A Quiet Place of Grace

I used to dread this holiday as much as Mother’s day when I was barren. It was the heightened attention to what you agonized for and everyone else seemed to have. There were times in the past where I would cry so often during the worship at church, that a tender-hearted woman slipped me a […]

“While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogueΓÇÖs house who said, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?’” Mark 5:35 When I was about five years old, I remember my mother holding my face in her hands and saying with all seriousness, “Now Shannon, if you can’t […]

ΓÇ£Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ΓÇÿFather, save Me from this hourΓÇÖ?…ΓÇ¥ John 12:27a Have you ever been reading through the Word and your eyes get stuck on a verse like a flip-flop on parking lot gum? Bad analogy. But I was glued on the red letter words of Jesus and […]

Coffee has been rendered inoperative this morning. Even at higher doses, there is only so much a person can imbibe without crossing the line and fulfilling the definition of an “addict.” Nevertheless, after a few quick dozes through prayer, I opened the Word and found the Lord waiting. He didn’t mind the fog that permeated […]

Have you ever started your morning in a half-dazed fog of reflections with aimless butterfly thoughts only to find that your time to spend with the Lord has come and gone? Thankfully, it wasn’t one of those mornings. That was yesterday. I actually slept well so I was able to identify the foreign white sprinkles […]

There was a day when Hope no longer answered the door when Pain came knocking. Pain was a faithful visitor who’d come calling each morning as Consciousness arose, enlightening the eyes. Sometimes, he’d bring his companions Self Pity, Depression, Fear or Discouragement. On days when Pain’s voice seemed especially loud and demanding, he’d bring along […]

“Wow it’s hot! Stinky and sticky isn’t it punkin’?” I asked my daughter as I scrunched up my nose and squinted to make light of the miserable temperature. I shouldn’t teach her how to complain but my brain had melted somewhere around “Aisle J” in the grocery parking lot and most of my southern manners […]

I jumped out of the van, donned my not-so-stylish gardening gloves and walked confidently to a conglomerate of black raspberry bushes. I’d been warned that getting to the berries would not be easy due to years of neglect in keeping the weeds out and trimming back the branches. But the value of the berries outweighed […]

I used to have a beautiful Bernese Mountain dog given to me several Christmas’s ago by one of my most special friends. Once this puppy (named Charis) came into my life, I had a companion who never argued, always loved, and forced me to get into shape by her long walk needs. I can’t remember […]

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing…And when the devil had ended all the temptation…Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee…” Luke 4:1-2, 13-14 […]