• There are a few things that are really hard for me to resist:  A bowl of chips with salsa at a Mexican restaurant. A cup of coffee.   And last but certainly not least, when my nephews or niece want something.  If their Uncle Lance and Nana/Aunty Newy can make it happen, and their parents […]

  • I was having one of those mornings. So after dropping the kids off to school, I went upstairs and sat in my boys’ room to pray. It’s actually my favorite place to pray when I have the house to myself. As my prayer time came to an end, I looked down at my phone and […]

  • “Can you pray for me?” How many times a week…maybe even a day…do you hear that? It doesn’t just happen with your immediate circle of family & friends.  One peek on social media and you often encounter a whole other set of requests. And I love that. I love that people reach out to people for […]

  • Family reunions. Feasting on scrumptious dishes. Fun, fun, fun! It’s the holiday season and for most, a joyous time of year. As a teenager looking forward to Thanksgiving, I remember when our family received a phone call that changed our lives forever. My Dad’s sister had been in a terrible car accident and was airlifted […]

  • Evangelism is a big word.  If you’re around my age, this is probably what you think of: Or maybe this: Churches have gotten pretty creative in how they spread the “good news”… Some get straight to the point: I also think of my friends, David & Liney Chacko with Global Renewal Ministries* who are changing […]

  • We have been training our three year- old son to sleep in his own bed. Over time, he has gotten used to snuggling in our bed, so we decided it was time to make a change. This is no easy task. There are nights he cries and sneaks back into our room. Out of sheer […]

  • Several weeks ago, during my prayer time, I began to feel discouraged.  Has this ever happened to you? I looked at the needs that I had written out before me- not my own, but those of the people closest to me and just began to feel sad.  It seemed as though everyone around me was going […]

  • Here’s something you probably haven’t thought of in a really long time: Diagramming sentences*. When you diagram a sentence, you look at the function of each word. Subjects, verbs, and adjectives are usually involved but sometimes you also have a direct object and indirect object. If you are now having flashbacks of middle school English […]

  • Have you ever wanted to curl up into a little ball and cry or crawl into bed under the covers because you felt so disappointed and frustrated that things didn’t go your way?  But, of course, you’re an adult and you opt to take the mature route and hold your feelings in…except for the fact […]

  • As part of my effort to improve my prayer life, lately I have been trying to follow the method of prayer endorsed by Priscilla Shirer in “Fervent”. She uses the acronym “PRAY” as a tool to help people like me have some structure in their prayers. The P is for praise. R stands for repentance. […]