Prayerwalking: Walking for your health, praying for your community Just over twenty years ago I found myself falling apart physically. I was huffing and puffing going up stairs. I needed painkillers to sleep. And the turning point occurred when I fell down the back steps because my knee had given way. I needed to do something about my health, but I also knew God had been nudging me to spend more time with him. So I decided to get up a little earlier the next day to walk, and while I walked I would take care of my prayer…
Category: Encouragement
This is our archive pageLiving in Joy Is a Choice
I was just eighteen when I landed my dream job writing for our local newspaper during college. After graduation I joined the full-time staff, covering news stories and writing special features and a weekly column where I shared my Christian convictions. This brought invitations to speak for church and civic events. What wisdom did a twenty-something have to share? My favorite presentation, “Living in Joy,” I packed with quotes and Scriptures about happiness and how to find it. Being young and eager to tackle life’s big questions, I didn’t have much spiritual depth—but I offered a solid solution to every…
Make It a Priority to Get Your Rest
“The LORD replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest’” (Exodus 33:14 NIV). I yawned and groaned as I glanced at my goals and my to-do list. Instead of getting shorter, the lists seemed to be growing—exponentially. The past year had been insanely demanding. In a regular year I would have worked a job, invested time into writing on evenings and weekends, and farmed my small acreage. Enough to keep a single woman hopping. But this last year I added designing a cottage and barn to build on my farm. Then I acted as…
Bûche de Noël Yule Log Cake (part two)
No need to put away favorite holiday traditions just yet! I have more to say about the Yule Log tradition. In a previous post, “The Christmas Yule Log (part one)” I explained the origin (see December 23). Since most homes now have central heat and gas fireplaces, the Yule log custom has been replaced by a log-shaped cake called Bûche de Noël. In my new book Sara’s Surprise, a Bûche de Noël cake was Sara’s special Yule Log wedding cake. The name Bûche de Noël originally referred to the Yule Log itself, but was transferred to the dessert after the custom…
When Your Pity Party Gets Shut Down
This Christmas season, my wife and I went to the beach, a post-Christmas, Merry-Christmas-to-us present. We arrived on Friday afternoon and talked about what we could do and where we could go for our fortieth anniversary in 2021. We continued the discussion the next morning until we received a series of text messages. They came from our middle daughter, whose family was staying with us. A tree had fallen and wiped out our power line. Pictures depicted how the line had bent the mast pole, yanked the lines out of the meter box, and fried the inside to the…
How to Have a Better Life in 2020
It’s almost time for a New Year—and a new decade! How will your life be better in 2020 and beyond? What choices will you make to do things differently? Most New Year’s resolutions come and go like snowflakes on hot sand. They don’t seem to last. Instead, why not take time to reflect on and reevaluate your life so you can make better choices next year? Here are some ideas to get started: Reflect. Review the past year. What went right? What do you want to improve? Pray. Take time to get away by yourself to think and pray…
The Christmas Yule Log (part one)
In Sara’s Surprise, a Bûche de Noël cake became a special Yule Log wedding cake. For Sara, it was the perfect cake for her Christmas wedding. But where did the Yule Log tradition come from? The custom of the Yule Log goes back to before medieval times. It was originally based on the Nordic tradition of Yule, a Winter Solstice festival. Burning the Yule Log was one of the most widespread Christmas traditions in early modern Europe, with the first recording of its appearance dating to 1184. For the Christian feast of Christmas, the Yule Log symbolizes the battle…
Blind Spot
“At that time the deaf will hear word-for-word what’s been written. After a lifetime in the dark, the blind will see” (Isaiah 29:18 The Message). My husband Patrick has a little spot below his jaw line that he invariably misses when he shaves. Sometimes he misses it two or three shaves in a row, and then it isn’t just beard, now it looks like hair. That little patch of hair seems to hide in the shadows, difficult to detect, and then all of a sudden there it is. I began thinking about those little spots in my life that…
The Gift of time
The Christmas season is upon us, and with it comes non-stop shopping, gift-giving, and entertaining. Not to mention baking, bow-making, and balancing the checkbook. No wonder it’s hard to find peace in the hustle and bustle of what should be one of our happiest times of the year. Often, in the midst of our hurry, we forget to count our blessings. One of the best ways to do that is to look around us and find someone with a greater need. Most likely we won’t have to look too far. It’s not just the poor, but the poor in…
Making Holiday Memories
Making Holiday Memories Thanksgiving was a traditional family gathering at my in-laws’ home. The siblings came from near and far with their families. Entering the snowy driveway, we’d see the house with seven gables high on the hill. The roar of snowmobiles coming from the fields nearby let us know nieces and nephews were enjoying Grandpa’s toys. Beautiful horses galloped in the fields near the red barn. Approaching the house, we caught a whiff of the baking turkey; then Grandma opened the door and lavished us with hugs. As we sat at the table beautifully set with china and crystal,…