Devotions
For Mom – Isaiah 49:15, 66:13
Being ‘Mom’ without having a mom can make not just Mother’s Day but any day of motherhood a bit difficult. Every new and happy milestone my children face often comes tainted with a smidge of grief, envy, fear, and even resentment. Every new season comes with unanswered questions too. What did she do when I was this age? How did she manage this situation? How did she [...]
A Near Miss – Psalm 46:1, Romans 8:31
A near miss. That’s what it was. The eighteen-wheeler barreled on down the road, but I sat there shaking. With white knuckled grip on the steering wheel, I felt a flood of gratitude mingled with that torrent of fear. I pulled at my seatbelt to remind myself, yes, I was okay. I’d gotten out of the way in time. I’d dodged, swerved, braked just enough to miss [...]
Rain Dancin’ – Hebrews 12:2
“Can we, Mommy?” Three pairs of little eyes stared longingly up at me. They wanted to go rain dancin’. To jump in puddles. To shuffle their bare feet over the wet grass and have their toes and bottoms wriggle and slosh through the water that flowed along the curb’s edge down by the street. But I hesitated. All I could think of was the effort it would [...]
Beautiful Sacrifice – Isaiah 53:2
Not long ago, I came across an incredible story—the story of Mary Ann Bevan, the “Ugliest Woman in the World.” She was actually a beautiful woman in her youth. She married and had four children. She was educated as a nurse and quite prosperous. Yet in her early thirties, she developed acromegaly, a disease that caused her face to become distorted and her body to grow abnormally. [...]
Stand In Awe – Psalm 95:2-4
Beside a long, winding two-lane road that climbs up Mt. Humphries almost to its peak is a popular hiking trail called Aspen Loop. At first glance, the trail has no eye-catching features. Its head, in fact, is littered with potholes and mud piles, byproducts of the high-altitude showers that come during fall and spring afternoons. Nevertheless, if you can endure the muck and have the patience to [...]
Copy Me – 1 Corinthians 11:1
“Stop copying me!” My oldest daughter yelled from across the kitchen table. I was busy chopping kale into a salad while the girls smooshed and cut balls of play dough into their own flattened piles of green. As usual, little sister was mimicking everything big sister was doing. “Why does she do that?” My frustrated girl asked, as I turned to intervene. “Because you matter,” I empathetically [...]
Sing a Song – 2 Chronicles 20:21, Psalm 32:7
On Monday, I awoke to a worship song stuck in my head. I’d heard it at church on Sunday and then again on the radio coming home. So, I made lunch while humming it. I cleaned the house, got the kids’ stuff ready for school, swept the driveway, all while continuing to let it roll around in my mind. I even went to bed singing it. And [...]
Laugh A Little – Psalm 126:2
I awoke this morning to the sounds of laughter reverberating down the stairwell just above my bedroom door. My three children were sitting in pajamas at the top of the steps. They’d tied blankets as capes around their necks and were giggling nonsensically about their superhero adventures, imaginative play at its finest. I listened to them carry on as warm, soft daylight began to filter through the [...]
Just Pray – Matthew 6:8, Romans 8:26
In hard times, have you ever struggled with knowing just how to pray? I certainly have. I thought I needed the ‘right’ words for God to hear me. A prayer with eloquent sounding phrases and perfectly articulated expressions would better warrant His answering or at least solicit His comfort and reassurance when I was hurting. When I tried, though, I couldn’t make my prayers sound eloquent. In [...]
For the Nobodys – Psalm 139:14
“I’m Nobody! Who are you? / Are you – Nobody – too?” When I was a sophomore in college, I recited these lines of poetry with gusto to an auditorium full of middle school students. I didn’t comprehend fully then what Emily Dickinson meant about that inner battle we all face between feeling like a ‘nobody’ while secretly wishing to be a ‘somebody.’ All I knew was [...]
Lucky Penny – Psalm 90:4
I sat behind the steering wheel, just listening to my children in the back seat deep in conversation. Their discussion revolved around a “lucky” penny they’d found. It’d been haphazardly discarded next to the cart return area in the grocery store parking lot. My resourceful son, of course, picked it up. One man’s trash, a little boy’s treasure, I suppose. “Sister, look at this penny.” I heard [...]
Give and Take – John 19:28
When you step foot into Mother Theresa’s chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, you’ll find no pews to sit in. No chairs or kneelers. The walls don’t have stained-glass windows. The ceilings don’t have fancy florescent lighting either. You probably won’t even see a pulpit. What will catch your eye is a simple crucifix with two words next to it in bold black letters stating— “I THIRST.” [...]
A Little Soul-Care – Isaiah 26:3
The day was cold and dreary, so I decided to distract myself by driving down to the local mall for an hour to do a little window shopping. As I walked along the brightly-lit halls, every store seemed adorned with the same message. Buy ‘this,’ and you’ll take care of yourself best. Wear ‘that,’ and you’ll get the pampering you deserve. Self-care was everywhere. Self-help on full [...]
Hidden for a Purpose – Exodus 33:11
Have you ever felt like you were hidden in someone’s shadow? Like all the work you do, all the ways you give and serve go unseen or get credited to someone else? In the book of Exodus, Joshua must have felt this way at times. In this season of his life, he was simply Moses’ assistant. Moses led the people of Israel through the deserts of [...]
What Might Have Been – Proverbs 16:9, Romans 8:28
What might have been. Those four words haunt me from time to time. Maybe they do you too. What if I’d stayed in that teaching job? What if I’d stood up for myself in that moment? What if I’d pursued that opportunity instead of letting it pass me by? What if this pandemic hadn’t come? Would life be better now? Would I be happier, more fulfilled? No [...]
Make It Personal – Hebrews 4:12
On the bookshelf in my office sits a small, spiral-bound flip calendar given to me as a gift for Christmas last year. Its thin paper pages number 365, and on each page a scripture passage is quoted—one verse for each day of the year. What’s unique about this calendar isn’t its coloring or calligraphed font. It’s not the quality of the paper either. The calendar, in fact, [...]
You, are Enough – 2 Corinthians 12:9
“You are enough.” The metal sign reads as it hangs by a burlap rope in a tucked back nook of my kitchen. I found it in the clearance isle at Hobby Lobby and thought it would inspire me, motivate me, keep me going on the days when I felt low and it was all too much. The design, after all, matched my style, so I bought it [...]
A Better Kind of List – Proverbs 3:6
“Nailed it!” I said, as I watched my New Year’s resolutions go bad faster than that fancy pot roast I made for dinner last week. “Nailed it!” I said, as my goals go undone quicker than the laces on my daughter's shoes. "Nailed it!" I said, as my plans so neatly typed and hung on the bathroom mirror get splashed with toothpaste water. Again. “Eat more salads." [...]
