Soul Sister Time

              The last day of the 10-day Silent retreat I attended our leaders gave us some sage advice.  They told us that we cannot perceive it but our bodies, minds and souls have slowed down since we have been on the retreat.  They told us our senses are off a bit and they advised us to be careful and not move too fast, or expect to re-enter the world at the same pace we left.  A result of our silence was that we had slowed down, but the world had not.  It helped explain my inability to remember where I put things.  I began to notice this in myself as I had such a hard time packing, even though I had brought very little with me.  I couldn’t remember where I had placed things I had not needed during the retreat.  After our last session, we broke our silence dinner and then enjoyed an ice cream party.  After so much talking so much I found it hard to get to sleep.   ...

              I had the privilege of spending the last week with my daughter and her seven-month-old daughter (my granddaughter).  There is nothing better than to witness the love, sacrifice and instinctual wisdom of a new mom.  My admiration for a strong daughter was heightened because during her visit a friend from college passed away.  His death was sudden and very much unexpected.  His wife was so faithful to keep us up to date on his injury and the ways we could pray.  He himself left many video messages that will comfort the family in the years to come.  However, at the point when disaster struck, the one who had to be strong—though she was facing her own shock, fear, denial, anguish—was his one and only daughter, a strong daughter like the one I have.               I don’t know his widow, but I have journeyed the path...

          Why do people obey God?  In the midst of a crowed airport one couple caught my attention.  They were dressed in a unique way that made them stand apart from the tattooed, vacation-attired Florida airport crowd.  Their clothes were handmade from the same blue plaid fabric.  It wasn’t a popular paid either.  The fabric seemed as if it could have been purchased from a surplus store that everyone else rejected for their own sewing projects.  The woman had a jumper dress of the fabric, a dress that seemed to only touch the tops of her shoulders and hung loosely down her body.  I may not have even noticed if her husband were not wearing a shirt sewn from the exact fabric.  It was well made with buttons down the front and even over the chest-pocket.  I’m sure in their community this attire would be admired; but in the community in which they were traveling, it brought attention to their forei...

Abba, Father , he said, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will. Mark 14:36 Through the years of my spiritual journey, I have bumped into Scriptures that have both stunned and amazed me. The first was in the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus prayed to God as, Abba or Daddy in English (Mark 14:36). It became clear to me that I can call God Daddy when I read in Romans 8:14–17, 23; Galatians 3:26; 4:6; and Ephesians 1:4–5. Jesus invites me to settle in and cuddle up to the God who invites me to call Him Daddy . Although Daddy is the best English translation of Abba , so many people have told me that this word is foreign to them even in their human family relationships. It is so far from what Jesus is trying to teach us that really knowing God is more than knowing Him as Father; it is actually knowing Him as Daddy (or Dad, Papa, Pop). Every culture is invited to insert the name for father that signifies the closest intimacy you...

The reason I attended a 10-Day Silent Retreat was because I am hooked on periods of silence to restore my soul...It all began in the Baptist Church when our women’s class took 38-hour silent retreats.  I have been leading them, attending them and hoping to encourage others to discover them from that point on.  A weekend wasn’t enough for me.  I wanted to give more time to Silence.  That was the attraction to the 10-Day Silent Retreat.  I learned a lot more about silence. Even when my silence was day after day, I found out that I wasn’t necessarily being with God during all that time of not talking.  I did enjoy His creation, His church services, and His creativity and by the way, the three deer who walked right through the snow during my devotions were awesome; I even caught them on video.  We were instructed to be in Gran Silence where we are not supposed even to make eye contact with each other, but it doesn’t come naturally and people make eye-...

          God moved heaven and earth to get me into this wait-listed, 10-day silent retreat.  It had taken me eleven years to arrive. Why do I have to have a lingering cough from a cold that began over a week ago when I am sharing a room with a roommate who needs to sleep, and I must be quiet during prayer?  Why? After waiting all those years to get here, why would I be banished like this?  I returned to my silent room and sat down in the most comfortable chair you can imagine and began my private session—no one could hear my coughs.  I did okay but mainly I discovered that the God of all comforts had something to show me through this seeming disaster.  It’s not so bad to pray in your room overlooking the beautiful lush green Rockies with snow tipped peaks (this was before the 3-5 inches of snow that began that afternoon).  I wiped my tears and enjoyed my setting.        ...

