My Fumbles – God’s Peace

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I love football. Especially the Minnesota Vikings. Favorite players? Peyton Manning (retired NFL quarterback) and Scottie Benedict. Scottie is my favorite youngest nephew and will always be my favorite athlete. And even though neither he nor Peyton play football anymore, they are my favorites. Yes, I love football. As I’m writing this, I’m experiencing a light case of “day after the Super Bowl blues.” No more football for a few months. Sigh. Now perhaps, no more football for a while is the best thing that’s happened to you since sliced Continue Reading

Life is good and God is faithful

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Life is good and God is faithful. And … ooftah. Sometimes I whisper, Really? Is life good and is God faithful? Then I say out loud, Yes. Really. It is and He is. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. (Psalm 117:2) One of the really cool things about this amazing God is that how we feel doesn’t change who He is. Because He is God, He is faithful. And because He is faithful, life is good. But I bet you’ll agree with me here … some days it’s just tough to stay in synch, right? It’s Continue Reading

A New Chapter

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Oooooh! Encouraging words for you here! When your life starts to look unrecognizable, When you press your hands against your closed eyes and whisper, “How did we even get here?” When you feel like you’re the only one who can’t get her ducks in a row, Remember this … Nobody has their act together all the time. Everybody’s got somethin’. We all have chapters in our story that we don’t share or post or read aloud. Most of us are still trying to find our ducks—getting them in a row is for another day. And … We are loved by a Continue Reading

You Can Stop Struggling

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Do you remember that time you started a new workout program? (It’s OK to giggle here. Or even laugh out loud. I get it.) Whether it was years ago or just last week, perhaps your experience was similar to mine. It is, unfortunately, a group of moments that cannot be removed from my memory bank. First of all. Have mercy. The new routine involves a lot of fancy steps and it moves faaaaast. I spend most of the time trying to stay on my feet, watch the online trainer, listen to the instructions, and breathe. There is nothing pretty about my Continue Reading

Time for Dreaming

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So, this was weird. A few nights ago, I dreamed that I was the pianist (AKA the entire music pit) for a stage show called NCIS: The Musical. For real. We were performing in a church that had a large raised, front platform. I sat in a center pew with an electric keyboard on my lap, feet up on the kneeling pad to balance the keyboard, the music score on a makeshift stand to my left, and a small light attached to the back of my pew so I could read the music when the church lights went down. And sitting next to me? Jethro Gibbs and Agent Continue Reading

Let Me Be the Person

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Her cheeks were flushed, and her neck was covered with the red blotches that I knew all too well. Her name tag read Renee - Trainee and I think the reindeer antlers she wore on her head made her feel even more self-conscious as she tried to figure out how to enter no whip on my hot chocolate order. Oh, Jesus, please help her remember that this is just one day. Bring grace-filled people into her line this afternoon. The lady in the purple parka with the big hood could have used a cart. Or a counter. Or a shelf. Anything on which she Continue Reading

My Personal Hallmark Movie

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The season is here, my friend. And there’s no turning back. It’s the season of … Hallmark. Holiday. Specials. Now I like a good sappy, cry-til-your-eyes-are-puffy and your face-is-blotchy movie like everyone else. (“Everyone else” wouldn’t include my husband Steve, though. He would rather read a book. Or shovel the snow. Or do almost anything else.) But sometimes, these shows are just a bit too much. Everything always seems so…Good. Nice. Not real. In the movies, the young woman who is surrounded by clutter and can’t clean Continue Reading

If You Only Knew

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“If you only knew …” Jesus spoke these words to a woman drawing water from a well thousands of years ago. She had cycled through several broken husband-relationships during the years, probably trying to fill up her life with temporary relief from who-knows-what kind of pain she was in. She was at the well during the hottest part of the day, when no one usually showed up. I wonder if it was because she was tired of the glares and accusing glances from the other women. A heart that is miserable and lonely can only take so much. But Continue Reading

