January 17, 2017

This Day, This Bread

January 17, 2017/ jan

I'm receiving Christ's fullness as my daily portion, morning by morning, day by day.

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.
John 1:16 NIV

And so as I embrace HIM for my day, moment by moment, I'm also revisiting some of my previous meditations.

Would you like to join in and relearn with me? I don't know about you, but I need to be reminded often of that which I already know. But I need to know it today ... in my real life ... now.

January 14, 2017

Grace upon Grace ... Bread upon Bread

January 14, 2017/ jan

Our Father ... give us this day our daily bread.

I love my word for the year, daily bread. (You can read the story behind it here). But it wasn't always so. In fact, would you believe that after embracing it as perfect for the stress I was feeling, I began to feel cheated.

Cheated? How could that be?

January 08, 2017

"Daily Bread" in the Words of Babes

January 08, 2017/ jan

For the past almost three weeks, my husband and I have been with our daughter Beth, her husband Nate, and their three lively sons, Kaden, Eli, and William. The plan was to celebrate Christmas together, make a quick dash north for a family wedding, then back to Beth & Nate's to help with a move.

But one by one, we "were dropping like flies" into a viral infection that just wouldn't let go. We all pushed through as much as possible and somehow it all got done.

But in the midst of it all, I was able to enjoy my usual treasured practice ...

January 05, 2017

A New Word for the Year ... a renewed confidence for each day!

January 05, 2017/ jan

Have you heard of choosing a word for your year? Several years ago, there were some well known authors who encouraged the practice. But to tell you the truth, no matter what I chose, it wouldn't "stick." I had to work too hard to remember it and why I even chose it in the first place.

Until last year, 2016! Bingo!

December 31, 2016

Facing the New Year without Regret

December 31, 2016/ jan

Another year, another 365 days to accumulate regrets! Loved ones have passed into eternity; opportunities have flown by because we have delayed too long ... and on and on. So I'm sharing this, one of my most visited blog posts over the years. May we all be able to face the fresh regrets of 2016, many of which are valid, and place them in the loving arms of our Savior. Amen.

December 26, 2016

Enter Their World ... I Entered Yours!

December 26, 2016/ jan

I'm reflecting now that the Christmas dust has settled. Reflecting on the whirlwind that just occurred. And again I've learned a precious lesson ... all through a precious grandson, my 10 year old Kaden. I've written of other spiritual times with him, but this one contained lessons for my own life right here, right now.

December 12, 2016

Advent Devotions: the WITH-ness of our God {His Presence in prepositions}

December 12, 2016/ jan

Isn't it wonderful when someone wants to spend time with us? Not just a token, obligatory, "showing up" to either fulfill an obligation, salve guilt, or ask for something...a real wanting to be with us.

As special as it is in human relationships, think how amazing it is when we realize that the Sovereign God of the universe has wanted to be with us! Yes, US! and according to the Bible words used, we see that in Jesus, our Emmanuel, He is with us on every level possible.

In the original language of the New Testament, there are three Greek words that can be translated with. With is one of a group of many words we call prepositions. Don't worry about the grammar of it all. Just keep in mind that the key idea with prepositions is relationship.

December 02, 2016

My Mother-in-law's Sifter: Remembering Betty Jean

December 02, 2016/ jan

It was sixteen years ago now ... that day when we unboxed the items my mother-in-law was discarding because of her need to downsize. Betty Jean Loyd was moving to a senior community, states away from where she had lived most of her adult life and where she had married a man and raised an only son.

At 80 years of age, Betty Jean, an only child herself, knew that she needed to be near us, her only family. So we helped her dispose of her discarded things.

And there it was -- her sifter!

November 18, 2016

There's Something to say for Caring and Commitment -- 45 Years Together

November 18, 2016/ jan

Marriage is a curious thing ... each year can be very different than the one before. This has been no less true for us and this, our 45th year of marriage.

An interesting year, this 45th. It began with my 91 y.o. mom's home going (so hard!); then the publication and launch of my book The With-ness of our God (so exciting!); and in February, retirement ... for both of us (the jury is still out!)

Smooth sailing at first, then upheaval over a home renovation project going south, house in total disarray because of the work being done ... feeling like never ending. On top of it all, the "new normal" impossible to find.

November 09, 2016

An Unexpected Grief

November 09, 2016/ jan

There I was, sitting at the stop light. All of a sudden, an overwhelming grief ... not primarily for my mom who died an exact year before, almost to the day. No, for my dad ... who had died in 1983 right before Thanksgiving.

