All Things New Journal

Going back to when I got filled with the Holy Spirit in 1980, the Lord gave me a verse – which I’ve taken as my life verse. It is a familiar one, Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for good and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.“  I took that scripture very seriously and spent a day a week fasting, asking God what those plans were. I also took…

That’s the title of a book by Loren Cunningham, and it describes my life for the last 12 years.  It has been a journey of learning to trust God for finances.  I can only skim the surface in the next few minutes, so I’ll give you three vignettes that paint a picture of what it’s been like. At the end of 2008, my employer laid me off.  It was the fifth time I’d been laid off, so I had seen…

The affirmation of our heavenly Father is powerful because he is the Author of Life.  All that we are derives from our Maker. His words, spoken to us, continue the formative process of who we are as his creatures. We each are a small part of God’s story, written into it at a particular point in time.  Psalm 139 is David’s reflection on the context of his own life, that he was known before birth, created by God, “knit together…

Thirteen years ago, in May of 2008, I opened a new journal, took a pen and wrote, Genesis 1:1-8. Despite identifying myself as a person of faith, I had not been regularly reading the Word for over 25 years. I became a Christian when I was four, grew up involved in an evangelical church, counselled two entire summers at a faith-based camp, and completed several inspiring Bible classes in college. Following college, I married a wonderful Christian man, worked in…

So, when did this “listening to God” thing start for me, anyway?  It was in my late teens and early twenties that I began to follow God in earnest.  I couldn’t get enough of His word.  My Dad had passed away when I was young, so when I read, “I have called you by name, you are mine”, it touched me deeply.  And so began my love relationship with Jesus. I started to “take God at His word” and one…

Language matters.  Words matter.  They can convey both the simplest and most complex of notions.  Through words we can have understanding or misunderstanding of others.  They can be wielded as a tool or a torture.  The concept of words has been on my mind a lot lately.   I awoke the day of the time change listening to the radio and a program that was on that reinforced the way words can shape outcomes.  Just the night before, a treasured friend…

Sometimes God uses the physical things of this world to teach us spiritual truths.  In this story, He used the rocks on the shore of Lake Superior to teach me about His heart.  Recently, while camping on the North Shore, we met our friends on the beach for a worship service.  Surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation, I was amazed by ALL the rocks: big rocks, little rocks, round rocks, flat ones, smooth and rough, gray and tan.  Such…

I’m thankful that these prayer clinics can continue  – because I know from first-hand experience how precious it is when we intentionally come into the presence of Jesus, and we invite him to meet us right where we are.   It is in His presence that healing comes. I want to tell you a little of my story, and then I’ll share a scripture with you. I am a person who values peace – I’m happiest when everyone around me is…

For me to even dare to stand before you, I have to remember who I am. I am a child of God, of Jesus, the Christ, the one true King. In Him I can do all the things He asks me to do. My focus today is on the phrase, “I have been set free.” First let me describe myself from a former time. I have a mental picture of a dog who’s always afraid it’s going to be reprimanded…

What do a broken arm, a tree along the North Shore, and the French Resistance during World War II have in common?  That is actually not a joke and there is not a punchline coming—these are all things that the Lord used over my summer to prepare me for what the fall would bring. In early July, I went for a Sunday morning bike ride to the farmer’s market and then through one of my favorites places to ride in…