Mornings with Jesus

I live in a wonderful little neighborhood. When we first moved in more than twenty-five years ago, my husband and I were one of the younger couples. When our two kids came along a few years later, the neighborhood was starting to turn over—older folk

LIVING IN WISCONSIN, I MOURN that our garden’s growing season is so short. I’m often scraping snow aside, wondering if my trowel will hit frost when digging in our first plantings. I watch others in warmer climates harvesting their crop of veggies wh

MY FRIEND LESLIE HAS ALWAYS been able to make me laugh. We spent ninety minutes on the phone yesterday, sharing the ins and outs of our lives, talking about our families, and rehashing who liked whom decades ago. In the real world, she is a high-powe

YESTERDAY, OUR TWENTY-YEAR-OLD SON, GABRIEL, a college junior, texted my husband and me in our three-way chat: “Dad and Mom, I’e witnessed to three people! Please pray I’’l have more opportunities like this.” Misty-eyed at the man he’d become, my min

I WOULDN’T CALL MYSELF A seamstress, but I’ve sewn enough to know that having the right tools to work with is important. Sadly, I forget this from time to time. One Saturday afternoon, I brought down the sewing supplies from my second-floor closet to

WHEN MY CHILDREN WERE LITTLE, my father-in-law would empty the change from his pockets and divide the coins among the four of them when we ate together after church on Sundays. Sometimes he had only a few coins, but other times, he’d dump whole pocke

WANTING TO BLESS PASSENGERS WAITING to catch the bus in front of our house, my husband, John, and our friend Cyrus bolted a stout, rustic, hand-built wooden bench onto a concrete slab. My son, a professional illustrator, artistically painted it in mu

YEARS AGO, PHOTOGRAPHS OF A similar theme popped up in my Facebook feed. Each picture displayed flat, palm-sized rocks painted white then decorated with a cute angel dressed in blue with a yellow halo. Some anonymous artist had been sneaking around o

OUR OLD HOUSE WAS LESS than 2 miles away from chemical plants and an oil refinery. After tasting the tap water, I started buying bottled water and then splurged on a water purifier that claimed to remove 99.9 percent of contaminants from any water so

ON THE WALL ABOVE THE doorway to my home office is a decal that reads, “Where God guides, He provides.” I’ve seen these words hundreds of times, but their truth was put to the test during my son, DJ’s, senior year of high school. He had been accepted

YEARS AGO, I HAD a sound engineer boyfriend who toured with big-name stars. I was fortunate enough to join him on the road and saw a very famous singer in concert some twenty times all over the world. It sounds glamorous, I know, but it soon became e

ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK, my daughter and I head to a horse farm where she volunteers mucking stalls, tacking and untacking lesson horses, and exercising the older horses. I don’t share her affinity for barn scents, and I don’t have her natural comfort w

I OPENED THE MOTHER’S DAY issue of a women’s magazine and read reader responses to the question, “What’s a positive phrase you remember your mother saying often?” The answers varied from “those hardest to love are the ones who need it most” to “clean

I TURN FIFTY THIS YEAR, and as I grow older, I expect even greater things for my life. However, I didn’t expect to experience drastic changes to my body so quickly. Unruly gray hairs have invaded the top and front of my head, replacing my curly black

MY YORKIE PUPS MADE a game of batting back and forth the cords of our picture-window blinds, creating a tangled mess of the strings. Then, my robot vacuum sweeper finished off the job when it swirled the cords around its beater bar. I managed to free

OF ALL THE FRUIT of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22, patience is the one I need to work on the most. I can spend two hours watching a movie, four years earning a college degree, and decades learning how to be a good wife, but when I need a prayer

THE TRAIL BISECTED A COOL, dark section of forest. The scent of loamy soil and spicy cedar mingled with the fragrance of the evergreens to create a lovely perfume. Just ahead, the trees opened to a small meadow, a natural cathedral of sorts. At the b

I OFTEN SEE HERONS STANDING in ankle-deep water when I walk along the Fraser River near our marina. On one occasion, several stood in a cluster, enjoying the sun’s warmth. Suddenly, a single bird took flight. It circled above its buddies and then lan

I LOVE TO WALK WITH my friends. Grabbing a cup of coffee and heading down to the Greenbelt, the path by the Boise River, rejuvenates me. We catch up on our kids. We discuss the wildness of life, how just when we think we have it all figured out, some

I RECENTLY ENJOYED A CONVERSATION with one of my college writing students about her manuscript. We discussed metaphors and symbols, dialogue and flashbacks, scene structure and word choices. We were speaking the same language. Because her story inclu

WHILE WATCHING THE NEWS ONE night, I heard a story about the shortage of blood across the country. A plea was issued for donors. It had been a while since I had donated, so I promptly made an appointment. Upon entering the donor center, I found every

