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HE LOVES US

For the past month our dog Nala has been running off. Nala is a beautiful golden lab, the dream dog I waited years to own. We got her for the kids last Christmas, a little white fur ball we tied a red ribbon on, placed in a picnic basket, and left on the porch for the children to find just before Christmas on a Sunday morning after church. Such a delight Nala was to us in her youth. The playful puppy in the yard crazy for our love. She was the crowning touch to our country home completing my creation […]

By Paula September 24, 2010

THE PROUD BREED

Recently, I had lunch with an insightful friend. She has a theory that the thing you lacked most when you were young, God often gives you when you are a mature Christian. I told her I thought this theory was very biblical. After all, God called Abraham the father of nations, yet for a very long time, Abraham wasn’t a father. When he did become a father, the Lord made it clear that it was only by the hand of God that Issac arrived. God called Gideon a great warrior and humble little Gideon eventually became that, but when Gideon […]

By Paula September 16, 2010

Soccer Cleats and Solomon

This week our seven year old son John started soccer practice at school. It’s his rookie year on a team and he’s been so excited about playing. A few days ago, before his first practice, he tore through the house searching for shin guards and cleats. His two older sisters and older brother are all soccer players. Plus last Christmas all our kids got new soccer cleats. Unfortunately, John outgrew his in six months. So the other day, John found a pair of his sister’s old soccer cleats that fit him perfectly. Problem was, though they were black, they had […]

By Paula September 9, 2010

The Broken Church

Recently, while talking about church with a non-believer, this person pointed out that he really couldn’t see much difference between Christians and non-Christians in today’s society. Sadly, I had to somewhat agree with him. All the problems of society can also be found within the church. “But when it’s all said and done,” I told him, “your relationship with God and my relationship with God are not about other people. You have to decide for yourself who Jesus is to you.” “Well, I’m not going to sit in a church and pretend to be something I’m not,” this man said with feeling. I respected […]

By Paula September 8, 2010

Wrestling With God

I woke up this morning wrestling with God again. For too long now there has been a dead zone growing in my heart like the dead zone spreading in the Gulf of Mexico. The dead zone in the Gulf has been caused by fertilizer runoff due to farming. But fertilizer runoff is not the issue I’m wrestling with right now, and yet it may be the issue because the basics of the answer seem the same: man messes things up and God fixes them. We’ve all heard in marriage people say, “the honeymoon is over.” Meaning the bloom is off […]

By Paula August 31, 2010

A Mother of Influence

I’m making my way through a book titled: Mothers of Influence. It is a collection of stories about the Christian mothers of men and women who have changed the world. Today, I read about Susannah Wesley, mother to John and Charles Wesley, men who brought revival to the Protestant church. Susannah was born in 1669 and lived to 1742. During her lifetime, she bore nineteen children, only nine of which survived to adulthood. She spent at least one hour a day in prayer, often pulling a large apron over her head in her crowded household so her children knew to […]

By Paula August 25, 2010

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW

This past Sunday I found myself lying on the floor curled against my carry on at the Providence, R.I. airport. I was sleeping, though it was the middle of the day with people rushing past to catch their flights. Under normal circumstances, I would never snooze on the ground of a public place like a homeless person. Actually, I’m a light sleeper and I don’t nap unless I’m sick, not to mention the fact that a dirty carpet pressed against my cheek has never appealed to me as it did on Sunday, but that afternoon capped a completely unexpected and […]

By Paula August 18, 2010