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by Sarah Van Diest @SarahVanDiest As my thoughts meandered around this past month, they took an odd turn. It�s not that this kind of thing doesn�t go on in my mind all the time, because frankly it does, but it usually doesn�t make its way to paper. The level of �spiritual insight� may be lacking, at least in the up-front reading of it, and I�m not going to force any great pearls of wisdom to be born from this non-oyster. The only thing I will say is that God has implanted in each of us a creative and unique spirit. The beauty, splendor and majesty of our Father is revealed when we allow our individuality to show; when His workmanship stands in the sun and reflects Him to those who would see.   As a writer and editor, my mind needs to be �on,� but sometimes I can�t seem to find that button. Perhaps you can relate. This is what flumped out of me one day this month as I fumbled around trying to find the ON button. Productivity: a Tramp So Productivity was there for a moment, but now ...

by Audrey Frank @AudreyCFrank The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130, NIV She withdrew the folded piece of paper from her pocket with reverence. Handing it to my husband, the young mother swelled with hope, her face broadening with expectation. The edges of the paper were fuzzied and the well-worn surface felt like soft cloth. Unfolding it, careful not to tear the fragile creases, he read the words inside aloud. �Come get a new smile. Free surgeries.� With the reading of the words, the little crowd assembled in this humble woman�s home burst into celebration. A small boy peeked around the young woman�s legs, his broken lips forming a beautiful smile. Scooping him up in her arms, his mother began to dance. Mother and child looked into each other�s eyes, faces flooded with joy. In some countries, the illiterate treasure the written word more than the literate. They persevere, hoping that one day they will understand the words on the p...

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson The heart is more deceitful than anything else,  ? and incurable�who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9 Now that fall is fully upon us, everywhere we look evidence of the season jumps out at us. The trees have donned their colorful best and pumpkins are sprouting grins on every front porch. Halloween candy is littering the aisles at grocery store and kiddos are planning costumes. Along with this, some classics have also come back to haunt us�from  It�s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown  to  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow . It�s that classic book by Washington Irving which has caught my mind�s eye this year�or more specifically a character within the book. As I was watching a rerun of Disney�s version, I was struck by how I resemble the Headless Horseman when it comes to faith.  The truth is, sustaining faith is based on facts NOT feelings. And when I follow what feels right, I lose touch with the head of my faith. As I write out that thought ...

by Sarah Van Diest @SarahVanDiest �With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints� Ephesians 6:18.               �I feel a great disturbance in the Force.�  Ha! I know I�m quoting fiction,  Star Wars  to be exact, but it makes me think. There are days, in fact specific moments within days, where out of the blue a deep sense of sorrow fills my soul. It is as if, like in  Star Wars , a great catastrophe hit and my heart felt the blow. Have you ever felt that?  From my egocentric, Western perspective on life and the universe, I assume this sensation has to do with me, myself alone. I assume there is something happening in my personal world that needs my personal attention. Maybe I have an undiscovered trauma from a forgotten past that was triggered by a conversation or a smell. Maybe I�m being p...

by Audrey Frank @AudreyCFrank I keep the Lord before me always. Because he is close by my side I will not be hurt.  Psalm 16:8 (International Children�s Bible) The nasty comment rose like a giant on the screen, threatening me with its cruel fist. I felt terrible. For a moment, I stared, paralyzed by the vile and destructive words written by a stranger in response to my blog post. Then I looked up. Like a child, looking up at her father, I looked up into my heavenly Father�s eyes for reassurance, for protection. I needed to know I was safe. In today�s world of verbal assault, we will encounter people who disagree with our words, lash out at our writing, and mock the message of faith we offer. If you are like me, their words, regardless if they are true or not, will initially cut you to the heart. They can make us afraid.  Let them not make us back down. As Christian writers, we write Light. And at some point, we must take our light beyond the bright circle of friends and fans, ...

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson �The Lord your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. Zephaniah 3:17 For many years, I prayed and spoke to God from behind a wall of misapprehension. I used to categorize my requests to God into two lists. Those that were big things and those that were small things. I tried to only bother Him with the big things. When I shared my prayer requests with others, I was careful not to bring up requests that I�d decided were minor. I knew that nothing was too big for God, and I�d even share that thought with others who were struggling. And while this is an absolute truth, it leaves out so much. Then one day I had an epiphany. With God, no matter how big the request, it�s still small to Him.  That bit of revelation took me a few days to process. But as the truth of it permeated, so did the freedom that came with it. My attempt to differentiate between ...

by Rhonda Rhea @RhondaRhea For me, coffee isn�t quite strong enough until it holds the spoon up by itself. I like it when it�s somewhere close to chewy. Coffee you can sink your teeth into. That�s perfection. I�ve heard you can tell a lot about people by the way they take their coffee. Me? I�m all in. Full strength with everything added. A lot of everything. When I order coffee at a restaurant and the waitress asks if I would like cream, I usually tell her yes and that she should bring enough for my four or five friends that I�m not expecting to show up. So if it�s true that you can tell a lot about people by their coffee, one of the things mine says about me is that it�s unlikely I�ll ever have to worry about osteoporosis. When it comes time to add the sweeteners, I ask my friends, real and imaginary, to look away so I�m sure no one will see how many packet tops I�m tearing off. I confess, I drink it crazy-sweet. Coffee with dessert? How about coffee FOR dessert! Keep giving me sweete...

by Edie Melson @EdieMelson Your name will no longer be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I will make you the father of many nations . . . God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. Genesis 17:5, 15 So often we become God�s children, long before we allow Him to breathe life into our lives. Our hearts belong to him, but we often resist the changes He wants to make in us. I think the same thing was true of Abraham and Sarah. They followed God for quite a while before they actually let Him make the changes He wanted. These verses are the outward evidence of the changes God made in them.  The changes God made to their names held great significance. He added an H to both their names. If you say the sound that an H makes, it�s an exhalation of breath. I think this is the evidence that they had allowed God to breathe life into their lives. God also breathes into our lives. He speaks to us in many ways. We have mu...