“I is for Indian.” So said the coloring sheet on my daughter’s desk her first day of kindergarten. The Indian in the picture wore a wide, feathered band around his head. Oh, the sweet lessons and fun, colorful ways of teaching the children. The teacher had a big job. She taught her students the alphabet, numbers, how to read, write, and spell, and manners and orderliness like raising their hands to be called upon to speak, lining up to walk to the cafeteria, and saying plea

Whether your finances take a hit when the mail runs or a puppy puddle soaks your sock during your morning dash, challenges will find you. One of my latest was exploding a glass of milk on the kitchen floor at nearly midnight. I was tired, had more to do before bed, and had to get up early the next morning. I wiped milk off the floor, fridge, oven, and cabinets, quit looking, and left cleaning sticky off the floor for the next day. If only that was as bad as challenges get.

“…I have loved thee with an everlasting love….” Jeremiah 31:3 KJV God loves you. Can you see His love from where you are? The autumn day rose in glory of thick, saturated, blue sky, bushy, mostly green trees that shirred in the breeze, and yards scattered with the season’s first fallings. The leaves’ crunchy, brown remnants often lately appeared in my house, carried in on shoes and furry dog feet. My daughter and I decided to take our work outside. She perched at the po

We walked, loosely grouped, through the wide corridor of the hospital. White, white, white surrounded me. I pushed to keep up, walking in back as we headed toward the exit. We pretended we were okay. I passed a pillar to my left as my head swam from the rising mixture of fear and grief. There were already so many challenges…. As a mom, I was utterly heartbroken. Why this, too? “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Cor

If you’ve watched a sword fight, you know a sword is a weapon of attack. But consider how many blows are deflected by the sword. It is also a defense! The Word of God is called the sword of the Spirit and is included in the armor of God that scripture commands us to put on. Ephesians 6 says Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about wit

“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Propitiation means atoning sacrifice. Jesus died on the cross as an innocent man and as God come in the flesh, giving His life to atone, or make up for, our sin so we didn’t have to be eternally punished for it. Jesus took our place and our punishment. And He did so willingly. Willingly . That word. It doesn’t mean Jesus wanted to die and was no

This piece began at my kitchen sink last year near Thanksgiving. I finished it this year on Thanksgiving Day. Please enjoy "Family Dishes." Scraping leftovers out of my good, burgundy stoneware 9x13, I thought back over Thanksgiving dinner with my siblings. Because this dish was employed with leftovers from Thursday’s baking, to take casserole to our Saturday gathering I had used two separate, smaller baking dishes, one of which was an old-fashioned 6x8 ceramic dish, a Pyrex

My grandparents lived on a small, bountiful farm in southern West Virginia. They grew various crops. There was the potato patch, the...

I have been a holder-on, a lingerer, not always eager to turn the page to meet the unfamiliar. Some pages turn however warm or unwelcome...

I want to thank God for the inheritance of overcoming He gave me. If you are a blood-bought, born-again believer in Jesus Christ, you,...

God is with us. The word says God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the...

I had been in a season of soul-searching, repentance, and healing, seeking God’s direction for the way forward. Uncertainty and upheaval...

Whether your finances take a hit when the mail runs or a puppy puddle soaks your sock during your morning dash, challenges will find you....

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”...

Swinging and singing with my sisters on our backyard swing set was one of my favorite pastimes growing up. We loved to swing! We swung on...

I recall writing papers for school. There were steps to it: brainstorming, outlining, writing the rough draft, editing, then writing the...

Gracing the living room wall of my childhood home hung a picture of Jesus standing outside a rustic, arched, wooden door, his hand poised...

Before my Shorkie dog, Daisy, got used to baths, getting her near running water sometimes activated her survival instincts. She’d start...