As I think and pray over recent opportunities, initiatives, partnerships, advancements of the Gospel, and new openings—joy and hope fill my heart. At the same time, I feel a sense of heaviness. There are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:9) Some of us are hurting, some of us are sick, there has been great personal loss, relational issues, schooling issues, persecution,…
In solitude and quietness, I bring Him my plans. These plans to make things better. Hard things, heavy things, things that will go off the rails If someone doesn’t intervene. I think it through and I gather up my best ideas. And here I am now, pleading with God. Please make these things happen for Your glory because If someone…
Jesus changes everything! But sometimes “everything” is more comfortable to us than Jesus. When He reaches out, what is our response?
The distance from Texas to where I live in Southeast Asia is ten thousand miles. Like many other cross-cultural workers, we sold everything, quit our jobs, withdrew our kids from school, and waved goodbye to our family. “We won’t be coming home for Christmas this year, Mom and Dad. We’ll be in our new home.” TEN. THOUSAND. MILES. AWAY. It’s…
I drive to the hospital…again. And as I do, I ponder the question: Have I crossed a line? “Enough, Jana. Enough drama with this family.” But something compels me. Is it You, Lord? Am I doing this for the right reasons? Or do I get some sort of twisted joy from continuing my relationship with this problem-riddled family? I don’t…
Bang! Thump! Bang! Thump! Noah hammers the last of the nails to finish the ark. God told him to build the ark and in spite of the people mocking him (for until now it had never rained, so why build a boat?) he finished the work. Noah and his wife, his three sons, and their wives, all entered the ark,…
I sit in a hospital room in Asia. The elderly Indonesian man has just been transferred there from ICU. I try to move a chair next to the bed so his wife can sit next to him. It is hard for him to move his foot over to make space for her. But he does it anyway and tells me…
I sit on large stones overlooking the sea. I came to the beach to pray, but I’m not the only one praying, and God is not the only one being worshiped here. A South Asian Hindu couple beat me here and they are in the middle of a ritual, so I sit on the rocks and wait before walking along…
Ever surprised to find out someone else has the same struggle you do? I am still finding my footing on this whole “parenting older/adult children” thing. The other day I discovered I’m not alone. While talking with a friend who is in the same season, I realized there are more of “us” out there than I’d known. My friend gave…
House, children, family, food, the latest gossip. These are the things that matter most to a particular group of ladies whom I call my neighbor friends. Yes, they will engage in conversation about abstract things like religion, sin, and heaven. But this doesn’t really get them on a deep level. That’s surface and irrelevant (to them). For sure these topics…
