The clock showed 5:30 am. I could certainly stay in bed for another hour, but I knew better. I had been trying to fall asleep again for the past hour to no avail. So I dragged my tired self out of bed, thanking God for coffee. “Fortunately,” I thought, “I don’t have to wait for an entire pot of java to brew.” Several years ago, I discovered the marvel of one-cup coffee machines. Thank you, Lord. I hit the power button and waited for the three lights to announce that the machine was ready Continue Reading
Why Did You Bring Me Here, God? {Recharge Wednesday}
I remember the excitement when the phone call came. “We just have to finalize it, but you can schedule that moving truck,” the Midwestern man’s voice exclaimed. Expectantly, we did. We waited. But the paperwork never arrived. Weeks later, the same voice apologized on the phone. Unforeseen circumstances arose. The position was canceled. We’re weren’t moving to Iowa. We were moving, though… we had to. We waited. Living out of suitcases at my in-laws’ house, we sought work. We Continue Reading
Waiting Isn’t Passive {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
Our days and lives are filled with waiting. For good, for bad, for new, for people, for change. (For pandemics to end!) Waiting is a God-designed practice. However, as the worn, torn magazines in waiting rooms around the world can attest, patience in the waiting isn’t a natural virtue. Waiting makes some of us crazy. In fact, I’m pretty sure if God wanted to test us before we entered heaven to see how much we learned on earth, my exam would be “Sit right here. He’ll call you when He’s Continue Reading
The Waiting Game – NOT Your Turn {The Atlanta Journal Constitution}
Three hundred voices joined together to sing the same measure one more time. The director had to stop practice several times, because one or two individuals repeatedly missed a rest. Invariably, every time a group this large stops singing at any given part of a song, a single voice stands out like a sore thumb. And so, we practiced the same musical phrase, again and again, until the entire group recognized the rest in the measure – a crucial pause to translate the dramatic nuances of the Continue Reading
Wait for It … {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are those who wait on Him” (Isaiah 30:18). I know better. I’ve seen God’s faithfulness. Still, in a season of hard, where I don’t see his answers, it’s easy to let doubt creep in or rather barge in. It’s then, I want to say, “Where are you God? Are you there? Do you care?” But you and I both know by now we can’t see what God sees and we can’t know what he Continue Reading
Sometimes the Hardest Thing to Do… Is Doing Nothing At All {Recharge Wednesday LINKUP}
“To do nothing at all is the most difficult thing in the world, the most difficult and the most intellectual.” This quote from 19th-century writer Oscar Wilde was used in a psychology article that I read recently. The article explained the characteristics of manic defense. An example of manic defense is the person who spends all of his or her time rushing around from one task to the next, unable to tolerate even short periods of inactivity. The more I read about manic defense, the more I Continue Reading
