Oh what a lovely thing it is to be wooed! To be wooed is to be taken on a journey with every little surprise thought out just for you. Every detail has been set in place with your likes and passions in mind. He sets the table a special way. He looks nice. He arranges the whole day around you. There is nothing quite like it...(click for more)
My eight-year-old son was researching the house fly for his insect report for school. He is learning fascinating facts such as the fly vomiting out food and then sucking it back up through his “sucker” (Disgusting). So the assignment reads like this in a note from the teacher:
These insect reports will require a 3D model of the specific insect using any materials of their choice. This may include clay, paper or any household items like egg cartons or pipe cleaners. It is up to the student’s imagination....(click for more)
I have been musing on friendship very much in the past months and have realized that you cannot compare or try to have duplicates in friendship. Each person is unique, and that makes each friendship unique. Each individual’s circumstances and growth process and woundedness make a one of a kind friendship. We cannot expect to have in all friendships what we have in one friendship. David and Jonathan's great friendship has components that can inspire us and encourage us. (Click to read more)
Time for Everything by Rebekah Anderson
There has been a lot of joy and hardship in my life so far. God has led me through the good times and the bad. There is a time for everything. In my life there has been a time to speak and a time to be silent, a time to plant and a time to uproot, and a time to mourn and a time to dance. (Click to Read More)
The golden days of summer are nearly behind us. As we anticipate a new season, we give thanks for both the rest and the adventure we enjoyed over the last few months. Maybe you slept in every day and cuddled with your kids each morning. Maybe you climbed a mountain, dined with your best friend at a favorite restaurant, or read a book of the Bible with a fresh, eager spirit. (click to read more)
The Antidote to Apathy – Active Obedience to God’s Word
By Elizabeth Griffin
Seeking inspiration to write this blog for my assigned week, I read through previous postings. I read about Kris Rep’s work in Guatemala and Cathy Taylor and Nancy Aguilar’s accounts of the Nicaraguan mission trip, and I wondered what on earth I have to contribute as I sit in my comfortable home fighting apathy. (Click to read more)
Facing the Giants
by Kris Repp
I am in Guatemala. My last trip here was almost 4 years ago. I am working with the precious children and staff of Escuela Integrada, a school for the extremely poor in Antigua...cleaning their teeth with my ultrasonic scaler. It is wonderful to be able to bless them. (Click to read More)
The Love of God is Greater Far
by Cathy Taylor
Nicaragua is simply a beautiful country. Lying on the 13th degree latitude, the flora and fauna reminded me of Hawaii. We travelled a few hours up from the valley, where the huge city of Managua lies, up to the base of the rainforest where we met the cooler temperatures and tall canopy of trees that dripped with Spanish moss. Our purpose is not to sightsee, but to minister to the most basic needs of the people there. (Click to read more)
by Nancy Aguilar
The Lord answered many prayers on our mission trip to Matagalpa, Nicaragua—from stopping a torrential downpour during vacation Bible school to protecting us from scorpions in a remote clinic. But one prayer, offered long before the trip began, stands out in my mind... (Click for more)
By Cathy Taylor
When I heard my friends wanted to go on a 2nd Honeymoon to Hawaii, I willingly volunteered to watch their two little girls, aged 3 and 1. It had been 20 years since I had little toddlers underfoot so I thought, “How fun to have two cute girls to be entertained by!” When they arrived with all the gear, I had no more room in my dining room and bedroom. After being given all the instructions by the thrilled parents, the reality of what I had committed to do sobered me up quickly...(click for more)
By Nancy Aguilar
Birds sing outside my bedroom window—a sweet prelude to a new day. I love the stillness of early morning, before the house stirs and a rush of busyness sets in.
What’s special about morning?
He hears my voice.
“In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation” (Ps. 51:3)...(click for more)
by Luann Anderson
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:6–11
When Jesus was no longer with his disciples, new words were found by the early Christian community to express the mystery of God’s compassionate love...(click for more)
By Elizabeth Griffin
Jon Friedman of FOX News said, “I think it's unfortunate that [Helen] Thomas's accomplishments may forever be obscured by a scandalous comment uttered in an unguarded moment...(click for more)
A Chink in My Armor
by Cathy Herholdt
“In my alarm I said, ‘I am cut off from your sight!’
You heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.”
– Psalm 31:22
The enemy has found one of my weak spots — something he knew would take me to the brink of despair. It has evoked such fear and panic in me that I feel hopeless, even in God’s ability, or willingness to help me. (Click to read more)
The Women's Retreat audio is now available. Our speaker, Shannon Woodward taught the five following Sessions:
All those in attendance were greatly blessed and it is our desire to share that blessing. You can listen to or download all the sessions here.
True Richness by Freya Kennedy
Isaiah 53 says, “He was despised and forsaken of men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hid their face, we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. (Click to Read More)
by Elizabeth Griffin
The solution to all your problems.
It’s a bold claim to say that I’m going to tell you the solution to all your problems, but I am. There is one thing that can take away all your worry; all your fear; all your striving to do better, be better, be the best; all your dissatisfaction with life and all your restlessness; basically, every “issue” that bugs you. Are you ready to hear it? (Click to read more)
I travelled last summer to the mountains between Austria and Germany for a retreat we were having with our German & French missionaries. From our deck, we overlooked a placid lake there in the Alps and at night I noticed a light on top of one of the distant mountains. (click for more)
By Luann Anderson
My grandmother Filomena lived to be 89 years old. She lived in my neighborhood most of my life, so I enjoyed the time spent and the many meals I shared with her. I didn’t realize it then, but she taught me a lot about food, family, and fellowship....(click for more)
The Activist Doctor
Dr. O's radical roots run deep. Liberal grassroots activism was instilled by her mother, but Dr. O preferred to make her mark by practicing medicine rather than demonstrating at rallies. "I love what I do, it allows my political activism to be my day-to-day life."...(click for more)
It's a baby
Dr. O, MD, took a brief pause to open up her lecture to questions from the audience. A young woman asked about the stages of fetal development. "It's first an embryo, and then somewhere in the 8 to 10 week range... it becomes a fetus," Dr. O explained, "and in medicine, not until it's born, does it becomes a baby. If you're a woman having a baby you want to have, it's a baby from the minute you know it's still an embryo."...(click for more)
Abortion by pill
I didn't know what to expect. After taking my seat in a room full of young women, I looked through our handout, trying to find my place in the lecture. "Medical Abortions...up to 9 weeks...Mifepristone...Misoprostol...uterine contractions..."
At the front to the room stood Dr. O, MD, who runs a private practice, in Seattle...(click for more)
Several years ago, I felt my life spinning out of control. When anxiety surfaced, my heart raced and my body shook. I couldn’t breathe well and I felt fiery needles emanating from my pores. I lived in fear and panic. At one point while driving my van, I screamed like a mad woman and wanted to ram the van into a telephone pole. I must have looked like a nut; I certainly felt like one....(click for more)
