Mornings with Jesus

LET ME CALL HIM JOHN. A charming, charismatic kid I knew well from teaching him in Sunday school and watching him grow up—until he slipped from view. In this case he slipped far, into the tragedy of mental illness. Despite his family’s best efforts h

AROUND AGE TWELVE, I CHANGED from a bubbly, outgoing girl into a shy person with no self-confidence. In high school, I remember waiting for someone to choose me for their team during PE class. Wondering if someone would want me for their partner for

MY YOUNGEST SON, ADDISON, ASKED me, “Mom, what did you want to be when you grew up?” I said, “Well, I thought I wanted to be a counselor.” Addie laughed. “Mom, you would be horrible at that.” “Why do you say that?” “You can’t stand hearing about sad

IT MAY COME AS A surprise that the Bible covers issues including the desires of women-of-a-certain-age. But here, in Genesis, we have just such a situation. God is promising fulfillment of a long-held desire, and when Sarah hears it, she laughs. At t

IT IS POSSIBLE TO EAT oatmeal with chopsticks. Knowing the hotel I was staying in didn’t provide a complimentary continental breakfast, I’d brought several envelopes of my favorite ancient grains cereal and dried dates. I knew I could heat water in t

MY HUSBAND, DAVID, JUST RETIRED. Now he helps around the house. The inside’s always been my territory and the yard his, so we had to adjust. I say that with a smile on my face because Jesus has given me not only a wonderful mate but also a learning o

I AM WORKING ON A curriculum for ninth-grade students called Story Boss. The idea is that we all have a story, and there may be parts of that story we haven’t chosen, but our story doesn’t have to be the boss of us. I’m challenging them to take contr

WE CALL MY SON, ISAAC, the ambassador of love. Isaac has Down syndrome. While I’m not fond of any stereotypes—including those that paint people with Down as 24/7 happy—our boy undeniably oozes love. Mind you, he expresses all the emotions any of us d

I’VE COLLECTED POTTERY FROM POLAND since my husband and I began doing ministry there in 2008. My collection now contains a variety of mugs, dessert plates, serving bowls and trays, and a tea set. Each piece bears a stamp that verifies authenticity. O

WHEN I BOUGHT A NEW GPS, the improved and added features impressed me. But I did miss the voice that notified me whenever I missed a turn by repeating, “Recalculating . . . recalculating . . . ” until it revised the route. At first I found that annou

IN MY PAST WORK WITH a Christian arts ministry, and also with my writing work, I’ve been blessed to get acquainted with believers of many different denominations. Within each different part of the Body, various rules are engrained into living out fai

BECAUSE OF MY PASTOR-FATHER’S MEDIOCRE salary, I understood the value of a dollar. Daddy built porch add-ons with lumber scraps and recycled numerous “treasures” from his walks through back alleys. We learned to “use it up, wear it out, make it do, o

MY YOUNG ADULT SON, CHRISTIAN, lives two hundred miles away, so I don’t see him as often as I would like to. I worried about him for a long time. Is he okay? Why won’t he move closer to me and his brother? I constantly reminded myself that he was an

I HAVE BEEN WRESTLING WITH the idea of going back to work full-time. With our kids headed to college in the next few years, the time has come. Writing for the past decade has been my dream come true. So taking a step back from writing, in some ways,

TWO LONGTIME FRIENDS FROM POLAND recently visited us. It was their first trip to Canada, and I wanted them to feel welcome. So I invested extra time and energy into preparing for their arrival. I bought their favorite tea and coffee and stocked up on

I LOVE TO WATCH POLICE procedurals on TV. The analytical methods the detectives use for catching criminals and the dramatic way the stories unfold keeps me glued to the screen. But what intrigues me the most is the use of forensic evidence, such as D

WE’VE BEEN PREPPING THE HOUSE for painting. It’s challenging work because our home is more than a hundred years old, and the siding has seen better years. The first step was to scrape any loose chips free. I had thought it would be easy. But the fart

THE INCREDIBLE BEAUTY OF GOD’S creation always takes my breath away: the majesty of Colorado’s mountains, the magnificence of Alaskan glaciers, and the Eden-like shorelines of Kauai, Hawaii. I cry joyful tears as I watch, amazed at His wonders. But I

I HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY COLOR-BLIND since birth, so I see the world like a black-and-white movie. Attending a class at church about using coloring to deepen my prayer life might seem like an odd choice for me. But when I saw the blurb for Colorful Pra

YOU CAN’T SEE ME SQUIRMING, but I am. Without Jesus, this verse—and many others—would have me running for shelter from the divine lightning bolt that would otherwise surely come. I do a lot of good things. And I do a lot of good things in Jesus’s nam

WHEN I LOST MY JOB, the timing couldn’t have been worse. I was in the middle of a bitter and costly divorce. And without that salary, I wasn’t sure how to support my newly single self. Lord, what’s going on? I wondered. Months passed, and I decided t

