8) Grace Busters
"Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." (II Corinthians 6:1) My efforts to further unravel the mystery of grace led me to believe that God is continually lavishing grace on His…
9) A Higher Place
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace. `~ Helen H. Lemmel Truer words were never put to song. There is a place where the things of earth grow…
10) Hymns from The Zone
Interestingly, many of history’s best hymnists were walking through the midst of deep, deep trial. You get the opposite impression from most of their songs, such as “Like a River Glorious, “To God Be the Glory, “It is Well with My Soul,” or “Just as I Am.” That’s because these…
11) Neola Faith
Long before the concept of The Zone had entered my psyche, my life was being impacted by my Aunt Neola. Aunt Neola, along with her husband George, raised their eight children on a small farm just outside the Nebraska town where I grew up. The 10 of them lived in…
12) Always Learning
Having married in my thirties, I had long accepted that my nieces and nephews might be my only children. I adored them all. Jenny was a shining star, a beautiful girl who loved the Lord. She was a Junior Olympic gymnast, a cheerleader at her Christian high school, an accomplished…
13) Not Alone in The Zone
Has your life ever been touched by a zone dweller? Are you thinking you’ve never met a zone dweller? I’ll bet you have. They’re everywhere. You’ll find them in the most unexpected places. My husband and I had the privilege of delivering blankets to the homeless in Philadelphia a few…
Birthmarks
Have you ever heard a message from the pulpit that truly clarified a mystery, and then, because of its profound personal impact, that message found permanent residence in your heart? One of the most memorable sermons I’ve ever heard came from my Arizona pastor. Even though I heard the sermon…
Getting Real About Pain
On the positive side, we must acknowledge that we’d be in trouble without pain. Pain is the alarm that warns us of injury or illness. Pain causes a response to withdraw from the source of injury or to seek treatment when injury has already occurred. Oftentimes pain is the reason…
Correction
No one likes it, correction that is. No one. It’s rarely ever welcome. It’s never comfortable. It grates against our (human) nature to be reminded that there is much outside our finite grasp of understanding. We want to believe that we’ve “arrived,” that we’ve lived long enough and been through…
Misunderstood
“But you look okay.” How many of you have heard something similar? Oftentimes those of us who struggle with an invisible disability are misunderstood. Because our condition is not marked by a cane, a wheelchair or an obvious physical abnormality, we are deemed to be fully functional and without excuse.…