“How do I build a relationship with God?” is a question I’m often asked, and it’s tempting to make the process more complicated than it needs to be. This post is revised and updated from its first appearance in 2014. “Good things as well as bad, you know, are caught by a kind of infection. If […]
Faith (Connect with God)
Fourth of July Reflections on America
Adapted and updated: In 2011, my husband and I made an incredible drive up the coast of California between Los Angeles and San Francisco, with a side trip to Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco and Muir Woods. We enjoyed breathtaking vistas of rugged coastline and walked a trail gazing up at immense […]
Life Is Beautiful…and Hard
Thanks to a recommendation from my highschool friend Becky Rusell, I recently finished reading Kate Bowler’s remarkable and moving book Everything Happens For A Reason: and other lies I’ve loved. (Amazon link) When Kate Bowler was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer, she was 35, happily married, and had a newborn son named Zach. She was […]
Is It Well With Your Soul?
In our time on this earth, we are both body and soul. We are bombarded with advice on how to take care care of our bodies (though many of us do it quite poorly), but the nourishment and care for our souls is not such a mainstream topic. It should be. I have certainly been […]
Book Review: Mary Magdalene Revealed
Subtitle: The First Apostle, Her Feminist Gospel, & the Christianity We Haven’t Tried YetAuthor: Meggan WattersonPublished 20194 stars The author, Meggan Watterson, is a feminist theologian with a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University. She has authored or co-authored several other […]
“He’s Alive!” — Easter Morning’s Powerful Cry
From abject fear to utter joy and liberation After the horror of Jesus’s crucifixion, suffering, and death, as the disciples huddled in fear and disbelief, imagine how they felt when they first heard the joyful cry, “He’s Alive!” Our churches don’t often dwell on the awful time between the suffering and death of Jesus on […]
Lent Calls To Our Spirit
Lent as a church season In most Christian churches throughout the world, today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Lent is a period of 40 weekdays, observed by believers as a penitential and devotional preparation for Holy Week and Easter Sunday’s remembrance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is also […]
A New Year…A New Beginning
We can’t go back, but we can begin again. We can’t undo our mistakes, but we can learn from them. Forget getting back to normal or “new normal.” Who decides that anyway? Only you. If we’re honest, we don’t really want everything to stay the same. Change is an essential part of growth. Holy Scripture—as […]