• soul
    Featured

    How to Possess Your Soul in Troubling Times

    By your patience, possess your soul said Jesus in Luke 19:20 after warning his followers of persecution and hard times. The phrase possess your soul really hit me. After all, my husband was laid off unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago and if anything, I have not felt in possession of myself. Angry, frustrated, and disappointed, yes. Patient? Not particularly. We seem to be living in times where possessing your soul or exhibiting patience is no longer a virtue. The talking heads on cable news interrupt and berate each other nightly, their main purpose to inflame their audience. Patience does not get ratings. Losing it nightly in front of cameras…

  • woman in an empty room
    Adversity,  Setback

    How to Face a Devastating Setback and Thrive

    I wish I knew when a setback was headed my way.  That way I could have time to prepare myself, somehow ward off the worst of its effects. But wishful thinking and looking into the future don’t really help in coping with a setback, particularly one that affects major areas of your life. I often read articles and studies dealing with stress and the consequences it can have on our minds and bodies. Apparently learning to cope with stress is an important life skill if you want to live past fifty. I often think of Job during a serious setback. Moses had some pretty awful ones as did many others…

  • prayers
    Prayers

    What Your Prayers Say about You

    My prayers are probably like most people’s. They center around my family and my community. Many of my prayers are just listening prayers, spending time with the Holy Spirit in order to discern His will. So I was a little surprised when God told me that He wanted to revise some of the prayers on my list. I keep a list of requests on my phone. I like to be able to review them, and when one gets answered, it moves to my praise report list. But God had never told me to actually reword my prayer list before. I suppose I should preface this by admitting I am reading…