              For over decade, I have wanted to take a 10 Day Silent Retreat.  I knew where I wanted to go.  I knew where I wanted to be.  I just couldn’t find the 10 days to get away from my busy work, mothering, responsibility life.  Well, the kids are grown and the stars aligned and this week I will follow my yearning to attend a 10-day Silent Retreat.               I’ve read about others who have attended this retreat.  I have good friends who have gone, and had a wonderful experience.  I love Silent Retreats and look forward to them more than a trip to Hawaii.  Yet, the couple of weeks preceding the retreat I began to feel a little uneasy.  I began to question my preparedness for the retreat.  As I explored my soul more God helped me to identify that I was afraid.  I was afraid that God would not be ...

              On the night before Jesus died on the cross, He began talking to the disciples about peace.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (John 14:27). The first words out of his mouth when He appeared to them about the resurrection was the word Peace .  While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace be with you (Luke 24:36). Peace , not love—the new commandment He gave to them.  No, Jesus said Peace .               The peace Jesus speaks about is no ordinary peace.  This peace is an extraordinary peace.  It is a peace that is only available to Christians. The world cannot know this peace.  It is through this peace that Christians are able to forgive the most heinou...

              On blessed Good Friday, the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) record something extraordinary that occurred in the most secret places of the Hebrew religion.  It is an occurrence that the Hebrews would pay special notice to because it was so rare and unexpected.  The implications of what it meant were most likely overlooked by the people who witnessed it, but it became very significant to the Jewish converts.  Matthew wrote about it in Mathew 27:51: At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split. Matthew tells us the direction in which the curtain was torn.  It was torn from top to bottom.  How many repairs do you imagine had been made to that curtain across the hundreds of years of use?  What was necessary to maintain an extremely thick curtain woven from very specific materials?  The Torah has all k...

Here she stood at the foot of the cross, everything inside of her wished to be in a different place, anywhere but there.  Anyplace, yet nothing could keep her from being exactly where she stood.  Her feet set one beside the other, anchored to the earth as close as the executioners would permit her to stand.  She knew her place was there.  She had come to the moment in time that Simeon predicted the first time she came to Jerusalem with her infant son held safely in her arms. As he prophesied about His life, he prophesied about her too.  Luke 2:34-35 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Knowing it would happen some day and experiencing are two very different realities.  As she stood at the foot of the cross forced to ...

              I was a little bewildered when the Holy Spirit chose to alert me to a deeper meaning of the Sermon on the Mount.  Do you ever have those moments when you read something in the scripture that causes you to want to shut the book and not read further?  As I read this familiar passage, God pointed out that I was guilty of the sins Jesus exposed in His sermon.   I thought to myself: Surely this is not what the Holy Spirit is saying to me .  I even read back through it, looking for something else I could focus on.  But no, it was clear God was guiding me to reflect on how this sermon exposed my personal sin in ways I would rather not consider.                I didn’t like the feeling of reading a sermon that exposed my sin.  I wanted my Bible reading to point out how I could do better, or even how much bett...

              Our lives on earth will require accepting the unacceptable.  Every single human being must face that they cannot get their own way all the time.  And, thank God, we cannot.  There are two reasons to be thankful that we cannot get our own way.  I thank God I cannot get my own way because my way may be harmful to myself and others.  I don’t always know for sure that my way would not cause unintended damage to other people.  I am limited in my understanding and do not have full view of all the ramifications for my choices.  This was the case for the very first sinners.  Eve did not disobey God and eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil because she wanted to sin against God.  Adam ate because he saw that nothing had changed for Eve, and the idea of being like God, whom he admired, was more desirable than obeying His command not to eat....