But why am I grieving now ... why this year, when I hadn't thought of him at this time other years?

I tried to track my train of thought and realized that my thoughts had gone from grieving over my mistakes in my parenting to the difficulties in my own childhood home.

October 31, 2016

Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder

October 31, 2016/ jan

... God has made everything beautiful for its own time.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT

During a recent visit with our lovely daughter and family, I was walking on "my path" on the Dover Air Force Base.

I love my path! There are walkers and their dogs, playing children and military "manifestations" (like signs written in military rather than civilian time), and best of all, safety and well-cared for walking areas. But for as many times as I have walked my path, I wasn't prepared for the delightful, though shocking, surprise on the day in question.

October 23, 2016

"All of God in all of me"

October 23, 2016/ jan

In recounting her journey to Christ as a young college student, Jill Briscoe tells of a little nurse who led her to the Lord during a hospital stay. The night Jill was saved and every night thereafter, that wise little nurse encouraged her to go to sleep saying:

All of God in all of me.

Jill says, as a result of that truth etching itself in her mind and heart, she never doubted that when she received Christ, she had gotten all there is of God.

... If the spirit is a person, then you can't receive a "bit" of the Spirit, just as you can't receive only a part of a person. So I had been given all of God I was going to get ...*

October 12, 2016

Hitting Rock Bottom

October 12, 2016/ jan

Take a look around you. We are hitting rock bottom in this country. Our politics is a mess. There is moral bankruptcy all around. And then there is suffering in this world rivaling the Holocaust! Actually, we have been hitting rock bottom for a long time, haven't we?

And maybe you have been hitting rock bottom personally also.

There's that serious diagnosis, that turmoil in a relationship, that financial reversal, that heart-shattering rejection. Or maybe it's having heard once too often those inner, harassing voices telling you "you are nothing, no one loves you, no one will ever love you." You are at the end of your trying, the end of your own resources.

October 03, 2016

Craig's Song: I Am Waiting for the Dawning . . .

October 03, 2016/ jan

The beauty of aging is that long-term memory starts to kick in (don't ask me what I had for breakfast!).

And that's what happened in the midst of a hard time, a sweet yet bitter time, when many gathered to share our corporate sadness, yet rejoicing, at the graduation to glory of our dear brother and friend Craig Steffen.

October 01, 2016

Ancient Words, Ever True!

October 01, 2016/ jan

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

I love these words of Jeremiah. God's Word is "so delicious," as my friend Penny would say. I gratefully consume it as my daily manna.

September 23, 2016

Unrestrained Abandonment . . . Unfettered Joy

September 23, 2016/ jan

Before we get too far removed from all those vacation voices, the beachy bliss, the freedom of fun in the summer months, I'd like to tell you about the visual the Lord gave me to show my heart and soul what true surrender does for me and yes, even for Him!

September 14, 2016

Touch Jesus . . . Touch Life

September 14, 2016/ jan

Years ago I had a mentor-friend named Donna. She was the one the Lord used to usher me into experiencing Christ in me as the One who does the doing in the Christian life! Her key phrase was (as I remember it) "God does it."

Then by the Spirit of God came the realization that my indwelling Lord Jesus Christ is my All in All! He is the Father's Ultimate Gift to me...no-thing else, no-thing more!

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

September 07, 2016

The Stabilizing Focus of a Morning Prayer

September 07, 2016/ jan

Oh, life has been full of losses lately...deaths, illnesses, failures. And these during and after times of refreshment with loved ones and beaches and the simplicity of Amish peaceful countryside.

As a result, I am reflecting, revisiting, and responding in new ways to previous thoughts...some of which have already been shared. Forgive me. But if you would like to listen in, here is my meditation:

Life is a mix, a conglomeration.
There is confusion and clarity, flailing and focus, excruciating pain and exquisite peace.
There is bitterness and sweetness, strength and fragility, "rugged seas" and "smooth sailing."

August 30, 2016

Why? Why one but not the other?

August 30, 2016/ jan

While my husband and I made our way to the East Coast to spend time with our daughter and family, grandsons, my own siblings and their families, word came to us of the sudden death of our friend Craig. Shock beyond words! Grief and heart-break for our friend Cindy, his dear wife as well as for ourselves and all those who have known him and loved him. No time for prayer, beseeching, begging!

Then a few days later, word came of my friend Linda, who had just suffered a stoke at 73 years of age...

So that's always the dilemma.

WHY? Why one and not the other?

A Branch in the Vine