Mornings with Jesus

I LEFT MY CELL phone at the office the other day. I only realized it halfway home, when I reached for the phone on the subway to check the news. Having checked the news just a half hour before. Then I reached for it again to see what the weather woul

WHEN A WRITERS’ CONFERENCE SPEAKER encouraged us to start a Blessings Folder, I knew it would be a good idea. My life was falling apart, making it difficult to see anything positive. The speaker passed out copies of her favorite Bible verse and a fun

SINCE I GREW UP AS a farmer’s daughter, I can easily relate to agricultural illustrations in the Bible. I remember my dad watching the weather, hoping our dusty cotton fields would get enough rain to keep the plants healthy and lead to a good harvest

THERE’S A SONG I LOVE by contemporary Christian band Big Daddy Weave called “My Story.” My favorite lyric talks about the kindness of Jesus and how it draws us in. There are a lot of other concepts like grace, hope, life, etc., in the song, but it’s

WE KEEP SEVERAL BIRDHOUSES IN our yard because we enjoy providing a place for birds to raise their young. In every corner of my garden you’ll find one, nestled among the branches or hanging from a shepherd’s hook. Large, small, and everything in betw

MY FRIEND ORDERED A BUNCH of ceramic mugs that said, “God of All Comfort,” and gave me one as a gift. I’ve used it for years, thinking of her whenever I drink my tea from that cup. But after years of use, most of the words have worn off. All that rem

THIS PAST SPRING, WE PURCHASED a bunk bed. We thought we would put it together in a few hours. Not possible. We could not get the screw holes to line up on the frame. My husband, Scott, and I worked on it. My oldest son, Will, worked for hours trying

RECENTLY MY HUSBAND, LARRY, WAS returning from a men’s weekend fishing trip. Shortly after leaving the lake, several miles outside the small town, he called to let me know his truck had broken down. After trying repeatedly to restart it, he had final

THIS MORNING I NESTLED IN bed, too ill to attend Sunday worship. But I booted up my laptop, grateful that our church live-streams its services. Halfway into a worship song, the feed froze. I clicked a few buttons, and the service resumed playing, but

THE FORECAST WAS GRIM AND getting grimmer by the minute. Hurricane Irma was an epic storm of historical proportions, her exact path completely unpredictable. All of Florida was in her crosshairs. Having recently moved to the state’s beautiful Suncoas

JESUS LOVED KIDS. THE BIBLE doesn’t speak much about His interactions with them except in a few verses, but it’s enough to recognize His kind and loving nature and understand He treasured children. He urges us to do the same. I believe Jesus’s admoni

I HAVE A ROW OF books that I call the Books That Changed My Life. It includes the first book I learned to read (Ann Likes Red), the book that made me fall in love with reading (A Little Princess), and the book that inspired me to want to be a writer

ONE OF MY MANY JOBS as a mom is chief nurse. With my boys, I have seen countless scrapes and bruises, cuts that need cleaning, and, sometimes, stitches. And then there have been the races to the hospital with broken bones. Pain is never fun, but ther

I LOVE BEING NEAR WATER. Whether I’m at the coast, a creek, or a lakeside, it settles me. But my favorite place is along the banks of the river running through my town. The Willamette is wide, with beautiful old trees and countless birds calling it h

SOMEONE HAS APTLY SAID, “IT’S the little things that matter.” That truth materialized a few years ago when a television camera caught Dallas Cowboys’ quarterback Dac Prescott sitting on the bench, chugging a cup of water, and then tossing the cup ove

RESPECT FOR A BLIND FRIEND soared the day we sat together in a banquet hall prior to the keynote address. As the speaker adjusted his microphone, my friend pointed into space she could not see and asked me, “Is he there? This direction?” At first, I

HOPING TO DELAY SPINAL SURGERY, my doctor connected me with a physical therapist who recommended modified exercises to strengthen my core muscles. Since I had planned to leave town for two weeks, I put off starting the program. Then I needed a week t

I DID A LOT OF praying and research before we moved to Florida. Based on a few key criteria, we focused on a particular area where there seemed to be more jobs and services for my special-needs son. We had some misgivings about the housing costs and

MY DISHWASHER HAS A PLACE on the bottom rack where cups and jars don’t come clean. More than once, I’ve run the cycle and then emptied it, stacking the contents in the cupboard only to later find a mug that’s still coffee-stained on the inside. That’

KINDERGARTEN WAS QUITE AN ADJUSTMENT for our youngest, Stella. The first day, she got stung by a yellow jacket on the playground. The second day, she came home and declared, “I hate kindergarten. I cannot be just me. I have to be a different me at sc

