The Haven

As we begin a new year many of us will talk about new adventures we want to take, new goals we would like to accomplish, new relationships we would like to build, and new opportunities we would like to be given. These are good things to think about, but at the end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians...

As a mother of four children I well remember many nights that were anything but silent. The cries of a newborn suddenly awakened by pangs of hunger. The moans of a sick child who needed another dose of acetaminophen. More recently, the voices of teenagers telling me about their day when they arrive...

Another Christmas season is upon us. As the world around us magnifies boxes and bows, decorations and displays, parades and parties, sleigh bells and snow balls, let us, as believers, magnify the Lord. At the beginning of Luke’s gospel we learn about two women—Elizabeth and Mary, who by God’s grace...

My bookshelf is lined with prayer journals covering the years of my life beginning with childhood. Rereading them brings both joy and heartache, but most of all an overwhelming sense that I have had the privilege to bow my knees before my heavenly Father and cry out to Him in the midst of sin,...

In a few short weeks many of us will gather around a table loaded with food to celebrate Thanksgiving with family and friends. For many it will be a day of feasting and family fun. For others, they may be too sick to eat, too filled with grief to laugh, or too busy to slow down and enjoy the day...

I recently returned from a speaking engagement in the desert, otherwise known as Tuscon, Arizona. While there I was captivated with the Lord’s handiwork of cacti and mountains, the sunrise and sunset. Even more so, as I taught God’s word, I was captivated with the Lord’s faithfulness to His people...

It had been a long, hot summer. The heat wave outside seemed to match the heat wave in my own heart of anger, chaos, disappointment, fear, grief, insecurity, loneliness, and physical pain. One night things seemed particularly bad. I was overwhelmed with the different needs of each of my four...

Several years ago I missed a turn for one of my speaking events. It didn’t take me long to realize I was on the wrong road, but I didn’t know how to find my way without help. So I pulled into a gas station and asked the locals for directions. Thankfully, they were kind and helpful, and before long...

When was the last time you wandered in the desert wastes of addiction or anger, dissensions or divisions, enmity or envy, idolatry or impurity, sensuality or strife, finding no way to fulfill the hole in your heart, but desperately trying to anyway? When have you faced betrayal or blame, cancer or...