Living Story Blog
Read the Numbering Your Days Column Here
On Reading Well: Four Great Books to Check Out Today
On Reading Well: Four Great Books to Check Out Today “In a world dominated by tweets and texts, hot takes and sound bites, the call to read and to read well couldn’t be more timely, especially for the people of God.” Matt Chandler, endorsing Karen Swallow...
The Paradoxical Freedom of Belonging to God
As you may have noticed, we live in a world that prioritizes autonomy, the freedom of self-rule. The mantra of the 21st century is best summed up by my children’s cry to one another when they were young, “You’re not the boss of me!” How then, can it be, that belonging...
When Your Longings Are Unfulfilled: A Devotional
Are you longing for fulfillment? There's good news!What are you waiting for? A job, a spouse, a child to return home (whether spiritually or physically)? Maybe healing in a relationship or healing of a broken body? Discover the good news as you wait: one day, your...
What the World Needs Now: Forgiveness
Scarlet red and pastel pink candy hearts are popping up in stores everywhere; Pinterest is loaded with 1001 creative and crafty ways to tell someone "I love you." It seems like a good time to focus on love. What ignites love, and what sustains love? My husband and I...
Counting Our Blessings When Life Is Hard
A note about this devotional In 2017, our family was suddenly and unexpectedly thrust into many waiting rooms at doctor’s offices and hospitals. This meditation on gratitude is excerpted from the devotional I wrote about that season. To learn more about The Waiting...
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that I occasionally recommend books, and if you use that link to purchase the book, I get paid a small commission, but you pay the same price.
Daily Prayers
A Prayer about Being an Exile on Earth
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. Hebrews 11:13 Author God, I love how your Word reminds us of things we know...
A Prayer about the Questions God Asks
Where have you come from, and where are you going? Genesis 16:8 Pursuing God Thank you for chasing after us when we try to run away. Like Hagar in the wilderness, we can run ourselves into the ground, but you seek us, and you draw us out of our hiding, asking...
A Prayer about Believing that God Is for Us
This I know, that God is for me. Psalm 56:9 Holy and Merciful God, I admit, as I was reading this Psalm aloud in prayer the other day, I thought, how could David say these words so confidently: “This I know, that God is for me.” I thought about what a “big sinner”...
A Prayer about the Price Paid for Us
In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10 Holy God, Redeeming Son, Sanctifying Spirit, How we thank you for the precious gift of a debt of our sins fully paid. Help us to...
A Prayer about Complicated Caregiving
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…’ Matthew 5:33-34 Heavenly Father, Loving Savior, Helping Spirit, Today we lift up all of those (including...
A Prayer about the Laughter of Hope
“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” Genesis 21:6 Surprising Lord, At some point, we’ve all felt the despair Sarah felt after years of waiting for the child you had promised, after any physiological hope for a baby was past, and if...