Shining
I love picturing ideas in my head to help me understand God’s activity in my life. Biblical images, for example, of God’s guarding care prompted the book Guarded by Christ. I loved picturing myself in the fortress of God’s love and imagining a castle to help me. Of course, every day, I picture myself as […]
Back to It
Early this morning, I traveled to campus to peek into my new classrooms, pray for students who will arrive to my Tuesday / Thursday classes, and get organized for a brand new semester. Things are finally starting to feel “normal” after the COVID years. It’s hard to believe what it used to be like: masks […]
Equipped with Psalm 37:11
All night and today (with a terrible migraine!) I meditated on Psalm 37:11: The meek shall inherit the earth and delight themselves in abundant peace. I spent some time thinking about the word “meek.” It means humble, poor, afflicted, and downcast. I considered how God reserves a special blessing for the meek, and in Christ, […]
In Spite of You
Something I always worry about involves a migraine striking on a day I need to teach or speak. Well, this morning, a migraine came! Perhaps the colder weather, perhaps something I ate, perhaps a night of poor sleep—who knows why? Even after taking medicine for the pain after the aura, a migraine effects can last […]
Thinking About “Wellness”
This semester, I’m on a new committee to think about student well-being and success. Serving on the Student Well-Being and Success committee for the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State means I’ll spend a significant about of time learning about these ideas of well-being and success. I’m already applying the skills I teach in advanced […]
Decisions, Decisions
I want to move into 2023 with clarity. I want to know I’m making the right decisions about where to spend time and invest energy. As I plan my To-Do list today, I realize how many choices I could make in just one day. What do I say yes to? What do I decline? Have […]
The Psalm You Need Today
Do you remember how I told you that I read Psalm 18 as a young woman so much that it disintegrated? It’s true! It’s missing from my old Bible, worn away from highlights, notes, tears, and coffee stains. In my new Bible, I’m always so delighted when I arrive at Psalm 18 as part of […]
10 Years Later
This past weekend, I spoke at the Cru Dallas Winter Conference on Seated with Christ. I began speaking on Ephesians 2:6 in 2013, so I’ve been giving this message for 10 years! What a joy! In that time, I’ve learned more and more about how to apply the truth of being seated with Christ to […]
Leave the Results to God
I’ve learned a few things after over a decade of public speaking and 25 years of teaching in college classrooms. The one thing I know now is that you can never really know what people are thinking. Sometimes, I think I’ve done a horrible job, and an audience seems bored and unimpressed. Later, I find […]
Happy New Year 2023!
As you’re reading this, I’m in Dallas at the Cru Winter Conference to speak on Ephesians 2 on being seated with Christ. What a life-changing message I continue to preach to myself daily! I love Ephesians 2:1-10 as a fresh start to a fresh year because it tells us everything we need to know about […]