Following Jesus means that we will at some point be able to experience the presence of God and to be present to whatever is happening right now in our lives. To be present means that we are free to just be and to enjoy what is happening right now, to be able to clearly see […]

  Jesus’s life here on Earth promised many things: God’s love and forgiveness for us, God’s care for the poor and needy, God’s purpose for us in this lifetime, and so much more, including resurrection after His death on the cross. Could there be a more horrendous death than dying on the cross? But that […]

Fruit of the Spirit Kindness, Goodness and Gentleness   Kindness, goodness and gentleness are love in action in this world, with everyone we meet, with friends and family and enemies. The ability to be kind, good, and gentle grows in us—like all the fruit of the spirit–as we follow Christ in our lives, especially as […]

This week I want to highlight more experiences with the Holy Spirit, this time from readers who shared their stories of encounters with the Holy Spirit after reading last week’s post. I have only done some minor editing. I apologize for the length of this post, but I wanted to include them all.   Whether […]

If you ever wonder about the Indwelling Spirit of God and what He might be saying to you, the first thing to know is that His voice in our minds is usually the one we respond to this way, “Oh! No! I couldn’t do that!” as we dismiss what He whispers to us. So the […]

As we surrender our lives to God and follow His leadership in our lives, there is one issue that seems to come up late in the process. Just as in my married life, where it took Hank and I 15-20 years to get to the point of no longer taking his anger at me and […]

  God is the gardener, the pruner of the vine which is His son, Jesus Christ. Where we fit into this metaphor is as the branches off the one true vine. As the Gardener prunes our branch, He heals our sufferings and discards the unnecessary or the aberrant. He will bring us to our true […]

“As the deer pants for streams of living water, so my soul pants for you, my God.” [Psalm 42] Your presence is an essential to my life, your guidance what I live by, your healing and transformation my joy, your insights into loving you carry me, your inspiration that I depend upon for my blog […]

There are, of course, many ways to pray, and many emotional states to pray from. We can pray in anxiety or in desperation even or in a relaxed state, at peace. I am sure that God doesn’t care about our emotional state when we pray, but I am convinced that He cares about whether we […]

Pain and suffering are greatly misunderstood in this world.  It is part of our existence, in both the plant and animal kingdoms, that things can happen that maim or hurt or try us, that can cause us great suffering, illness and even death. We choose to see the pain as unnecessary, as totally preventable; so […]