A Gift for You

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Oh, this is such an amazing gift for you! Light of the World: 21-Day Advent Devotional is a resource compiled by Radical Radiance that will lead you to know, experience, and share Jesus, the Light of the world, this Christmas season. I contributed as an author to this project and I'm delighted to share it with you. (My note of encouragement is in Week 3, Day 1!) When you request this free devotional, you'll receive a 59-page PDF workbook (complete with planning pages, activity pages, and 21 days of devotionals), an audiobook Continue Reading

If God Sent You a Note

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God’s Word consistently tells you how much He cares about you. That He is with you. I think if He sent you a note today, it would look like this … Good morning, my precious daughter. It’s a new day today. I created it for you! I painted the sunrise and lifted it over the horizon to remind you that there are good things waiting for you, and I will be with you every single moment. I want to give you everything you need to experience joy and hope and peace. Let’s experience today together, OK? When good things happen to you, I will Continue Reading

Time to Let Them Go

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During the last few weeks, memories from two specific seasons have rented rooms in my brain. It’s been one year since my pancreas got really angry and I spent a few days in the hospital trying to figure out what ticked it off. This memory has decorated its rented room with posters that say, “If only I had …” When I walk through that room, I get frustrated with myself. The other rented room in my brain looks different. The room is smaller, and handwritten notes are placed around it. The renter is the memory bank of the 7-year season Continue Reading

Make Room for the Good

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Along with replacing the tank tops in our closet with sweatshirts and flannels, the Fall season invites us to cleanse, purge, start again, and “finish the year strong!” (I’m a little over the whole “finish the year strong” thing. I’m just focusing on finishing today strong. Because my “strong” needs a nap.) A change of season does seem to signal a time to reflect and consider what the next few months could look like though. A time to start again. And that can be healthy. But it’s easy to mess this up. How? We believe that Continue Reading

What Farmers Teach Us

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I visited one of my favorite places last weekend. Home. Climax, Minnesota. Spending a few hours with classmates from the Class of ’75 was a highlight of the summer. And oh, my. Was it fun. The stories we shared and memories we laughed about reminded me of the best of community: Kindness. Grace. Friendship. The looking out for and caring for neighbors and friends. You may not have grown up in a small town, but you are part of a community. There are people who care about you. If no one comes to mind, please, from the bottom of my Continue Reading

I’m ready. Let’s go.

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The Minnesota Vikings have wrapped up their pre-season games and I am hopeful. This could be our year, right? Right! I. Love. Football. Please note: Even if you'd rather have a root canal than watch grown men shove each other down onto green turf, please stick with me here. Think about how they play the game. In every single moment of the game, they are moving and blocking and passing and running...intentionally. During every play, each player commits to follow the coach’s plan. Consider the alternatives: As the punter kicks Continue Reading

Sheep Have it Made

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Did you have a pet when you were younger? Perhaps a dog or a cat or a horse? I had a pig. His name was George. My sister, Julie, also had a pet pig. It was also named George. (Our dad’s name was George. I know. I don’t understand it either.) My goodness, how we worked at taking care of those pigs. One lesson I learned very quickly in my pet pig season was that it was very hard to keep it clean. When we prepared to show them in 4-H competitions, I would brush and scrub and sprinkle baby powder on mine. Julie would clean hers real good Continue Reading

Soul-Soothing Plan for the Summer

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It’s summer, and that means the heat index could be maxed out so everything is wilting, or it could be raining cats and dogs with thunder and lightning thrown into the mix. (I wonder who came up with the phrase raining cats and dogs. What does it even mean? OK. Back to our regularly scheduled program.) Just for a moment, let’s imagine that it’s a perfect, beautiful summer day. There’s no humidity so your hair isn’t frizzing or going limp. The sun is warm, but the cool breeze invites you to tilt your head back and close your Continue Reading

Your Whatever Matters

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Whatever. It’s a word that sometimes comes from our mouth when we are … Tired of the conversation. Reluctant to discuss the conflict. Walking away. Oh my. I can see me in some of those whatever moments! Whatever usually comes out as a disappointed whisper when I’m walking away from the person who just doesn’t understand that what I’m saying is right and he is most definitely not right and I’m too tired to argue and the conversation just doesn’t seem worth the effort. My back is turned, and my hand is waving away the moment. Continue Reading