Recent days have revealed the worst in people on social media.  My Facebook feed that was once filled with cute babies and fun vacations pictures has become a venue for crude debate and accusation. I have found myself amazed at the comments from people I admire and people I know in a different setting to be level-headed and kind as they share their views about the political changes in America.  If an alien were reporting back to his planet about what how people with different opinions treated one another, he would have an unfavorable report to make for sure.  The culture of the United States has moved far away from the instructions God gives us in His word about how to live.  Even our churches are yielding to the culture and slipping from the orthodox teaching of the Bible handed down to us from the Apostles.  Rather than calling Christians out of a former way of life and live a life transformed by the Holy Spirit inside of you, the church is ignoring t...

Jesus came to save us from sin and death and so much more.  William of Saint Thierry wrote:  For us to serve you is nothing else but to be saved by you .  When I read it, I realized how true this statement is in my life.  My salvation is not fully experienced here on earth unless I am loving and serving God.  When I serve Him, I am being saved from my own inclinations.  Serving God saves me in a deeper way. This definitely happens on every mission trip I have ever experienced.  The divine economy is always played out.  I come with my affluence and knowledge of Scripture to poor souls who need what I bring.  It is only in bringing what I think I have that I realize that it is nothing compared to what they have to give to me.  And they don’t stop giving.  When I put it in proportion to my capabilities, it is sobering. God saves me from wasted time when I am caught up in obsessive thoughts that produce anger, worry or selfishnes...

              I don’t think you can progress spiritually until you resolve the question of whether God is good.  The goodness of God will make all the difference in your devoted love for God.  What keeps us from believing in the goodness of God?  After all He sent His Only Son to die on a cross to enable humans to become reconciled to Him in spite of our innate sinful condition.  How could He express the extremity of His love more?                God created this world with goodness in mind.  Each and every day of creation He looked at what He made and declared it good.  Inherent in all of creation is an unrelenting goodness.  In the most horrid of experiences there is potential to see good, if you learn how to look for it.               This Sunday...

              As Christians we need to remember that the One we can trust is always our good God.  He alone cares for us.  He alone provides for us in a worn and weary land.  Why is it so hard for us to stay in touch with this truth we all know?               We live a world that is distant from the very presence of God.  When God created the world, He created it in a way that His presence would be a daily highlight of our lives.  In Genesis 1-2 we understand how not only was the world perfectly suited to give Adam and Eve everything they needed physically in the garden God planted but it also gave them everything they needed to have purpose and meaning.  The meaning of life increased as they cultivated the garden and enjoyed the pleasures of the world. They had everything they needed in a perfect relationship where their di...

              I’ve just concluded a study of Peter’s first letter to the church.  He wrote it from Rome to churches that were facing persecution in Turkey and southern Asia.  I have Christian friends in those same places, and many of them are dealing with degrees of persecution because they are Christians. Their faith in Christ puts them at greater risk than people who profess faith in Islam or other religions in those regions.  I was reading it as if Peter were writing to my friends today, and I found it contained so much encouragement and spiritual direction for them and for me.               I especially liked the way Paul closed his letter.  Formerly he thought Christ only came to save Jewish people, but it was revealed to him early on that Jesus came for Jews first and then for the whole world.  In his concluding remarks Pet...

           My word for the year is prayer .  At the end of 2015 I took some time to reflect and pray and ask God for a spiritual focus for 2016.  I can’t remember how, but the verse God led me to was Luke 2:37… she never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying .  I have been doing a lot of praying this year, but I haven’t fasted except during Lent.  I usually fast when there is something really important coming up.  I do have a concern regarding a major decision that I am powerless over, so I thought I would gear up my prayer with fasting once a week.  I don’t see fasting as a way to make God more inclined to do what I want Him to do.  Rather, I see it as a way to remind myself of how dependent I am on God’s grace and through my tangible efforts.  Fasting is a spiritual discipline that reminds me that the best I can do is entrust my concerns to His care.  When I go without food as a re...

              How can suffering be blessed?  There is one and only one way.  It is when you suffer while you love God.  In fact, Peter tell us that we are called to obtain the blessing because we do not revile when we are reviled.  Peter seems to assume that each one of us will have opportunities to follow Christ in the way of suffering unjustly.  Here are a few of Peter’s thoughts on the subject of blessed suffering: Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.   Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing…..   Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?   But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed (I Peter 3:8-9; 13-14).         ...