-
Are You Holding On for Dear Life or Living at God’s Speed?
“Learn to live at Godspeed,” Mindy Caliguire taught in the Strengthening Our Soul soul care Collective I participated in this past Spring. Her choice of words immediately brought me back to an illustration God gave me at another time when life was particularly full. I was two years into my ministry with my current agency and the pace of work started picking up. The requests came more frequently and the decisions were harder. “I feel like I’m driving a wagon at full speed and it’s about to take off and drag me behind,” I told some friends, finally able to put words to my feelings. “I could devote more time…
-
Embracing Inevitable Change
After my husband and I had completed language school and taken a survey trip, we left the expat-saturated city to set up home and ministry in a new field on an eastern island in Indonesia. When the whole team finally gathered—five families and one single man—we excitedly began to settle in, strategize, and get to know each other. Just a few months later, the phone rang in the early hours of the morning. The frantic voice of my teammate called out, “We’ve been robbed. My husband’s been cut. Send help.” He had in fact been seriously wounded and her call started a chain of events that changed our our lives.…
-
Daniel Foreshadows Easter
My regularly scheduled Bible study provided me with a unique and unexpected Lenten and Easter preparation. I probably learned this years ago in seminary but hearing it anew in a sermon from my former pastor1 cemented the truth that Daniel chapter six contains a foreshadowing—a type—of Jesus Christ. A “type” in the Bible is “a person or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament.”2 How amazing that God intentionally pointed to Jesus from the very beginning and throughout history. Here are some ways that Daniel foreshadows the death and resurrection of Christ. Daniel Jesus Christ Daniel was a royal son of Judah…
-
The Greatest of The Big Three is Love
During February we emphasize love. Even though Hallmark has turned love into a marketing campaign Scripture agrees that it is worth celebrating. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 Since the big three* are often grouped together, we can’t speak of love without its companions—faith and hope. The Apostle Paul describes how they intersect when he greets the church at Colossae: We heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard…
-
Tell the Next Generation About the Lord
“You’re the writer. Take this,” my siblings said as we cleaned, sorted, and emptied my parents’ home after they both passed away. Everything that appeared to document their lives, ministry, and testimonies was stuffed into an overflowing box and handed to me. For three years the box sat in my office closet. My husband, the one who loves to take out the garbage, queried, “What are you going to do with it? You know someone’s just going to throw it away someday.” Despite that reality (which I accept), I finally opened the contents of my parents’ lives and dove in. I categorized and read, scanned and discarded. Ray Dubert’s baby…
-
Christmas Is God Saying “I Love You”
She’s an independent small town business woman jaded by past relationships. He’s an engaged, rich guy from a big corporation trying to take over her struggling enterprise. They meet two days before Christmas. He’s impressed, her heart melts, a miracle happens, and they kiss under the mistletoe. This common trope of sentimental love promoted on every channel and streamed into homes worldwide is not at all the love of Christmas that Scripture describes: This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10 Christmas is God saying, “I love you. I’ve…
-
God Fills the Hungry with Good Things
November always makes me think of the good things I am grateful for. With that in mind, I’m sharing a chapter entitled “Theologian” from my book, Favored Blessed Pierced: A Fresh Look at Mary of Nazareth (Richardson, TX: Pondered Treasures Books, 2019), 47–50. And Mary said, “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has begun to rejoice in God my Savior, because he has looked upon the humble state of his servant. For from now on all generations will call me blessed, because he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name; from generation to generation he is merciful to those who fear…
-
Supporting My Spouse by Focusing on Me
“I’m feeling very anxious,” my husband told me. As a young bride this revelation shook me. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to take it away, to make it better so I wouldn’t have to watch him suffer. Since I didn’t experience anxiety in the same way, I could not understand what he described. I’m a student and teacher of the Bible. Studying a verse, explaining the principle, identifying the lies, and believing the truths help me. As such, I’m tempted to quote verses to him, to give information as a way to help. But over the course of our thirty-four year marriage, I learned that my methods…
-
Why I’m Sad About the Queen’s Passing
“Rest in Peace, Queen Elizabeth” popped up on my social media feed on September 8, 2022. I immediately felt sad. For Her Late Majesty’s family, for friends in the United Kingdom, for those who actually knew her. But also, weirdly, for me. Here’s why I, an American, am sad over the death of a foreign head of state whom I never met nor knew personally: It stirs up childhood nostalgia Like many Americans I am an anglophile, an admirer of all things British. I feel I come by it naturally since I grew up in the commonwealth nation of Papua New Guinea. As a multi-national missions community, we took turns recognizing…
-
Adequacy Is Found in God’s Unlimited Resources
For most of my life, I’ve worked in areas of my strength. I knew where I would excel and picked jobs accordingly. But this month, I started a new role, a position that I did not seek but which became clear I needed to fill. I felt prepared in many ways since I’ve assisted my boss (my husband) for the past eight years. But now I’m in charge and I’m painfully aware of my inadequacies. Greater responsibility increases the potential for failure and disappointing others. How will I do what is expected of me? My life verse feels apropos at this moment: Not that we are adequate in ourselves to…
