encouragement
Hey! It’s a whole new world this morning. Sweat isn’t snaking down my back! The air conditioner is taking a well-earned break. Hallelujah it’s not 100 degrees outside anymore!Awhile ago I mentioned an online "reflections" or "devotions" site for women. I want to mention it again. at first I politely listened (well, acted like I was listening) and nodded when my very-liturgical, Lutheran friend told me about this website created for women by women at her former church in Minneapolis. A bunch of suburban, Lutheran, midwestern women didn’t seem like my idea of on-fire God-chasers. I didn’t think this online…
What’s new… Updated article, "In Defense of Theophostic." http://www.dwightclough.com/theophostic_defense.htmlI lift up my eyes to the hills — from whence cometh my help? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. — Psalm 121:1-2I cannot read these verses without thinking about my grandmother. She lived all her life near the majestic bluffs surrounding the Mississippi River. During the last third of her life, she lived in a valley the locals call Sugar Creek. Every morning she would step outside her little cottage and look across the valley at the beautiful wooded hills of Crawford County, Wisconsin. And…
CarelessI haven’t cleaned the cellar,I forgot to sweep the stairThere’s a button off my jacketmy blue jeans have a tear.There’s an old, arthritic ladywhom I should uphold in prayer.But I’m sitting in the moonlight,the moonlight, the moonlight,adoring You by moonlightAs if I had no care.4/16/79Elizabeth RooneyElizabeth Rooney was a Wisconsin poet hailing from Blue Mounds. She was also a pray-er, servant, and lover of Jesus. This poem appeared in a collection called All Miracle Series…Morning song, Packages, Storing september, and Gift-Wrapped. My friend Ellen, a gifted, brilliant, wildly funny, beautiful woman, introduced me to Elizabeth Rooney. Now, I introduce her to…
Dear sisters,A friend once said a new word – God-incidence. Not a chance occurrence. Not “good luck” or even a random act of beauty (and I love random acts of beauty). But one of those God-acts that catches us by surprise. Something we see His hand all over – but usually after the fact.I had a God-incidence recently. Someone from Care Net (a ministry to people seeking healing from abortion experiences) called my church’s office looking for help last fall. Care Net runs a periodic bible study called Forgiven and Set Free (tuck that bit of information away). At the…
For more information about the national debate over ‘gay marriage’, click here.WASHINGTON (BP)–The United States Senate yesterday rejected an attempt to amend the Constitution to protect marriage, with supporters gaining only one vote in the nearly two years since their most recent effort.
Sisters, In order for summer to come, we have to live through rain, tornados, grey days, and high school graduation parties. Some of you will spend $300 on food for herds of kids you’ve never met who will troop through your back yard, inhale everything edible, and leave for the next party. Your adult friends, O Faithful Ones, will stay to help you clean up and haul the refuse to the curb. (Remember, you did the same for them when their kids graduated….it’s one of those rubber-meets-the-road-community kind of things.)Some of you will spend hours picking up branches in your…
As the summer approaches, Musalaha Reconciliation Ministries, which brings together young Israelis and Palestinians, is preparing for several major events this summer. A spokesman for the ministry says there are few opportunities for Israeli and Palestinian children to come together before they reach their teenage years.
Good Morning! – or good whatever time it is for you. I’d like to say some "spring and new life and grass growing" kind of thing, but I can’t. The lawn is growing like a 14 year old boy. Totally out of control. Everyone’s kids are antsy, waiting for summer break to come. It seemed as if we were shoveling snow one day and getting out the lawn mower the next. I’m ready to sell this time-sucker of a house and do the condo thing. What a whiner! I want to introduce a new friend, Lilada Gee. Lilada is from Fountain…