“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 I felt like the wee little man, Zacchaeus, intent on seeing Jesus. He climbed up in a tree being sure not to miss Him, and I stood on tiptoes to catch a glimpse. He was at my church this Sunday. Of course it was a man playing the part of Jesus in our Palm Sunday service, but I felt as if it was actually Him. The children waved palm branches as we sang, “Prepare Ye The Way.” Suddenly Jesus came walking through our sanctuary. He waved and smiled non-stop as he patted children’s heads and even invited tw

I heard her sniffles in front of me at the altar. When I finished praying with my husband, I felt nudged to embrace her from behind. “The Lord bless you, Dear one” were the words that came. Her body softened as she leaned back into the hug. I returned to my seat, but as the service concluded I saw her coming my way. Her eyes searched with desperation to get to me. Tears dripped from her cheeks as we held each other in a full lingering hug. As we sat down she freely poured out the cry of her heart. With heads pressed together we cried out to the Lord. I simply followed the nudge and God let me be His arms to hold his daughter. She needed to know He saw her and He heard her. She kept thanking

"Not that we are adequate (sufficient and qualified) in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." 2 Corinthians 3:5 Soon after we moved into my childhood home, my mom taped the measuring stick to the wall in the laundry room. I still remember the feeling of backing up to the “O. W. Jones Hardware” wooden yard stick. I was eager to see how much I had grown since the last measurement. Being the youngest of three always left me feeling an inch too short in many ways. As the marks on the wall inched higher and higher, it seemed to prove I wasn’t the baby anymore, and hopefully I was measuring up in my Daddy’s eyes. I learned that the way to his heart

But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” Gen. 3:9 The look in her eyes told me something was seriously wrong. She passed us pushing her cart like it was a tank in the mud. Her face was filled with fear and despair. She called his name a little louder each time. “Levi, Levi…Levi, Levi, Levi” It quickly became obvious she was missing a child. I went one way as my sister Susan went the other, searching for her missing little boy. Row after row we searched. When I passed row five, I spotted, who obviously was Levi as his face too was etched with fear. “Are you Levi? Come with me darling, your mom is right here.” Timidly and cautiously, he turned my way, but when he heard mama’s voice

My young granddaughter taught the lesson. Mommy took her and brother to an indoor jumping place, filled with extreme activity, fun, laughter and challenge. There were many opportunities that took great courage for a 9 year old, but she wanted to push right past the comfort zone into the adventure awaiting the brave. Backing up to the ledge of the high platform, she inched her little heels to the edge. Quick glances over her shoulder proved the drop to be scary but the foam filled box would catch her thrill with no harm done. She had conquered the forward jump with little trembling, but desired the back jump enough to force herself beyond fear. It was with great excitement that she returned h