MY SON ISAAC WAS STARTING middle school in the fall. Oh, boy! Middle school is scary under the best of circumstances, and the prospect of Isaac, who has Down syndrome, being victimized by bullies was more than I could bear. I wanted him in a safe sch

MY HUSBAND AND I ADOPTED children from foster care, and recently our twin girls turned eighteen. They decided to reach out to their biological mother, whom they hadn't seen in a decade. Our daughters had high hopes of a good relationship with her but

JEWELRY HAS NEVER BEEN MY thing. I wear two rings—my Texas A&M college ring and my mother’s wedding band. My three-yearold granddaughter, Blake, likes to play with my rings, and because I’m a pushover, I let her. But I keep a close eye on Mom’s ring.

I DECIDED TO SEW a quilt—nothing elaborate, maybe a simple patchwork design. During a little internet research, I discovered the quilt capital of the world is located only hours away in Hamilton, Missouri. A perfect excuse for a road trip! A friendly

WHILE IN COLLEGE, A FRIEND and I attended a weekend leadership retreat. Before the first session began, our mentor led us in an exercise about worry. He told us to make a list of everything that was distracting us. My list was long and included thing

A CAR SLOWED DOWN IN front of the stone chapel where I stood, without my glasses, after a Sunday morning service. The driver, a fellow church member, called to me, “Did you get contacts? Or laser eye surgery?” The answer was neither contacts nor lase

ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF my life was accompanying my Korean War veteran father on an Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C. At eighty-eight, Dad suffered from pulmonary fibrosis and was very weak. We’d have a jam-packed itinerary and he’d have to use

THE HERB COMFREY GREW LIKE a weed for me in Michigan, so I brought one when we moved to Wyoming, sure that it would multiply. I watered my comfrey morning and evening, only to find the plant distressed—leaves dry and papery, veins bulging. My comfrey

YEARS AGO, I FREELANCED FOR the weekly newspaper of the tiny village where we lived. My favorite assignments were interviewing community members and writing profile pieces. I soon discovered that each person’s life had an overarching theme that emerg

I SAT ON THE FLOOR, arranging plastic farm animals with my toddler granddaughter. Though Chloe rubbed her eyes and yawned a few times, I worked to engage her until lunch, ensuring a long afternoon nap. She smiled at my animated conversation between a

ONE OF MY FAVORITE RIDES at a theme park is actually more of a virtual-reality experience. The seats move slightly, creating sensations of flying up and down and banking around the scenery projected on the screen. Scents waft up from orange groves, a

OVER THE YEARS AS I’Ve taken part in outreach efforts to share Jesus with people, I’ve oflered them little pocket-sized booklets about salvation. These little books vividly illustrate how people are separated from God due to their sin, complete with

LAST NIGHT, JESUS GOT MY attention through a crime drama on TV. I learned that forensic investigators can tell where a crime happened by examining sand in the soles of a suspect’s or victim’ shoes. That means, each beach around the world is different

I’M A SALT FANATIC. I’VE been known to even salt tortilla chips at restaurants after dipping them in the salsa. (I’ve checked with my doctor and my sodium levels are fine.) As most people know, salt brings out the flavors of food and acts as a preser

WHEN MY HUSBAND, KEVIN, NOTICED what looked like a rash on my back, I wasn’t concerned. But after I nearly fainted while getting dressed a couple days later, both of us were extremely worried. The emergency room doctor diagnosed shingles. Having hear

THIS WEEK, I FINALLY GOT around to cleaning all the grunge from the bottom of my silverware drawer. I shake my head in shame whenever I take on this chore because it reminds me of a time in my life when I held a less-than-Christlike attitude toward m

AFTER MY FOURTH BOOK—Moving from Fear to Freedom: A Woman’s Guide to Peace in Every Situation—was published, every subsequent idea I pitched to editors for a fifth book was rejected over the course of several years. I began feeling as though my effor

I SAT IN THE STYLIST’S chair, energized for the jam-packed weekend. First, a hair appointment, then helping my daughter-in-law clean the house she and my son were moving into the next day. From there, I’d drive several hours to speak at a retreat. My

I DIDNṔT REALIZE HOW AFRAId of heights I was until my family talked me into zip-lining in an underground cavern beneath the city of Louisville. Geared up and strapped up, I stood on a platform waiting my turn, my pulse elevated. I preferred my feet o

As I WRITE THIS, I’M approaching three months since my mom’s death. Caring for her, supporting her in her final weeks, organizing the funeral, dealing with paperwork—all of it was exhausting but somehow gave me the focus or distraction I needed. I fe

PRAYER IS MY WEAKEST SPIRITUAL discipline. I have daily rhythms of reading the Bible and journaling my thoughts, but I’m often distracted by formal prayer. Most often, I write prayers in my journal, but I consider them second-rate because they are mo

