Author: nancy

DO WHAT YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN 8

Encouragement / Teaching

WHAT YOU CAN, WHEN YOU CAN

I woke up yesterday morning ready to embrace the day. After traveling to Houston to visit relatives for New Year’s, I was eager to cook, clean, and jump into day one of my annual Daniel Fast. Mid-morning, mild nausea and an overall icky feeling arrived. I persevered, concocting the two soups already underway until excruciating back pain snatched my breath. Seized by gripping pain and unable to walk, I bent over the kitchen sink. Agonizing over the debilitating pain and frozen in place, I considered the bubbling soup simmering on the stove across the room. The ‘next step’ for the...

All This And Heaven Too 1

Encouragement / Teaching

ALL THIS, AND HEAVEN TOO

She was in a bind. Her appointment began before her husband returned from work, and she needed someone to care for her two littles. The one-hour gap in parental coverage seemed impossible until a friend of mine offered to watch her children. If the mom could bring the kids to Sherry’s home, she would care for them until their father arrived.  Late in the afternoon, the grateful mom delivered her 3-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son to Sherry’s place. Sherry—imagine sunshiny happiness with a playful spirit—greeted the children. Although the young mom and Sherry were close friends, the children did not...

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Christmas

CHRISTMAS

THE STORY — LISTEN HERE MATT REDMON SINGS ABOUT THE “GREATEST GIFT” Click here to listen

ADVENT LOVE 0

Advent / Encouragement

ADVENT LOVE

AD’VENT, noun [Latin adventus, from advenio, of ad and venio, to come. See Find.] A coming; appropriately the coming of our Savior, and in the calendar, it includes four sabbaths before Christmas, beginning of St. Andrew’s Day, or on the sabbath next before or after it. Webster’s Dictionary 1828 LOVE MOVES Thou lovest like an infinite God when Thou lovest; Thou movest heaven and earth to save Thy loved ones. Thou becomest man, a babe, the vilest of men, covered with reproaches, dying with infamy and under the pangs of the cross; all this is not too much for an infinite...

Advent joy 0

Advent / Comfort and Hope

ADVENT JOY

What joy! To think—before the foundations of the world—this moment. This time in history when we find ourselves smack-dab in the middle of the already and the not yet. Christ has already come. In Him we live and move and have our being, but He is coming back. The not yet has us waiting—confident and hopeful of Christ’s return. We join the ranks of those who waited long before we arrived on the scene. Those who knew of what was foretold, believed, lived by faith, but died without seeing it’s fulfillment. Waiting in faith Hebrews 11 recounts the stories of...

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Advent / Comfort and Hope

ADVENT PEACE

ADVENT DEFINED The Advent season is a four week period before Christmas that celebrates the anticipation and coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. The origin of “advent” is from the Latin word adventus which simply translates “coming” or “arrival”. Not only is the Christian meaning for preparation and celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ, his birth at Christmas, but also to celebrate the new life when someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, and lastly, the anticipation of Jesus returning again.  From Crosswalk.com “The Beautiful and Meaningful Purpose of Advent” peace noun 1: a state of tranquility or quiet: such as a: freedom...

ADVENT HOPE 0

Comfort and Hope

ADVENT HOPE

ADVENT DEFINED AD’VENT, noun [Latin adventus, from advenio, of ad and venio, to come. See Find.] A coming; appropriately the coming of our Savior, and in the calendar, it includes four sabbaths before Christmas, beginning of St. Andrew’s Day, or on the sabbath next before or after it. Webster’s Dictionary 1828 ADVENT HOPE THROUGH PRAYER The Valley of Vision – “The spring of my hope” Glorious Jehovah, my Covenant God, All Thy promises in Christ Jesus are yea and amen,and all shall be fulfilled.Thou hast spoken them, and they shall be done,commanded, and they shall come to pass. Yet I have...

Take note 8

Encouragement / Teaching

TAKE NOTE

It was spring. I cannot recall the specifics, only the spectacular nature of the event. Whatever happened seemed worthy of recording—a definite ‘take note’ moment. Grabbing a 3×5 note card, I recorded the incident, including the date in the corner of the card. The thought of documenting miraculous moments seemed like one of those ‘gotta do it’ situations. I looked around my home, considering where I might stash this, and future notes. The enamel bread box corralling the antique rolling pins was perfect. Easily accessible on the kitchen counter and large enough to hold months of memorable moments. Happy, I...

While you were sleeping 0

Encouragement

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

Working quietly in the twilight, I considered my parents—sound asleep about fifteen feet away. An exterior wall and an unconscious world separated us. Early Morning Several years ago, my brother and I constructed a new handrail by our parent’s back porch. With my father’s declining health and my mother as his full-time caregiver having a sturdy railing was crucial. We formulated a plan, gathered tools and supplies, then showed up early evening to make magic happen. My little daddy supervised construction from a folding chair on the porch. The ‘energizer bunny’ (my 90-year-old mother) weighed in on the process by...

substance and evidence 2

Comfort and Hope / Encouragement

SUBSTANCE AND EVIDENCE

You know the feeling—when life careens off the predicable rails or the bottom drops out leaving you grasping at air. Those moments you never imagined—startling like the sinister jack-in-the-box jester. All is well, turning the crank while sprightly music tinkles from within the metal box. Then in an instant—unexpected mayhem erupts. Perhaps that is a bit dramatic but you get the point. Life has a way of catching us off guard.  Surprises, and not always delightful ones, come. I have been thinking a lot about those unsuspected surprises lately. MAKING MEANING From what I have seen, humans like to understand....