Go Ahead and Pray for Patience
on Nov 3, 2009Have you ever heard or even said yourself: "Don't pray for patience. God might give it to you." In all honesty, I sometimes qualify my prayers. I don't want God to disrupt my life with pain or trouble. So I carefully pray not only for a blessing, but...

A Perplexing Book
on Oct 13, 2009My latest project involves a study of the conversations between Jesus and women. Many of these conversations at first glance seem odd at best. Why would Jesus compare a desperate mother begging his help to a dog under the table? Why did he force the...

The Simple Woman's Daybook, October 5, 2009
on Oct 5, 2009Outside my window...the cool of autumn has arrived. I love autumn. So much, in fact, that we decided to go with autumn colors for our new living and dining room! I am thankful for...home. I have been away all this week with the exception of one day.

An Ineffective Conduit
on Aug 26, 2009For the ten years we have lived in our house, the smallest upstairs bedroom has been without heat or air conditioning. We could hear the rush of air in the vent when the blower turned on but could feel no air moving. Several years ago, after many com...

One Powerful God
on Aug 2, 2009Some of you may be old enough to remember the very first Indiana Jones movie: Raiders of the Lost Ark. One of my favorite scenes is when, in a street market place, Indiana is confronted by a murderous Arab wielding a saber. At first it looks bad for...

Lessons from Weeding
on Jul 27, 2009We had neglected the garden. In one short month, weeds were growing waist-high. They were overtaking the annuals I had so carefully planted and fertilized during the cooler spring months. During the “dog days” of summer, gardening is a hot, sti...

Not a Competition
on Jul 15, 2009"I always assumed God called me to be the best," a young music major confessed to me the other day over lunch. "So I struggled with the pressure of comparing myself to other musicians around me, always finding ways they were better than me. It was so...

Simple Woman's Daybook
on Jul 13, 2009Outside my window... another beautiful day. We have been blessed in Maryland this summer with many days of bearable temperatures and low humidity. I don't take even one of them for granted. I told Steve yesterday we are having a New England summer!I...

Persistence vs. Perseverance
on Jul 4, 2009My daughter and I went to our Weight Watchers meeting Monday morning in total dread. On the way to the meeting, we lamented over all of the slip-ups (O.K., deliberate cheats) we had committed over the past month. The scale would surely reveal just ho...

The Simple Woman's Daybook
on Jul 2, 2009FOR TODAY July 2...Outside my window... bright pink and white impatiens bordering my back yard and fern gardenI am thinking... I have so much to be grateful for.I am thankful for... my husband, who generously just encouraged me to book a flight in S...