“God’s peace will be shown by how we deal with the sufferings that will come upon us.”[1] Dietrich Bonhoeffer That will come upon us? How about has come upon us. And I can only question that when I think about refugees from Ukraine, those living in the increased violence and corruption in Haiti, the countless individuals who are used and victims of sex trafficking asking that question. That’s just the first three sufferers that came to my mind. But everyone who has ever, i

Hey, don’t we all know what it feels like to be so thirsty you can hardly swallow your spit or so hungry it makes you hangry? We also know that without drink and food we will die. Since I’ve been working at Feed the Hunger, Inc. the past year, I’ve had many eye-opening and heart-hurting experiences and true stories about real children and adults who live daily in hunger and thirst.  Drink and food are physical necessities. But we also have spiritual necessities where if we d

Last weekend I get up early in the morning before the sun has crested on the horizon behind the trees.  I turn the heater on in the sunroom and then the lights on our Christmas tree.  I grab a soft blanket to cover my legs and settle in for some time of peace and quiet before the family is up and the day starts moving.  Looking out the window is still several inches of snow that covered just about everything that had fallen a couple of days earlier.  Ahhh… The day it snowed t

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Oops.  I skipped a month.   Maybe because I’ve had more opportunity to live simply with intention lately.  I consider it a gift.  I’ve been overlooking the importance of living the simple-ordinary because busyness can keep me from taking notice of these things.  I’m glad to be joining with Emily P. Freeman and other writers for “Things  I Learned in April”  Here we go – It’s so fun to hear your daughter learn houw to play the ukulele. It’s not an instrument you hear every day

Last year on Christmas night I was outside in the cold, crisp air giving our dog a quick walk.  We were about to open gifts with my husband’s family and my younger nieces, along with our two kids, were chomping at the bit.  It had seemed like a long day. (Am I the only one where Christmas or Thanksgiving days seem to last longer than others?) We had woken up early to do our family’s Christmas traditions, quickly finished packing, jumped in the car, and drove 4 hours to get to

You showed up. I asked you to join me and you did. Your light pushed through the dark shadows victoriously.  Your rays were distinct, bright, almost blinding – glorious. Glory! On our walk this morning, you pierced through the branches that tangle me.  I’ve felt so interlaced with big decisions, with family health, and other things that weigh a little heavier. You arrived though to start my day reminding me of your beauty and the Light You are that conquers darkness. You are

This week on one of these gorgeous fall days – sunny, 70 degrees – I walk to the mailbox to see what our mailman left us.  There’s of course the type of mail that isn’t even opened and torn up and put in the trash like another credit card offer.  It’s our son’s Sports Illustrated magazine, a JC Penny coupon and a monthly newsletter from Samaritan’s Purse.  Each November we fill a couple of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to send to children somewhere else in the world so

Out from no where it seemed, a man was standing outside the glass-wall window.  He wore dark, baggy pants that were frayed at the bottom overlaying grungy, old tennis shoes and an army green type of jacket that looked like it had been in a trunk in the attic for years.  His hair was matted and must not have been washed for who knows how long. He stopped right in front of me and looked me in the eye.  They were big, dark eyes. Today I’m writing for another blog, so come over h

For some reason the other day I stumbled across a link of 66 Hidden Secrets in Disney Movies.  It was pretty amazing to see how many different characters showed up in other Disney movies but usually go unnoticed.   For example, if you saw The Little Mermaid, did you notice that Goofy is in it along with Kermit the frog? They’re there but they’re overlooked or unseen.  But they’re there. It makes me think how that’s so true in real life as well.  There’s so much going on aroun

{If you’d like to see more God Only Knows posts, come on over here} #See

{If you’d like to see more God Only Knows posts, come on over here} #See #unseen

We need something warm and sunny here on the east coast today.  It’s been cloudy and steady rain for over a week now and there’s much more to come this weekend according to those meteorologists. It’s a cold, rainy day so I pulled out some pictures from our trip out west this past summer to look at some sunny, warm places we visited.  I’m taken back to Colorado when we had set up camp along a lake after a thunderstorm.  After the storm passed, it was just in time for us to not

It was 6pm and my hair was still plastered to my forehead from sweating in the cloudless, 101 degrees day. I felt sticky and stinky because this was the second day camping on our family’s stay at Zion National Park in Utah this past June. We had spent the day hiking on wooded trails, under and around waterfalls, and even in the Virgin River up to our knees. When rays of light came through crevices in the formations, I couldn’t help but be in awe. We signed up to take a ranger

It was almost hour number eleven in the car. The morning had started early at 6am. Since then, we had traveled through half of Arizona, all of New Mexico, and now crossed the border into Texas and had about an hour and a half left on that day’s journey. This was the first time I’d ever been to Texas, so I was looking all around in this new territory.  Not long after we were in the Lone Star State, off in the distance, we noticed rows and rows of something.  As we got closer,

It had been raining hard all morning right after we left Mitchell, South Dakota where we spent the fourth night of our trip.  The rolling, grassy hills on both sides of the highway went on for miles, but it was difficult to see how far because the fog and rain kept our view limited.  But after a couple of hours, the rain stopped and the clouds began to break as we pulled off the highway to go to our main destination of the day, and our first campground site at the Badlands Na

This past fall, our family agreed we’d all like to take a road trip across America and back – in our minivan.  Yes, an RV would be nice but a minivan will do.  We thought this summer would probably be the best time because our kids, age 15 and 11, are at a great age to really remember and enjoy it, plus our oldest will be getting a summer job next year!  We feel so blessed and grateful that my husband’s request at work for a 3 week vacation was given. So, we had some planning

Deliver. Deliver the message. Sometimes I can hardly wait to deliver one.  Other times it’s hard to. It’s kind of funny how one of the first things I think of when I hear those words are memories from middle and high school.  Passing notes in class.  Of course today passing notes is called social media but not too long ago – really not too long ago – we used notebook paper torn out of a spiral notebook. I’d write a short note, fold it into a small, yet fancy, rectangle and le

My arms  feel like limp noodle as I type this. I just did something I haven’t done in several years.  Too many years.  I swam laps. How many summers have I spent at the neighborhood pool with my kids?  I think 6 years and I’ve gotten in the water maybe 10 times. Before that, I was at the gym and didn’t use the pool. Goes to show you I don’t like it. I’ve been walking for exercise for several years but have recently gotten Plantar fasciitis and decided to try swimming again.  

Talking politics with others is not my cup of tea.  I don’t watch CNN or read the daily paper.  But there’s some things going on out there that’s hard not to hear.  And hard to hear.  With hearing Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for help from our country who’s leaders are shunning, 21 martyred from ISIS, and the growing dangers of the world, to name a few, all are reasons to be on my knees more in prayer.  Prayer is needed here in Alamance county, too.  NC r