Living Story Blog
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What to Do When the News Is Overwhelming
Dear Friends, I don't know about you, but I can be sucked into the media scrolls and screens. In this season, perhaps more than ever, we need to remember where to set our minds. Enjoy this excerpt from From Recovery to Restoration: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace...
Worth Waiting For
In some areas of the world and our country, quarantine has ended. Meanwhile, many of us wait. Either we wait for lockdown to end, or we wait until we think it’s safer—for others and ourselves—to begin going out more. If you’re stuck in an endless wait, you’ll...
8 Ways to Grieve Canceled Milestones
I haven’t wanted to write about it, because to write about it would force me to face it. I was supposed to attend four graduations in May, four different children graduating from four different grad school programs. All canceled. Actually, one of those was a senior...
Counting Our Losses in the Midst of Crisis
Dear Readers, I don't have to tell you it is a season of suffering losses—suffering from anxiety about getting the COVID-19 virus, suffering from the illness itself, or suffering losses due to the precautions being taken. Today it seemed good to share one of the...
When God Changes Our Plans
This month, as we complete our series on planning and as I recover from hip replacement surgery, I am sharing an excerpt from The Waiting Room: 60 Meditations for Finding Peace & Hope in a Health Crisis. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord....
The Real Reason We Don’t Have to Worry
Endless opportunities for worry… The state of our nation. Cyber attacks. Teenagers texting and driving. Loved ones addicted to destructive substances. Layoffs at work. An unwelcome diagnosis. Some days, some years, it seems that fresh opportunities for high...
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Daily Prayers
A Prayer about Where to Turn in Danger
Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. Daniel 2:20 Saving God, Few of us have ever faced the threats of a despot king as Daniel did, but many of us have faced the threat of danger from an unjust boss, a biased system, or a...
A Prayer about the Perfection God Promises
You therefore must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 Heavenly Father, As a recovering perfectionist, I confess, this verse always makes me anxious when I first read it. But then I reread a commentary on Matthew,* and the author reminds...
A Prayer about Being Open to Learning New Truths
“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. John 9:34 Jesus, our Glorious Teacher, Open our eyes, remove our blindness, that we may see more of your glory. Forgive us for any ways we are like the various groups in the story of the...
A Prayer about True Freedom
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1 Merciful Father, When the apostle Paul told the Galatians they had been set free for freedom, he wasn’t talking politics; he was talking about the...
A Prayer about Being Truly Transformed
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2 Everlasting God, I did it again. I just scrolled away twenty minutes, looking at this and that, following this trail on someone’s post about their wayward cat, ...
A Prayer about the Wisdom We So Desperately Need
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Proverbs 9:10 Awesome God, In this confusing and chaotic world, how desperately we need your wisdom. Parents need your wisdom to know how to help their children stay...