Our 21 year-old granddaughter, Madison (Madi) went to be with Jesus on Sunday She was born with a congenital heart defect and despite living a relatively active life, her health declined this past year and her heart failed as she awaited a heart transplant. Losing a loved one is always hard. It is even more tragic when that person is so young as we grieve all the possibilities and experiences they missed out on. This is because we mostly see with "Earthly" rather than "Heavenly" eyes.  I am no exception. But as I wrestled with [...]

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.    ~ 1Timothy 6: 6 -8    A Lesson in Contentment Success or failure. Financial windfall or bankruptcy. Dream house or simple apartment. There are so many circumstances that greatly influence our contentment level – if we let them. One of my former pastors once said that the bigger the gap between our expectations and reality, the bigger our misery [...]

The Right Kind of Fear The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10 Fear is a terrifying emotion. I know this from personal experience. In my late teens and early twenties, I experienced unrelenting panic attacks. I remember the first one like it was yesterday. I was a nurse’s aide at a nursing home and was attending to a frail elderly woman when suddenly, a weird sensation came over me. I felt this sense of darkness like a veil had fallen over my [...]