Darkness to Light: Disappointment to Hope

/

And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death,
Upon them a Light dawned.
Matthew 4:16 NASB

I love this verse…it makes me think of Jesus the Son of God, the Light of my world … not just at Christmas, but every day of my life.

And this Christmas, the darkness could flood in for me. John and I have COVID during this most anticipated time of the year. All kinds of missed celebrations and holiday concerts and most of all, extended times with our “treasured ones.”

Read More

"Receiving" and "Being Received"

/
"Receiving" and "Being Received"

Today I had a lengthy conversation with my lovely friend, Pat. Pat and her husband Rod were our first friends as newlyweds. So we go back 50 years.

After catching up with each other, we commiserated about how difficult it has been as older women to become “invisible” to others…not just younger people, but also our doctors (especially male docs), and many others we interact with. In fact, we have even caught on that people aren’t always laughing with us but at us.

Read More

Rambling Thoughts about "Receiving" and "Being Received"

/
Rambling Thoughts about "Receiving" and "Being Received"

Today I awoke with thoughts about “receiving” one another and “being received.” I remember my mentor/friend/home school coordinator/ Bible teacher Donna saying many times that “such and such a person didn’t receive you, did they?” Or “you didn’t receive that person, did you?”

I remember this always caused me to wonder… what does it mean to “receive” a person? It always seemed like a different/deeper thing than accepting a person or what they had to say, etc.

Read More

The Acceptance of FAITH: Embracing that I Am who I Am... by Grace

/
The Acceptance of FAITH: Embracing that I Am who I Am... by Grace
If God Himself is the Strong One who does the doing, what is my part…yes faith, but what about my doing? 

To answer that, let’s look again at our second “yet not I” verse:

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God with [sun, united with] me. (1 Corinthians 15:10 NET)
Read More