh well, there goes my miracle. I’m never getting out of this pit.”

Read More