I WENT TO A BRIDAL shower this past weekend at a venue right on the ocean. The oceanside wall of the room was made up entirely of plate-glass windows. Nothing obstructed our view of the cobaltblue sky, puffy white clouds, and dancing waves. As I rave

A FEW MONTHS AGO, I went to a conference, and I took my two preteen daughters. While I attended the sessions, my daughters explored the beautiful conference center. They also learned the phrase, “Charge it to the room.” They’d been standing in line,

A FEW WEEKS AGO, I was talking to my friend Tina about how I have changed over the years—and not in the best way. As a young adult, I was fearless, tackling new situations with gusto. As I’ve gotten older, I am more afraid. How did I shift from being

SOMETHING WAS WRONG WITH EARL, the lovable stray cat I’d adopted. He wouldn’t eat, and instead of snoozing on his chair, he stayed outside. I made a vet appointment for the following day, but Earl didn’t come in that night. The next morning, he was n

MY HUSBAND AND I ARE avid gardeners, so it wasn’t a surprise that for our special anniversary, we traveled to Kauai. On Kauai, known as the Garden Island, tropical flowers carpet the countryside, and blooming vines entwine the treetops. The prized or

I WAS PRIVILEGED TO HAVE a father worth emulating. I’m not uncomfortable with his reputation or the memories he created. I wasn’t traumatized by his words or actions, although I must admit I didn’t care for his choice of socks, and sometimes his ties

MY EARTHLY DAD WAS A great guy, and I enjoyed a nice childhood with him and my mom. He was a strict disciplinarian, though, and my years of young womanhood became a tug-of-war. In the process of growing up, I seemed to lose the closeness—the Daddy-ne

SOON AFTER RETIREMENT, I DECIDED to clean my closet. My unworn teacher’s clothes took up too much space. I thought the process would be easy. But as I sorted through my skinny pants and fat pants and fatter pants, as I pulled blouses off hangers and

LIKE MANY AMERICANS, I DIDN’T know about Juneteenth until it was signed into law as a federal holiday a few years ago. The origins of Juneteenth fascinate me. Even though President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, it t

I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A caregiver. My most important role in this vein may have been as a transport nurse. I careened across hundreds of miles of two-lane roads in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in ambulances with lights blazing and sirens blaring. I e

I WENT TO AN OUTDOOR concert with some friends to hear one of my all-time favorite R&B groups. Before we even made it to the entrance gate, we discovered we had to return a small cooler to the car because we couldn’t take it into the venue. Two of us

MOST MORNINGS, MY HUSBAND, TED, and I take a walk around our neighborhood. We chat, talk about the coming day, and enjoy the sunshine, fresh air, and each other’s company. There are mornings when it’s hard to drag myself out of bed, but I’m always gl

SOON AFTER ARRIVING AT THE Youth with a Mission (YWAM) base in Manila, Philippines, I attended a short worship service. I’d come to live at the center to attend its six-month Discipleship Training School as I searched for God’s will and purpose for m

THE MORNING AIR WAS PLEASANT on the beach when our family set out with our metal detector to navigate miles of white sand near Destin, Florida. I watched the detector head swing left and right. Every now and then, it beeped, prompting one of us to di

I’D BEEN BROWSING THE ZILLOW site for a couple of years as my husband and I planned our move back to our home state. Then suddenly my search results dropped from the usual twenty properties to three or four. It didn’t help much when I reset the filte

A FEW WEEKS INTO MY shingles nightmare, I started to feel a bit better. I could wear real pants instead of loose-fitting yoga pants. My appetite had returned, and I could go several hours without pain medication. I told my husband, Kevin, I believed

IN THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, circumstances beyond my control have dashed one hope after another. For instance, my husband and I intended to invite our marina neighbors into our boat-home for Saturday morning coffee and conversation at least once every

MY FRIEND JESS RECENTLY TOOK a trip overseas with her kids. Upon their return, her kids presented my kids with the barf bag from the plane (clean and unused, of course). In it were small mementos from their trip, including silly things that were give

A FEW MONTHS AGO, I traveled to Kansas with a friend. When I looked at a map, I realized where we’d be staying was only an hour away from where my grandfather had grown up. One of eleven children, Grandpa Fred lived on a farm until the Dust Bowl, whe

I COULD FEEL THE EXCITEMENT as we arrived at the huge parking lot of FedExField, home of the Washington Commanders football team. A friend and I were there for an outdoor Sunday morning worship service with fellow believers. Greeters lined the roadwa

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Our mission is to inspire people to believe anything is possible with faith, hope, and prayer. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Contributors: Becky Alexander, Susanna Foth Aughtmon, Jeannie Blackmer, Isabella Campolattaro, Susan Dow