Mornings with Jesus

SOMETIMES I GET FRUSTRATED when I pray, wishing my mind didn’t wander so much, wishing that I could concentrate better, wishing I could find the right words to pray, wishing I had more time for it. Then I start thinking about all those other things I

FOR THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, one of my former students has been featured in a TV commercial promoting orthotic and prosthetic services. My first introduction to him was memorable for all the wrong reasons. As an elementary school librarian, I often re

ONE MORNING, MY DAUGHTER TEXTED me a photo of my six-year-old grandson eating breakfast. Roman sat at the table drinking a mug of milk and wearing a gray T-shirt, a clip-on necktie, and a navy blazer. Does he have a job interview before school? I tex

MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS HAVE passed since I received my first invitation to speak at a women’s event. Word of mouth spread, and invitations increased. It seemed obvious that Jesus was opening these ministry doors, so I walked through them despite feel

I AM PRIVILEGED TO WORK with Christian believers. On a trying day when I need a Scripture to settle me, I can depend on colleagues to give me a timely word. I can also depend on them for inspiring conversations. One day, the school secretary started

WHEN I HUGGED MY FRIEND Tanya goodbye after our spiritual catchup at a local café, I made my way home feeling lighter, smiling in the early June sunshine. What is it about connecting with a friend who is also listening to Jesus say, “Follow Me,” that

I WAS A LATECOMER TO the Downton Abbey craze a few years ago, but soon became fascinated with the vast differences between high society and servant status and the similarities between their hearts’ longings, strengths, and weaknesses. Staff members t

I WAS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE for a writing deadline and had been working faithfully every weekday. Friday, I returned home from a doctor appointment exhausted. My body felt that feverish-flu sensation as if dozens of little elves were hitting me with tiny

“YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, babe,” my husband said. “Unless I’m not paying attention.” It’s one of the reasons I call him Wonderhubby. He’s a wonder. Once again, humor defused what could have been an incendiary situation. Laughter is good marriage medicine

A WOMAN I WORK WITH couldn’t give me her home address. I imagined the possibilities. Homeless? Evicted? Memory loss? Living out of her car? Sleeping on a friend’s couch? Witness protection program? The answer was much simpler—and more complicated—tha

I LEAD THE PRAISE TEAM at my church. We have a group text for sending practice schedules and stuff like that. Last Sunday, one of our members wrote, “I won’t make it to the service today. I just don’t feel like singing. I may not come back to church

I STEPPED OUTSIDE EARLY ONE morning after a rough night of severe storms. Lightning, rolling thunder, pounding rain, and high winds had kept me up most of the night. The morning news showed the destruction from the storms. As I surveyed our property,

I WOKE UP EXCITED FOR a writers’ retreat I was hosting. Then I checked my emails. “Sorry, something came up.” “Can’t make it.” Several people canceled for valid reasons, but I still felt deflated. I prayed for Jesus to fix my attitude. The story of t

MY HUSBAND AND I LOVE cats. Our home is full of them. We live close to a river where people often leave their unwanted pets. One day, some kittens made their way to our porch. These little lions —Timmy and Johnny—were soon joined by another abandoned

I STOOD IN THE MOTEL shower, dripping wet and shivering. At first, the water ran steamy hot. But as I applied shampoo to my hair, a sense of foreboding came over me. Seconds later the stream cooled to lukewarm and the pressure reduced to a trickle. I

ON A LEDGE ABOVE THE desk where I write sit two stuffed toy sheep approximately eight inches tall. One is dressed like a shepherd from biblical times, cloaked in a brown striped robe and head covering. He hugs a staff in the crook of one elbow, and h

I WAS EXCITED WHEN THE newspaper reported that a famous author would visit our city to give a lecture. I bought seven copies of her book and gifted them to a variety of friends and family members. My loved ones were delighted to receive the books, an

ONE MORNING IN MY LADIES’ small-group Bible study, we began talking about our obsession with making to-do lists. Two of my friends admitted that on more than one occasion they had written down a chore they had already done, just to get the satisfacti

THIS PAST YEAR I LAUNCHED myself back into the workforce—as a middle school teacher. I know. It was a wild idea. In preparation for this new career, I met with my fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Cox. (Best. Teacher. Ever.) I asked her, seriously, “How in t

I LOVE SPRING, BUT THERE are a few things that bother me. Pollen, for one, and another thing would be those pesky, buzzing, stinging insects called bees. On this pretty day, while attempting to complete this writing, I can see and hear those dreaded

WHILE WAITING TO BOARD MY plane, I tapped the screen of my smartphone and Psalm 23 appeared. I’ve probably read this popular psalm a hundred times, but its pastoral imagery has never come so vividly to me as it did when I reached the Vayang Rolling H

