finding God in the wasteland (Isaiah 35:1)
On a Thursday morning about a year ago, I received one text after another saying a variation of the same message: "We won't be coming to small group tonight." The house was cleaned (no small feat with my little children), the shopping was done and the food was made, and Will had a lesson prepared. …
Continue reading Those who sow in tears
At the beginning of October, I wrote that my goal for the next month was to practice blessing--to be thankful for the goodness God has given me and to spread the happiness to others. Exhaustion and heartbreak ran thickly through the month, and I am still struggling to emerge from a season that has tried …
I woke up one night last week to see the moonlight edging through the curtain in my bedroom. Unable to drift back to sleep, I decided to read for a while to get my sleepy brain to override again. So I read Simon Fry's article on Being Filled with the Holy Spirit. Guess what? My sleepy …
Continue reading Being Filled with the Holy Spirit: a personal testimony
Merry Christmas from the Schmucker family! Here is a picture of us on a rainy evening in October, trying to shield ourselves with an umbrella. I don't know what the boys think is so funny. Who knows! Elijah is our 9-year-old. And Stuart is seven. (Our trampoline and rope swing have provided hours of enjoyment for our …
https://flic.kr/p/da62Wk We had in our yard a tree which lived through one season and then died, having no chance to spread its greenery upon the sky; (and its dying is both like and unlike the death of a child. She is an angel, they tell me, and happier now by far. Yes, oh yes, but--) …
Two years ago, my brother-in-law Sheldon drowned. How does a person begin to describe that kind of loss? Sheldon was quirky (remember the donkey mask?), funny, energetic, good with kids, and underneath all the energy was a gentle, serving, dreaming heart. That last year, Sheldon was becoming one of Will's best friends. He was intensely loyal, …