ONE OF MY FAVORITE PRAYER practices is hiking. Well, I call it hiking, but what it really is is just walking in nature. After a walk, I feel much more connected. God’s ways seem much clearer to me. This is particularly true if the hike is on uneven a

AS A CONFERENCE SESSION ENDED, a friend leaned close and clutched her white cane. “I have to meet my driver in a few minutes on the lower level. Could you direct me?” She laid her hand on my forearm as we walked miles of corridors to get to the corre

MY HUSBAND, RAY, AND I wake up most mornings in the dark. I often roll out of bed and onto my knees, asking God to frame the day, to make me useful in His hands. We both retreat to our metaphorical prayer closets, before the children wake, for carefu

I’M GENERALLY CHEERFUL AND DON’T get cranky very often. When I do, it’s usually because I’m hungry. I get impatient and snippy at loved ones over the simplest things. All I know is when my stomach is growling, I growl with it. And I will eat just abo

YESTERDAY, I SNACKED ON SOME cheese and nuts right before dinner. When it was time for supper, I didn’t eat much. Since I was no longer hungry, the food didn’t taste great. Years ago, I did a three-day fast. The first thing I ate afterward was a bana

MY GRANDDAUGHTER LILAH WAS A good eater for the first couple of years. But after turning two, she became more finicky. Sometimes she rejected foods, saying, “Oooo, gwoss” or “S’gusting” in imitation of her older siblings. One evening my daughter, Hol

THE OTHER NIGHT, MY SON, Jack, woke me up an hour after I had gone to bed. His dad had warned him against it, but Jack wanted to remind me to order his summer reading books. I greeted him with great anger. I was delirious and had to apologize to him

THE NEXT OWNERS OF OUR house will have more than one head-scratching moment. “Why did they wallpaper this portion of the hallway with three-inch strips?” Because it was cheaper than buying a new roll of wallpaper to finish off that small section. “Wh

YESTERDAY, I MET WITH A diverse group of Christian authors over lunch. It started out as a job-related gathering, a time to brainstorm and critique each other’s pieces. An inspirational writer’s life can be isolated, so receiving feedback from others

SOMETIMES, I WONDER WHY GOD places certain, unique individuals in my life. One such woman I know has no verbal filter. She says whatever comes to mind regardless of its impact on others. She and I used to attend the same church and occasionally spent

WHEN I AM IN NATURE, I often hear Jesus reminding me: “The answers to your questions are right here. Open your eyes to the truth and beauty unfolding all around you. I’m communicating with you through all creation!” Just the other day, I was on a hik

MY SON HARPER HAS A group of friends he’s been close with since third grade. They all play sports together, and they love hunting and fishing and having a good time. I love them all. My husband, Stone, and I enjoy having them at our house for campout

MY TWO SONS ARE ELEVEN-and-a-half years apart, so I had an energetic preschooler and a moody teenager at the same time. Both are tall and lanky, extremely smart, have beautiful, big, brown eyes, and inherited my quick sense of humor—that’s where the

TWO WOMEN IN THEIR LATE twenties or early thirties approached me where I stood at the back of the room after a speaking engagement. “Hi,” said one. “You probably don’t remember us.” They grinned self-consciously and waited for my response. A momentar

AFTER A RESTLESS NIGHT, I approached my desk with dread. I’d prayerfully accepted a writing project, but right after I’d made the decision, the deadline loomed large. Instead of getting started on the work, I was paralyzed by my fear, much like the c

THE APPLES ON THE TREES lining our south yard were small. Even from a distance, my husband, Bill, and I could see that many on the middle tree were worm-eaten or scar-skinned, unlikely to produce food for those of us who care about fresh fruit and ap

WHEN I GOT DIVORCED, I mourned the demise of my marriage—something that was once very much alive had died. At the time, I was in need of peace and comfort. Throughout the New Testament, Jesus was often summoned to comfort those in need. Unlike the ha

LAST NIGHT, I HAD A terrible nightmare—a night terror, really. Lying awake in the darkness like a frightened toddler, I reached for my husband, David, and softly hugged his warm, slumbering body. Just touching my hand to his chest helped settle my mi

MANY YEARS AGO, I HAD a surprise visit from two of the dads in our subdivision. They informed me that my older teenage son, Eric, and his friend had engaged in filthy, offensive talk on the school bus in front of their younger sons. When they said it

I AM CONSTANTLY STICKING MY head out the back door or down the hallway and calling to my boys. “Jack! Will! Addison! Come here, please!” I have things I want to tell them. Like how they need to finish doing their dishes. Or that their monthly letter

