Pondering The Word

“Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and...

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” Matthew‬ ‭23:25‬-26 (NIV‬‬) As a young girl, I always enjoyed doing “girly” things like playing with my dolls, dressing up, having tea parties, and so forth.  I remember having a couple of miniature tea sets...

As a little girl, I remember so vividly how thunderstorms struck chords of fear and anxiety within me. Growing up in West Texas, it was not uncommon to be awakened in the middle of a warm summer night by the sounds of “ear-piercing” thunder that caused the earth to rumble, and lightening that streaked the expanse of the midnight sky. Almost every night, as I said my bedtime prayers, I would ask The Lord to “please let us not have...

A few years ago, my husband and I finally decided to upgrade the heavy, bulky television in our family room with a high-definition, big-screen television. I will never forget how shocked we were when we sat down to view it for the first time.  We were in awe of not only the dimensional image jumping off the screen, but the “raw humanity” of the actors and players. We saw freckles and wrinkles, sweat, nose hair, gray hair, and various other imperfections that...

My husband and I have a fierce love for travel! Through our years together, we have been blessed to see a small portion of God’s beautiful creation, both at home and abroad, but perhaps our greatest love and passion is for the majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Over the past 35 years, we have returned to Southwestern Colorado time after time, to rest our weary souls and to contemplate God’s plans and words to us going forward. We love “jeeping,”...

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” ‭‭James‬ ‭1:17‬ (‭NIV)‬‬ I grew up in the small West Texas town of Sweetwater where there are approximately 249 days of sunshine each year, and about 24 inches of rainfall.  Needless to say, my early days were quite literally and figuratively filled with clear blue skies and sunshine. Many years later though, as an adult, the...

As I was reading through Job this morning, one particular verse of Scripture jumped off of the page. Job, in this passage, is conversing with his friend, Elihu. After listening to Job’s moaning over his present suffering, Elihu charged him with Moses’s sin, of speaking unadvisedly with his lips when his spirit was provoked. Elihu said, “So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words.” ‭‭Job‬ ‭35:16‬ (‭NIV)‬‬ I had to stop and ask myself, “Am...