I Got This

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This note of encouragement comes from something I wrote several years ago. Its message has been bouncing around in my head lately, and I knew it was something I wanted and needed to share with you. We were moving my friend when this was written. You know what that means … lots of ugh’s. Right? May your heart be encouraged! **** I’ve got this. If my nephew Scottie said it once, he said it a hundred times. I’ve got this. They were the best words of the day. No, of the week. Perhaps the month. Moving from one home to another Continue Reading

What We Can Do

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There is something I can do. The shootings. Grieving families. Unimaginable tragedy. Uvalde, TX. Buffalo, NY. Laguna Woods, CA. The list continues. How can this happen? The answers just don’t come. It would be easy to turn off our TVs, shut out the news, and hope it doesn’t happen again in our community. And for some, it’s best to step away from the horror and the tragedy. We each have our own health boundaries. But, for most of us, we can’t ignore the reality. We shouldn’t. We can do something. And we must. We Continue Reading

Same God, New Season

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These truths are swirling through my brain today … God is a God of love. He hangs the stars. Instructs the sun to rise. Always keeps His promises. God is faithful. When I allow these reminders to frame my day, life feels better. Hope returns. Worries can’t compete and they move out. Do you know what I mean? Perhaps your feelings about life and this new spring/summer season are similar to mine? My heart and my muscles and my brain are ready for a pause. They need time to breathe. Rest. They are starved for Continue Reading

You Are Famous

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The movie credits splash the names of the stars across the screen. We know who they are; they are the people who producers depend on to get us into the theaters. The biggies. But you know, I’m more intrigued by those whose names show up in smaller fonts. The actors whose parents lean forward in their red cushion theater seats and squint their eyes to watch for their son’s or daughter’s name roll up at the very bottom of the list, long after everyone else has left the theater. Sally Jones…Townsperson #1 Ruth Peterson…Bystander #2 Mary Continue Reading

Have You Ever Had One of Those Days?

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It was a bad day. I mean, a really bad day. My friend, David…the one in the Bible who wrote the Psalms…was having a day that makes me feel anxious just reading about it. Here’s how he described it in his 69th Psalm: …the waters have come up to my neck… …I sink in the miry depths where there is no foothold… …the floods engulf me… …I am worn out calling for help… …My eyes fail… And then. The biggie. …Those who hate me without reason outnumber the hairs of my head. You’ve got to be kidding me! I break out in a sweat and Continue Reading

Speak Truth to Yourself

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Ok. Let's review. (She says to herself first.) Here are phrases that do not show up in The Good Book; words that are never said by God, The Great Promise Keeper... You've got a big load of stuff to do today. Good luck with that. Sure wish today was over. It just keeps getting worse. You always mess up. Can't you just get your act together? You've been struggling with that situation for years. It's not going to change. It's never going to end, you know. Bad stuff happens. Never. Said. God does not walk around wringing his Continue Reading

Shove Discouragement Back in its Box

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Hey, hi. There’s encouragement here for YOU today. Scoot your chair up. Slip on your reading glasses. Mute the TV. I don’t want you to miss this. Discouragement can show up at the most inopportune times, can’t it? Not that there’s a good time, but has this happened to you? Life seems to be humming along, no crisis in sight, and then like a Jack-in-the-box, a frustration, lie, or sad memory jumps out in front of you. It stares right at you with its scary, dark red smile, bobbing and weaving with its arms stretched out, inviting you to Continue Reading

Living My Encore

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Grab a chair and slide it in close. Put a soft pillow on your lap to rest your arms on. Lean in. Imagine that I’m looking into your beautiful eyes as I whisper … God is good. He’s got good things planned for you. On February 21, 2018, I wrote myself a message on page 1,179 of my Bible: I am not too old. It’s written next to these words from Isaiah’s 43rd chapter: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and Continue Reading