[Please join me in praying for children and families on Thursdays this year.] As I write this I am studying Esther’s story. There are many interesting facets to the story, but one that caught my attention is the importance of her identity and community as a Jewish woman. As youContinue Reading

In the book of Esther there are four main characters: King Xerxes, a Persian King who reigned over the Jews who had been exiled from the Jewish homeland; Haman, Xerxes’ right-hand man who hated the Jews and wanted to destroy them; Mordecai, a Jewish man descended from the original exiles;Continue Reading

“Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” (Psalm 31:24 NIV) [Please join me in praying for our nation and world on Tuesdays.] Current news stories: These and many other pieces of news today can seem rather overwhelming. Who has the emotional bandwidth to absorb so many terribly hardContinue Reading

Truly my soul finds rest in God;    my salvation comes from him.Truly he is my rock and my salvation;    he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.” (Psalm 62:1-2 NIV) Next weekend our church is hosting a two-day conference which will draw between 200-300 women from a variety of places, denominations, and ethnicities. OurContinue Reading

[Please join me in praying for Jesus’s Church on Sundays.] “I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me.He freed me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4 NLT) In the winter/spring of 2020 our world was turned upside down by the COVID-19 virus.   Leaving the politics of this asideContinue Reading

On the Lord’s Prayer: “If you are interested enough to have read thus far you are probably interested enough to make a shot at saying your prayers: and, whatever else you say, you will probably say the Lord’s Prayer. “Its very first words are Our Father. Do you now seeContinue Reading

Hopefully after so many decades as a Christian I am not so foolish to believe that I understand God and see everything from his perspective. Instead, actually, I realize that while I can grow in my knowledge of God, I certainly do not have his depth and breadth of understanding.Continue Reading