We all long to be close to others. What if we were designed to be close with God? This episode describes this longing and how to make practical steps forward in our relationship with God.
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I have been studying Gripped by the Greatness of God (James MacDonald) along with many (80-100?) other women from Central Ministries. One of the assignments this week was to go outside to enjoy God’s creation. Yes please! Today was a perfect fall day. There was a gentle breeze and the drying leaves crackled beneath my feet. I scared up a deer, and I watched a hawk circling in the sky. I climbed 20 feet into the hunter’s treestand and felt the old shagbark hickory (one I have known since I was a young girl) swaying in the wind. I love that my…
Tonight I am writing a salute to a lady I met recently though my work. Phyllis (not her real name) is in her eighties and confused at times. However, as is often the case, she is not confused about the Scriptures. I have seen this time and again. Whether people with dementia, or the mentally disabled, or the head injured, they all carry a soul within that is able to spiritually discern what some minds cannot –or cannot anymore– comprehend. It is really a beautiful thing. Phyllis was reading her Bible as I approached and she was eager to tell me what she had just…
This week I’ve been awestruck while preparing to lead a discussion about God’s nature. There are many things about Him that are beyond description, but today I was truly taken with the fact that He is as a shelter for all who take refuge in Him. He loves us enough to be there for us without fail. Read Psalm 91 to hear about the way God shelters us. Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Psalm 91:1 He loves…
“Do you really love God?” It was the drummer at a Christian concert who had come to the mic to ask the question. I was probably seventeen and a junior in high school as I sat in the Archbold High School Gymnasium for the concert. I remember thinking, “I believe in God and I am trying to follow Him, but do I love Him?” I wasn’t sure I could say that I felt that for Him. Let me pause my story for a minute to explain something I have learned since that time. Jesus defined love as something far more than…
The poem at the bottom is one I originally posted in March 2012 in Fruitfulsteps. It was given to me by a little old lady I met through my work. I loved her attitude, and I’d love to share the poem with you! It seems almost every day in the clinic someone recites to me that familiar line, “Don’t get old!” I usually respond that there are two choices: grow old, or die young! I understand. People say that because their bodies aren’t working the way they used to. They’re in pain, or they are prevented from doing some of…
Reposted from Fruitfulsteps 1-29-14 The last thing I wanted to do today was to leave my warm house and my four daughters and go out into this bitter cold. I was dragging my feet extra heavily because I knew that in the middle of the day I had to evaluate a new client in an area of town where often I don’t feel safe. But duty calls, and I drug myself out the door, saw a couple of morning clients and headed through downtown. I said a short prayer for protection, as I often do in this particular neighborhood, and found…
Reposted from Fruitfulsteps: My time working as a therapist in home health has given me new insight into people. Being with them in their home and their chosen surroundings tells me more about them than the clinic ever could. 11.12.13. What a beautiful, crisp, fall day! I got to hear the frosty leaves cracking off their twigs, and watch them flutter to the ground while walking with a very spry and interesting 90 year old who had not been outside in many weeks. Good conversation, mutual respect, and enjoyment of the season were priceless. That’s what I’m thankful for today!
Reposted from Fruitfulsteps 10.17.13. I went on a home health visit today. The home smelled just like my Grandma Goss’ used to. Not good or bad, just Grandma. There I met the cutest little 94 year old man who said, “Call me Christmas!” Then he offered me half a boiled egg white (he had eaten the yolk) and the last pecan off his cinnamon roll. No…i didn’t eat them, But what a reminder of the power of relationships, the beauty of people quietly living their lives, and of meeting and loving strangers. joy!
Nowhere to sleep-taken from my Facebook post 8-11-15 After 25 years in physical therapy, today I saw another first. I met a man in an assisted living facility who had moved into his one bedroom apartment without a bed. Instead, he filled his entire bedroom with books! I couldn’t help but think of 3 of my daughters. This man had rows of bookshelves COMPLETELY full of books extending overhead almost to the ceiling. There were 3 aisles of shelves in the room, and the perimeter was lined with bookcases as well. There was just enough room to roll his wheeled walker…
I’d like to recommend a fantastic book I just finished reading by Dallas Willard. Willard was a Christian philosopher who wrote and spoke extensively on spiritual identity, formation, and discipleship. He passed away in 2013, but His books will continue to leave a permanent imprint on his readers and on Christian culture. The title of the book is The Great Omission, a play on the term Great Commission, when Jesus commissioned his followers to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. Willard’s point is that we in the church have told people about Christ and asked them to follow Him, but we…