MY HEART SWELLS WHEN I hear about exceptional acts of compassion. The little girl who designed a bracelet to raise funds to help pay for a friend’s lung transplant. The eleven-year-old who returned his Christmas presents so he could purchase gifts fo

I HAVE THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD AND TEN-YEAR-OLD boys. Pierce, my bright, witty, and athletic older one, is starting middle school and is showing signs of “tween-itude.” My nine-year-old Isaac, a joy and fun-filled fellow with Down syndrome, presents some u

YESTERDAY I DISCOVERED A COLLEAGUE of mine had been given a position I felt I deserved. I heard it from a friend. Struggling to maintain composure, I regulated my voice to hide my emotions. After the shock wore off, I spent time alone, stoking fires

ONE MORNING I OVERSLEPT. THEN, while rushing around the kitchen, I spilled a glass of orange juice all over the counter. After that, I got stuck behind a slow driver and was late for work. When I got to work, it was hectic. The phone was ringing. The

AS A CITY GIRL, I never learned about birdsong. But then, I spent a year volunteering in Alaska and got an education I’ll always treasure. On long walks in marshes surrounded by lush woodlands, one of the school teachers I worked with taught me how t

SOMETIMES MY KIDS CRACK ME up around the dinner table. Especially the little one. She’ll get way more food on her plate than she needs or could ever eat. (Unless it’s bacon; she can eat all the bacon!) I’m trying to teach her how to get the right amo

I DROVE TO MY COUSIN’S home to deliver her birthday gift. I noticed that the green oak tree that loomed over her roof was now gray and stripped of leaves in the middle of spring. The hundred-foot tree was dead. My cousin reported that she and her hus

I GET LOST. A LOT. Even when I use my GPS, I often manage to take a wrong turn. My most recent adventure landed me on a dirt logging road blocked by a fallen tree, not quite sure where I went wrong. And as I listened to Madam GPS, her voice sounded t

WHEN MY HUSBAND SAYS, “LET’S eat out,” he usually means a place with plastic lids and straws for our beverages, ketchup in little plastic saucers, and brown paper napkins—made from recycled paper, a counterpoint to all the plastic. The first time I a

TODAY I RETURNED TO SCHOOL after spring break, and learned that my coteacher’s grandmother had passed away. Sometimes when I speak with someone who’s lost a loved one, I hesitate to ask questions. I don’t want to be intrusive. But today I remembered

MY HUSBAND FILLS OUT OUR tax forms each year with organized files of receipts and computer spreadsheets. I try to stay involved, but my head throbs on the first page: subparagraphs; special exclusions; rules, and more rules. According to some sources

I COUNTED THE NUMBER OF children on the list again, and then recounted the number of Bibles, gifts, and stuffed animals. Easter was fast approaching, and we didn’t have enough items for the baskets. My husband and I direct a ministry, Baskets of Joy,

A FEW WEEKS BEFORE EASTER, our church gave each member ten door hangers to hand out in our neighborhoods. We were supposed to invite people to our Easter service, but to my shame, I didn’t give any to my neighbors. I gave one to a coworker and the re

THIS PAST YEAR WE MOVED to Daly City, California. Bordering San Francisco, it sits thirty miles north of Redwood City, our home for the past thirteen years. Redwood City’s motto is “Climate Best by Government Test.” But Daly City does not pass the “c

WRITING IS MY CALLING. EVEN without compensation, I would write. My latest book explores the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I wrote the first draft in 2005. Countless editors rejected it. Over ten years, I rewrote the manuscript no fewer than eig

PALM SUNDAY MARKS THE FIRST day of Holy Week, the day we celebrate Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem amid the crowd’s fanfare. We focus on waving palm branches and cheers that quickly turned to derision. But there’s another angle to this story—one that de

I LOVE RECEIVING PHONE OR FaceTime calls from my kids. They catch me in the middle of writing articles, preparing messages for speaking events, and fixing meals, but that’s okay. The moment I hear their voice, I turn my focus from work to them becaus

AS A MOM TO EIGHT active kids, my daughter-in-law does laundry several times a week. She recently discovered a cleaning solution that treats stains more effectively than any other product she’d previously used. Grass, blackberry juice, spaghetti sauc

ON THIS DAY OF HOLY Week, let’s rejoice in the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives in us thanks to what Jesus did on Calvary. Jesus was called “the lamb without blemish.” His death on the cross satisfied the blood sacrifice needed to atone for our sins

I WAS EIGHT WHEN MY sister told me about heaven. “No one gets sick,” she said. “Everyone has food. No one fights or cries!” Images of happy, healthy people filled my mind. Nice place to go when I die, I thought. Decades later, heaven means infinitely

