Our third year of marriage unexpectedly found my husband looking for a new job. His company had undergone massive layoffs, and Rich’s department was among them. With many unknowns suddenly facing us, Rich began meeting with recruiters and mapping out potential interviews. Attracted to the quaintness and quietness of Vermont, we decided to set our sights there. We began praying while staying open to God’s leading, and trusted His hand to be upon the process. Over the following three months, Rich sent numerous resumes to prospective companies in Vermont, and throughout the northeast. He landed some interviews, but to our disappointment,…
Beautiful butterflies flitted all around me, silently gliding through the air and softly landing on nearby plants and flowers. Not just a few butterflies, mind you, but more than 7,000 butterflies flying freely in a large five-story tropical conservatory. This spring I visited the Butterflies Are Blooming exhibition,[1] featuring more than 40 different species imported from the Far East and Central America. Seeing the kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and patterns of these delicate creatures, and observing the various stages of their growth was truly breathtaking! …
Last week, during our Midwest travels, my husband and I took a day to enjoy a bike ride along a quiet rail trail in western Michigan. Scenic and flat, it was my kind of trail, and despite the cold weather made for a pleasant outing. We arrived in a small town called New Era, population 800. After lunch at the village diner where we were obviously “out-of-towners”, we wandered next door to check out a health food/coffee shop. While waiting for the owner to make hubby’s afternoon espresso, we noticed a sign on her wall: C.O.F.F.E.E. Christ Offers Forgiveness For…
In July 2013 I ventured solo to Philadelphia to attend my first-ever writers’ conference—The Greater Philly Christian Writers Conference. As I sat down the first day in my first workshop, the first person I spoke with was the woman sitting next to me, Sarah Lynn Phillips. We quickly discovered we both were working on books, and instantly hit if off. Since that time, we have cheered one another on to see each of our books not only reach publication, but also win awards! Penned Without Ink: Trusting God to Write Your Story is a book about trusting God, even when…
December closed out with our ministry’s annual board meeting. As a group, we rejoiced at all that was accomplished in the past year, and brainstormed plans and goals for the year ahead. I enjoy the synergy of these meetings. The give and take of everyone sharing ideas leads to a combined result greater than the sum of what we would each individually bring to the table. The word synergy comes from the Greek sunergeo, meaning “to work together.” The apostle Paul used sunergeo—translated “works” or “working together,”—in a commonly quoted verse of Scripture: “And we know that in all things…