THE OTHER DAY, MY FRIEND Stephanie posted something on Instagram that said, “In Japan, broken objects are often repaired with gold. The flaw is seen as a unique piece of the object’s history, which adds to its beauty. Consider this.” Stephanie is ful

MANY OF THE ROOMS IN our home are dark, even on sunny days. After the sun has risen over the trees, the house itself blocks sun from flooding those rooms. Others are shaded by towering pines that cool the home, keeping sun rays from penetrating. I lo

THIS MORNING, THERE WAS A story in the paper about a long-lost relative of mine. She is the widow of my grandfather’s favorite cousin. Her unusual last name—also my mother’s maiden name—is what caught my eye, but the story about her was even more of

I COME FROM A LITURGICAL church background, and every Sunday the rhythms of worship include a time for confession of sins. One week, my heart resisted. “Why do I have to take time to focus on the thoughts, words, and deeds that hurt You and others?”

I LIVE IN THE NORTHWEST, near the Cascade Range. Last week, I visited Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River Gorge. The waterfall there is magnificent—three and a half times as tall as Niagara Falls. The water races over a towering cliff to pound the

I ONCE VISITED A CLASSROOM where the students thought of the teacher more as a buddy than an authority figure. They liked his personality and enjoyed being around him but saw no reason to obey his instructions; this attitude led to an unproductive an

AS A SINGLE MOM, I shoulder most of the financial burden when it comes to raising my teenage son, Nathan. So after sending the deposit for his band trip, I started to feel guilty over not being able to afford braces for him without going into debt. I

RAINDROPS PELTED MY CAR WINDSHIELD recently as I headed out of the dentist’s parking lot to finish my errands. Not a good day to shop for groceries! Ah well, my trusty umbrella rested beside me. But just as I pulled onto the highway, the skies explod

A FAMILY IN MY COMMUNITY has adopted more than twenty children. All of them have physical challenges. One girl was born without arms. Another is blind. Two have required numerous plastic surgeries after suffering burns. Several have club feet. They g

“THE CLOCK WILL START WHEN I leave the room. You’ll have one hour to escape,” the game guide told us. I looked around at our group and the elaborate set and props surrounding us, my heart beating fast. Our youngest daughter worked at this new facilit

MY SURROGATE FATHER FIGURE DIED recently, and our family traveled to his memorial in New Jersey. His wife bought several large forsythia for all the children to plant in his name. Since I live in Florida, she gave me the money to buy and plant some k

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU eaten a sweet treat while on a diet? Or bought an expensive dress because it was “calling your name”? Or told “a little white lie”? I know I have. Temptations can be hard to resist. Truth is, as long as we are living, we will

MY DAUGHTER GRACE IS SEVENTEEN. She just started her junior year of high school. Somewhere in the middle of her sophomore year, about the time mail from colleges started rolling in, I had a bit of a panic attack. What will I do when she leaves the ne

“THERE’S NOT ENOUGH OF ME to go around,” I told my husband. A friend’s father had died, and I wanted to make her a meal. I hadn’t talked to my grown kids in several days and wanted to check in with them. Another friend was facing tough medical issues

I STARED OUT THE WINDOW as my friend drove me home from cataract surgery, amazed at how easily I read words and numbers on signs that had looked blurry just hours earlier. Later, I gazed out my kitchen window, shocked at how sharp and clear the outli

I ADMIRE THE GARDEN CULTURE in the suburban area in which I live. Life is blossoming all around. That’s probably a reason why I love the theme of nature Jesus uses in the New Testament. He references nature and agriculture many times in His parables

I’VE BEEN NOTING FOR SALE signs popping up in front yards of houses between ours and those in town. Someday? What home would offer the eclectic blend of must-haves for my husband Bill and me? Hunting land for him, a great view for me, a machine shed

YEARS AGO, MY HUSBAND AND I completed a three-week Bible study tour of the Holy Land, a generous gift from a church member. From early morning until late at night, a Messianic Jewish scholar drove us through the land of Israel in a VW bus that didn’t

I SAT AT THE TABLE, spooning jelly beans into bright-colored plastic eggs and filling Easter baskets with chocolate bunnies. My gaze settled on the carton of dyed eggs. How difficult would today’s hunt be? It all depended on who did the hiding. I hid

WHEN I SERVED AS A leader for the international youth ministry Awana years ago, I noticed that some of my little Sparkies (kindergarteners through second graders) had a lot of trouble reciting their verses and simply mouthed the words in a monotone.