I CANNOT FATHOM THE PHYSICAL, mental, and emotional pain Jesus felt. His body crucified like the criminals hanging beside Him, His spirit crushed by the weight of the world’s sin, He cried to His Father, “Why have You forsaken me?” In His deepest, da

BEING INVOLVED IN WOMEN’S MINISTRY and global missions means I hear people’s life stories. Some are victorious; some aren’t. My heart breaks for Jesus followers who live trapped in destructive attitudes and behaviors such as fear, jealousy, unforgive

HOLY WEEK CLIMAXES WITH THE angels’ proclamation at Jesus’s empty tomb. His unexplainable absence affirmed His credibility and proved that He was who He said He was—the Son of God. He’d battled evil and won. Heaven threw a victory party that Sunday m

THE RESURRECTION IS EVERYTHING, ISN’T it? It’s a metaphor for the whole Christian life. Without it, what’s dead is just dead. Over. Finished. Buried forever. No hope of new life springing forth. But in Jesus, we have the promise that death is not the

CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT IT would have been like to be Mary on that day? Faithfully and quietly going to the tomb to be near Jesus’s body, to tend to unglamorous, needful things. It was an act of worship, in her own way. Some say she was lacking faith be

AS I SIT HERE WRITING, my son, Isaac, is singing the soundtrack from Frozen at the top of his lungs. He brings truly immeasurable and uniquely delivered love and joy to me, my family, and many others. Yet, when he was born with Down syndrome just aft

MY FRIEND MARIE WAS IN a rehabilitation center while recuperating from a major surgery. “I can’t wait for you to meet my favorite nurse, Crystal,” she said. “You’ll love her. She’s such a good Christian lady.” When Crystal came into the room, I was i

NOT KNOWN FOR MY ATHLETIC skills, I was surprised when my answer to a trivia question about my life included having hiked in Colorado, Arizona, Alaska, Wisconsin, as well as the Utah desert. The desert hike with my youngest sister took a lot out of m

JUST AFTER JESUS’S TRIUMPH OVER death, Cleopas and another disciple traveled the road to Emmaus, discussing our Lord and His empty tomb. As they walked, Christ joined them, but they didn’t recognize Him. After reaching town, they invited Him to join

ONE DAY I SUGGESTED THAT my husband and I visit New York City to attend a Broadway play, but work prevented him from going. The idea of navigating the busy city without him was frightening. What was I to do? The play was getting rave reviews, with on

I GREW UP IN THE country outside a small town in Tennessee. I never dreamed it was possible to pass someone face-to-face without making eye contact and offering at least a perfunctory greeting, which often led to a full-blown conversation. When I gre

I NOTICED A THIN, YOUNG man sitting alone at a small table near the door of the fast-food restaurant. He appeared homeless and hungry. A backpack was on the floor beside him. Although the weather was freezing, he wore a thin jacket and sandals. His s

MY NEPHEW HUNTER IS THREE years old. His mom plays a Kari Jobe worship album a lot, and he’s picked up on some of the songs. His favorite is called “I Am Not Alone.” It says a lot of other nice things, but the chorus repeats the truth of the above ve

I OPENED THE GROCERY STORE’S freezer and saw the choicest array of sausages and franks. There were a variety of European sausages, but I particularly noticed those big, bulging orange-brown tubes labeled Hungarian Sausage. It’d been a while since our

I’D NEVER BEEN SO GLAD to receive test results! At last, the four-month-old mystery of unexplained severe itching was solved. Sometimes I woke up at night and found myself raking my nails across my body. The skin in some places became so inflamed tha

TWO WEEKS AGO, MY FRIEND from church Brenda and I started walking. She graciously agreed to meet me at my favorite walking trail, which is lined with trees that provide shade. On the other side of the trail, there is a man-made lake that is lined wit

I WAS RAISED IN A denomination that discouraged visiting other churches, so finding a faith community when I became a Christian eighteen years ago was a quandary. But once I overcame my inhibitions, exploring different denominations became interestin

I LOVE TO READ—FICTION, NONFICTION, magazines—anything with words. My husband has caught me reading the shampoo bottle when that’s all I have handy. But there are occasions I can’t bear the level of suspense in a story, the stress of not knowing how

I’M NOT THE SAME PERSON I was in junior high. Good thing. I cared too much about the wrong things, not enough about what really mattered. I treated friendships too casually at times and held too tightly to them at others. I resented too much and was

IF WE ARE LOOKING FOR reasons to be stressed in our home right now, we don’t have to look far. My husband lost his job and has been looking for work for several months. A close relative on my side of the family is using this crisis to exacerbate tens

THE PARKLAND, FLORIDA, SCHOOL SHOOTING—AND so many other tragedies in recent years—reminded me again that this world is unpredictably and unspeakably unsafe. The ripple effect is powerful and close to home. My own children’s Florida schools now have