Learn by Paradox Living as a wanderer The Pilgrim Life

Reluctant Blogger

Vulnerability. The word alone makes my skin crawl. Blogging is public. I don’t like public. My favorite types of places are secluded mountaintops where I can see the world, but no one can see me. My room in a quiet nook with a cup of coffee and a closed door. A river bank where the only noise is the water crashing against the rocks as it flows downstream. My parent’s back porch in the East…

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Prayer Life

I’m Scared of Prayer

Prayer Series: Part 1 There are numerous books and sermons on prayer. I’ve read and heard a few. The Bible encourages us to pray; some may say commands. Yet I find so few who pray; myself included. It is not that I never pray, but I am definitely not praying without ceasing. I don’t spend hours in prayer and some days I go completely without praying. If I am honest, my excuses are long: no…

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Devotionals Spiritual Formation

To be Named is to be Loved

“—to be given a name is an act of intimacy as powerful as any act of love.” Madeleine L’engle, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith & Art.  When we found out we were pregnant with our first child we immediately began scouring baby name books. Knowing we were having a boy narrowed down the process but didn’t lessen the pressure. We knew nothing about our little bundle of life to come, yet had to choose…

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As we wander in transition Learn by Paradox

Not Forgotten: Remembering in Loss

Two years seems like enough time to grieve, right? Sitting cramped in my economy seat with a pit of emptiness in my stomach leaving China with no return ticket, God comforted me through another’s loss.  “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept. We remembered Zion. If I […] forget you o’ Jerusalem may my right hand forget its skill. Psalm 137:1 & 5 (NIV paraphrase) Leaving the Shanghai airport, one of China’s east coast…

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As we wander in transition

Rising Anew

Making all things new The time to leave China arrived. As a person of imagery, the only picture in my spirit was darkness. A girl standing on a path unlit and shadowed. Where did the light unto my path go? Where do I go?  I thought I’d be in China for years to come, but God’s holy flame that guided my calling and life began moving. Like the Israelites, who followed the cloud by day…

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