• Essays - Faith - Family - Internet Addiction - my story - Potpourri

    A blogger’s loss & gain

    [cp_dropcaps]H[/cp_dropcaps]ardly a week goes by that I don’t think (or mutter aloud) that this or that blog or twitter account will have a crash.  In just a matter of time there will be an incident or an avalanche of incidents that will take a blogger to an intersection in her life where she’ll be broadsided some Thursday afternoon and she’ll sit on the floor, head in her hands, crying out to God for His mercy.  But for now, she doesn’t  ask for help because she doesn’t know she needs it.  Yet. Such was the case for me… going to bed…

  • Devotionals - Faith - Family

    Seeing Beyond What You See

    So much of the time we just see what we see and go on.  We hear what we hear and move on.  How are you? Fine, thank you, how are you? Fine. That’s nice. But that’s not really what’s going on.  Or, that’s not all that’s going on.  It never is. A friend of ours had been battling the ravages of cancer for many months and was ushered into glory a few days ago.  I learned so much from him… the way he lived and the way he died was so instructive. He’s now seen the glorious morning beyond the…

  • Faith - Family - Heart-Attack-recovery - Potpourri - Slices of Life

    songs for seasons

    Just recently I was sharing with my church family the many times the Lord has given me a song for a season — songs playing in the theater of my mind in different seasons.  Through the years, here in this blog, I’ve shared clips of songs or meaningful words that have carried me through difficult days or trials.  Interestingly (and thankfully!), the Lord has often used music to direct or focus my thoughts.  When my mind would tend to wander in caves of worry or despair, songs have been my pillar of fire in darkness; songs have been my anchor…

  • Family - Heart-Attack-recovery

    A new day

    Throughout the seemingly long afternoon I received surgery updates from the nurses and soon I would hear the words I longed to hear:  He’s doing fine.  After Dr. Ryan explained a few specifics about the surgery, he said Wes was very cooperative throughout the surgery.  I still wonder what that meant. 😉  Then he asked if I had any questions.  I thought, Owow — I ought to have some questions — I’ve had all afternoon to think of questions — surely there are some important questions one would ask at this point.  All I could say was, It’s a new…

  • Family - Heart-Attack-recovery

    Then came the morning

    At some point in the night, I went from the chair beside Wes’s hospital bed to the couch at the window… the shade was down to darken the room but I was suddenly aware of the bright overhead lights in his hospital room.  The morning had come — and true to the testimony, all I knew of that morning was that Providence had risen before the sun. I thought back on the previous Wednesday afternoon… I’d come in to the dining room having spent the better part of the day working in our gardens. I was doing some preparation for…

  • Family - Heart-Attack-recovery

    Our times are in His hands

    On that Friday afternoon it seemed we were leaving with more questions than answers — more of a dilemma than a solution.  Strangely, as I look back on the whole sequence of events, it wasn’t necessarily the wisest thing to do—to leave the hospital.  But at the time, it seemed like the logical next step — even though we weren’t exactly thinking in or planning for sequential steps of action. Earlier in the day, when the doc had said bypass surgery was the next step, my husband thought he needed more time in order to plan for and schedule such…

  • Family - Heart-Attack-recovery

    Providence will rise before the sun

    I haven’t written in awhile… well, at least not here on my blog—mostly bcz I’ve not really had motivation to write.  Words… gazillions of words are posted day after day and so many are worthwhile—but in the heaps of gazillions of words so many worthwhile things are buried.  I receive and delete entries every day.  You probably do, too.  I guess I’ve not wanted to add to the heaps of words — or to the trashbins of email accounts, either.   I love to write.  I love to share what the Lord is doing. But I’m also really insecure about writing. …

  • Devotionals - Family - prayers and answers

    gleaning

    Each Tuesday morning I make a short trip north in our little town to a church where I join others in gleaning what the Lord’s provided.  It dawns on me that each week that’s not all He’s provided and the purpose for me being there isn’t simply to glean.  But I miss that truth sometimes in my gleaning hustle and bustle. Gleaning’s a lot like other stuff that has to do with food.  You know what I mean, gleaning?  It’s where there are boxes and boxes of breads and fruits and vegetables that have been culled from, primarily, the different…

  • Faith - Family - marriage - Slices of Life

    Someday an Heirloom Marriage

    Someday an Heirloom Marriage  by pamela spurling written year-2000 I pray as we sit here at  the kitchen table, that what I share with you today will be a blessing to you and a blessing in your home—I pray it will maybe even change the way you look at your marriage and perhaps it will never be the same again. So… Your Marriage is an Heirloom. An heirloom that, depending on its value, will be passed down for generations… I think most times, women don’t have any idea the value of what they have in their hand and that it…