As I sat in the afternoon sun, the zinnias in my garden lifted cheery faces. But cheerfulness was not the emotion I felt. Fear threatened like a vice around my soul. I cradled the small bump in my mid-section and cried, “Please, God. Please.” This pregnancy of 1985 had already lasted longer than the previous […]
The Promise – Psalm 91: 7 & 9-10 Read More »
What does it mean to call yourself a ‘creative?’ That you constantly come up with new ideas? That you begin a thought and then take a rabbit trail another direction? Or that your desk is always a mess? My definition of creativity involves two possibilities: For Jordan Raynor, author of Called to Create: a Biblical
Called to Create with Hope Read More »
She always fought for the underdog. The sports team nobody else liked. The almost-invisible missionary. The poorest people living on the other side of our small town. The nurse accused of stealing, as she gave her deposition to the lawyer. “Anyone can make a mistake,” she said. Her compassion came from her own background of
At the beginning of each year, I send my clients a form to reflect and complete. One of the questions on the form is, “What worked for your writing craft in the previous year?” Because if something works, then don’t change it. If it doesn’t work, either get rid of it or set healthy boundaries
Hope in What Works Read More »
The idea came in the middle of a Sunday School class — BC — before COVID. We were reading through Genesis 11 when I suddenly stopped. Here was the tale about a young boy, Lot, who was taken from his mother and transported to another location. For reasons we are not told, Terah (father of
Hope Sees the Women Read More »
My son and I often bond over the National Geographic channel, particularly the veterinarian shows. One of our favorites is Heartland Docs, a husband and wife team of vets in northeast Nebraska. During a recent show, Doctors Erin and Ben answered an emergency call from a horse breeder. One of his prize quarter horses, Lucky,
When I first read The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron, an a-ha flashed. Through its pages I learned creativity is a gift, a blessing from the Creator to each of his beloved children. The more I recognized my own gift of creativity, the more I began to nurture it. Artist dates, inspired by Julia, became