WE CHRISTIANS DO THE GOSPEL an awful disservice. We look down our noses at a skeptic’s sin or frown on a sister’s misstep, so easily forgetting the grace we receive every day. I was recently not pleased with my husband. My displeasure was fueled in p

“DOES ANYONE HAVE A PRAYER request?” our worship director asked after choir rehearsal. I raised my hand. “I hit send today.” Tears filled my eyes. My choir friends knew exactly what I meant—I’d finally finished my book and sent it to the publisher. T

IF I’M HONEST, I HAVE to admit I struggle to understand the cross. We live in a world where, at least in modern countries, there is little concept of blood sacrifice. In ancient times, it was the way things were done. People sinned, then brought sacr

I PARTICIPATE IN A WEEKLY online Bible study. At the end of each session, our leader assigns prayer partners. It’s our responsibility to connect, share our prayer requests, and then be faithful to intercede on each other’s behalf for the next seven d

PALM SUNDAY LAUNCHES US INTO Holy Week. Often, we begin this sacred time by embodying the crowds who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem with a great deal of hoopla. We grab our palm leaves and start waving. And yet we know where this is all leading; on Pa

MY HUSBAND, SCOTT, HAS A big birthday coming up. I’m party-planning, putting the pieces into place so that we can really celebrate. My birthday is the day after. When he asked me what I wanted for my birthday I said, “I want to recover from your birt

THIS PAST WEEK, I CAME home to a sparkling, neat house. Laundry done. Dishes put away. It was breathtaking. My husband, Scott, had cleaned house. I’ve never loved him more. “You are in charge of cleaning from now on,” I told him. A clean house is res

OUR DOG, FLASH, IS A cute little Jack Russel Terrier mix. He sits on the back of our couch, gazing out of our front window. At every visitor’s approach, he barks. People are here! But he reacts differently when my three boys get home from school. Eve

MY SON, JACK, IS LESS than a year away from going to college. My husband Scott and I need to teach him everything he needs to know about…everything. We may have left something out. How are his laundry skills? People skills? Egg-boiling skills? Budget

YEARS AGO, OUR CHURCH WENT to see The Passion of the Christ. It left me undone. Good Friday uncensored. Jesus, thorn-pierced, beaten and screaming. The callous laughter of centurions gambling for His robe. The disciples’ betrayal as they scattered. J

I WOKE UP AT 4:30 a.m. The street lights were on, and the moon was still hanging in the sky. After tossing and turning, I got up and worked on my literature-class lesson plans. But before I did that? I turned on the lights. I don’t love the dark. I a

A NEW BOOK BY ONE of my favorite authors arrived in the mail. Within moments, I was hand in hand with the protagonist, engrossed in a good story. But the best story of all is the one that took place on Resurrection morning. Can’t you see it? An angel

FORGIVENESS IS A PROCESS, NOT an emotion that oozes instantly from our hearts. A child who is being verbally or physically attacked or a parent angry at the bullying of her teenager at school may not want to forgive immediately. As a mom and a grandm

I GO BACK TO THE story of “doubting Thomas” often. There’s something about his character that intrigues me. Did his actions speak of a certain personality type, not just hardened cynicism? He seems pragmatic and envious of the other disciples’ claim

“GRANDMA, I KNOW IT’S NOT good to be mean to our friends, but it’s okay to be mean to bad guys, right?” I marveled at the theological discussion generated by this precious four-year-old. “No, honey. Jesus tells us to love even our enemies.” Her foreh

I FOLDED THE SOFT VINTAGE handkerchief and tucked it into the card it arrived in. My friend Judy had a beautiful tradition of sending them to women who’d lost someone they loved. She’d sent me one when I was going through a divorce, knowing from expe

“LET’S CHOOSE TO HAVE A good day.” I’ve heard my daughter, Holly, say that to her older children on more than one occasion. Maybe they had brought a bad attitude to the breakfast table, grumbled about the family’s plans for the day, or complained abo

IN A HOUSE OF BOYS, most material possessions do not last long. Even as I type, my computer is leaning on the diagonal and the left side is completely open, revealing its mechanical innards. How can this be? I have pretty strict rules regarding the u

MY PRINTER SOFTWARE HAS THIS nifty photo-editing tool that allows me to significantly improve my looks with a single mouse-click. Suddenly, my skin is silky, vibrant, and wrinkle-free. How very nice! If only it were so with my spiritual life. While w

WHEN MY HUSBAND, GENE, AND I decided to sell our house years ago, the real estate agent made suggestions about how to prepare it prior to listing. “Take personal photos off the walls,” she said. “Anyone who views the house needs to visualize their fa

I ADORE FLOWERS, AND MY husband, David, enjoys working the soil, so every year our yard comes alive with blossoms, from crocuses to irises to roses. You can almost tell the month by what’s blooming. Maintaining our garden requires regular attention,

Every attempt has been made to credit the sources of copyrighted material used in this book. If any such acknowledgment has been inadvertently omitted or miscredited, receipt of such information would be appreciated. Scripture quotations marked (AMP)