Category Archives: Christian life

3 Reasons I Need God

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sunrise

Have you ever faced a new day with an overwhelming sense of inadequacy? Truth be told, we are inadequate. We just forget that sometimes.

In a recent moment when I was faced anew with my insufficiency and my need for His sufficiency, I jotted down these thoughts—three reasons I always need God and three familiar promises God has given to meet them.

1. Because I can’t do it on my own, I need His strength.

Like the independent toddler, I like to “do it myself!” Or, sometimes, I just forget that help is available and assume I’m on my own. Until I realize (again) that I’m not strong enough—that to do anything worth doing, I need God’s strength. Continue reading →

Book Review: Plowed Under by Amy Carmichael

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Plowed-Under

I “read” my first Amy Carmichael biography when I was probably about five years old. My mom read With Daring Faith to my sisters and me at the lunch table—a chapter every day.

I was not only fascinated—I was changed. Although I couldn’t have articulated it at the time, Amy’s walk with the Lord, commitment to pure motives in spiritual work, and passion to reach “the least of these” made a deep impression on me. As a teenager, I read a fuller biography of her life, A Chance to Die.

This summer, I had the opportunity to read a newly republished book Amy wrote in 1935: Plowed Under: A Young Girl’s Obedience. God’s Ever-Present Grace.

This relatively short read (140 pages—I read it during a day of travel) was encouraging on multiple levels. Continue reading →

What Do I Call You?

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father-daughter-hands

In my first month of college, I met a student whose name was Elizabeth (name changed to protect the…well, neither guilty or innocent…just the named). I had heard others call her Liz, so when I actually met her, I asked her which name she preferred.

“My friends call me Liz,” she explained…and then continued, “You can call me Elizabeth, at least for now.”

Wow, I wasn’t quite expecting that. I never did have the nerve to ask her if the “for now” had ended. Frankly, I never got to know her well enough to think I was ready to ask. Elizabeth is a fine name, but in that relationship, it was a bit of a block. Continue reading →

What Happens While We Wait

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bench

“So, what are you going to do this afternoon?”

[Grunt]

“What do you like about school?”

[Grunt]

Earlier questions had received similar answers, and Natalea and I were running out of questions for entertaining the six-year-old in the car. I had given him and his mother a ride home from church, and we were stopped at the store while she made a quick trip in.

In the hot car with a restless six-year-old, quick was seeming pretty long.

“I know! Let’s play a game—let’s see who can see your mom first when she comes out of the store!” (Yes, I know that is a boring game. I was at the bottom of the barrel—“I Spy” was next.)

But to my surprise, this was the moment Nicholas finally had something longer than a grunt to say. Continue reading →

Desert Rainbow

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rainbow

It would not have made a difference which side of the bed I rolled out of yesterday morning. From either side, the day didn’t look bright. Too much to do with too many loose ends hanging. Even the sky was overcast.

By the time I took my morning walk, it was drizzling. One more strike against the day. What we really needed was a good shower, not a few drops. Even in the desert, we expect (and need) some rain. And we have really needed it lately.

I had a meeting scheduled for the first part of the morning, and I knew I needed to leave the house early to prepare for it. Five minutes later than I had planned, I stepped out the front door with a grim attitude and a cloudy perspective.

And then I saw it—the rainbow. It was the kind of rainbow that forces you to stop and makes you suck in your breath quick. Vivid and brilliant, it stretched across the sky forming a full and perfect arch. Continue reading →

5 Reasons it Is Wise to Pour Out Your Heart to God

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waterfall

I taught last Sunday on Hannah and her prayer in 1 Samuel 1. It turns out that Hannah’s story is about far more than intensity in prayer.

It is about a woman who poured out her heart to everyone but God. And it is about the change God worked in her when she poured out her heart to Him.

As a cross reference, we looked at Psalm 142—another account of someone who poured out his heart to God. This time, it was David in a cave.

In the seven verse from Psalm 142, we drew five reasons it is wise to pour out our hearts to God.

1. Because God hears

I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him; I shewed before him my trouble.—verses 1–2

Even when you pour out your heart to a friend, she may or may not accurately interpret the cry of your soul. God always hears, always understands, always listens with compassion. Continue reading →

Power Bigger than Enough

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candle-warmer

After helping to clean up several wax spills on carpet, I could understand why the Deans’ Office made a rule that dorm residents could no longer keep a candle warmer on the window sill in the bedroom. From then on, candle warmers would be relegated to non-carpeted areas.

My roommate, Sonia, had a candle warmer. She promptly moved it to the sink in the bathroom.

Bad idea.

What the dean’s office failed to consider was that while hot wax is difficult to clean from carpet, candle warmer cords are more likely to be tripped on in the bathroom…which is exactly what happened to Sonia’s candle one morning.

Bad timing.

It is never convenient to clean shattered glass and melted wax off a tile floor. But it’s really inconvenient when you have to do it less than ten minutes before you are supposed to be seated in your first class for the day. As you can imagine, Sonia was distraught. Continue reading →

If by Amy Carmichael: Book Review

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desert-sunset

The copy of this book in my library would be more properly titled When than If. I can’t read more than a few pages (if that) of Part 2 without being convicted at the weakness of my love.

Part 1 of this little book is really an introduction. In a few short pages, Amy shares how the book came to be written and how to read it.

Part 2 is the meat of the book. Here we are invited to compare our love for the Lord and others to the gold standard of love—the Cross. Each page (in the printed version) is comprised of one paragraph that begins with the word “If” and ends in the phrase “then I know nothing of Calvary love.” Continue reading →

Two Lattes and a Basement Full of Toilet Paper

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latte

Choose any Sunday afternoon from 1983 (the year my grandma began to go blind) to 1999 to sit in my grandparents’ living room in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Make yourself comfortable on the couch, and enjoy a scene I observed many times.

My blind grandma is seated in the small gold recliner in the corner. She is leaning forward, straining not to miss a syllable of what is being read to her.

My Aunt Carolyn is seated in the blue chair in the opposite corner reading aloud…none other than the weekly grocery ads.

Yes, the weekly grocery ads. Aloud.

The audio content in the room went something like this: Continue reading →

Headbands Don’t Stretch

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wide-headbands

If it was an obsessive compulsive disorder, it was one that all of my sisters have shared. Strangely, I’ve never heard of other little girls with the same issue, so maybe it was more of a genetic issue.

Or maybe since I’ve never before talked about it publicly, I should suspect others are also hiding behind their silence.

Well, I’m ready to bring it out into the open:

I’ve broken more headbands than I can count.

There, I said it. Continue reading →