“JESUS HAS MORE IMPORTANT MATTERS to deal with than my small problems!” Those words from an acquaintance surprised me, then made me wonder. How did I really feel about that statement? I think I’ve always believed that Jesus cares about the details of

THIS YEAR FOR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT, we teachers got to hear a speaker named Manny Scott. He is one of the original Freedom Writers from the movie by that name. It stars Hilary Swank as the teacher who helped a class full of disadvantaged students

I RAN THROUGH A CEMETERY this morning, Christian rap blasting incompatibly in my headphones. A running buddy told me about a nice route, three miles door to door. The tree-lined run meanders through a large cemetery. I turned under the somber brick a

PSALM 107 IS ONE OF my favorites, because hidden within the poetry is a glimpse into an aspect of our Savior that offers profound comfort. The psalm describes different groups and the specific struggles they faced. Some wandered in the wilderness, fa

I’M A BIG FAN OF quiet hotel rooms when I travel. There’s no place like home—Where have I heard that before?—but I do enjoy a clean, serene hotel room. It always seems to have better pillows than mine at home. Midevening, during a recent hotel stay,

AS WOMEN, WE CAN BE particularly adept at hiding our lights under a bowl, or a bushel, or under whatever might keep us from shining too brightly. Personally, I know that for every time I’ve found myself listening to a male coworker, friend, or relati

MY DOCTOR OF TWENTY-TWO YEARS retired, so I found a new one whose specialty extended beyond symptomatic pain to include whole-body wellness. I first visited my new physician because of recurring hip pain. Though I’ve been fairly healthy, I have dealt

TOPS AND JACKETS OF VARIOUS colors and designs hang in my clothes closet. Some I rarely wear and should probably give away or take to a thrift store. But the denim jacket I bought at a secondhand store is among my closet favorites. I can wear it with

MY FLORIDA TOWN IS VERY artsy. Among the proof is an abundance of visible mosaics. The public library walls boast several colorful compositions. There are several whole houses around town encrusted to the shingles with odds and ends. Wild composition

EVER LEFT A CONVERSATION FEELING cheated because it was so one-way that you might as well have not been present? Maybe you know someone who has a habit of cutting people off midsentence so they can offer their own opinions on a subject. Or someone wh

I TEACH A LOT OF literature from the Victorian period, when the world was reeling from the publication of Darwin’s theory of natural selection. People were losing their faith en masse because they could not reconcile this new science with their versi

MY HUSBAND, DAVID, AND I are very close with an older couple in town. What started out years ago as yard work has developed into an intimate friendship, close as family. With our parents gone, I think Jesus sensed a void in our lives that needed fill

I WAS RUNNING LATE ONE day for an appointment in Manhattan. After I got off the commuter train from Long Island, I hurried to the entrance of the subways and pulled out my MetroCard so I could get on the express uptown. But as I swiped my card and tr

I COULD TELL FROM HIS tone that the cashier was annoyed when I set my basket in the wrong place. I apologized and moved it. When I leaned in close to read the buttons on the debit card machine, I felt him staring at me. “It bugs me when people do tha

WE HAVE TWO CARS. OUR old car and our good car. Our old car is a minivan that looks like we have driven it through a war zone, and the inside smells like old cheese. Our good car is an SUV that we bought used a few years ago. It looks nice and still

I’VE HEARD THE WARNING SEVERAL times. No smoking is allowed in the lavatories on planes. But on a recent flight, my fellow travelers and I were subjected to secondhand smoke of the language variety. In that confined space of the plane’s interior, we

OVER MY CHRISTIAN LIFETIME, I’VE had two life verses—Bible passages I believe Jesus gave me as rudders for my spiritual journey. The first one, Proverbs 3:5–6, which tells me to “trust in the LORD” and “lean not on [my] own understanding,” has guided

THROUGH THE YEARS, MY UNDERSTANDING of prayer has deepened beyond my childish cries for Jesus to help me pass a test in school or convince my parents to let me date. Rather than using prayer only as a way to receive—though God’s Word tells us to ask

MY SISTER-IN-LAW HAS BEEN VOLUNTEERING with a Christian ministry that helps convicts transition into life outside prison. One day, as she met with inmates to help them put together résumés and ideas for future employment, one of the men looked at the

MY TWO-YEAR-OLD GRANDDAUGHTER, LILAH, CIRCLED the living room, showing her finger to each one of us in turn. Beginning with her mommy and daddy, Lilah had six people look at her “owie.” We each reacted by saying something like “Oh no!” or “I’m sorry”

“ARE YOU READY?” MY HUSBAND, Gene, asked. His folks had invited us to their home along with the rest of the immediate family, and the time had come to head their direction. “Ready,” I replied. Ready to make a good impression, that is. I’d married int