Flecks of pink and orange winked at us between the needles of shortleaf pine. Turning off the Blue Ridge Parkway, my husband geared down our car to ascend into a higher elevation. The December sun descended quickly, and by the time we located our last turn, darkness enveloped our Honda CRV. Night falls rapidly in the Smokies. Parking on the gravel drive, we …
By: Magen Thetford Last December 26th, a day my husband and I usually love dearly, was spent in tears. I was exhausted. I had run myself into the ground trying to do everything, be everything, host everything and buy everything. I wanted the Christmas season to be full of magic and wonder, and joy for my family. Don’t get me …
“Do not deliver the soul of Thy turtledove to the wild beast” (Psalm 74:19). How often this has been my cry of late. “The jaws of anxiety is at my neck, Lord. Don’t let it eat me alive!” I’m not the only one. As I look at the families around me, almost all have similar cries. The evil one is …
We are a gaming family. Spades. Fishbowl. Catch Phrase. When we get together, our activities often include board games. Over the years of competition, our individual personalities come out. Some play to win. Others play to giggle. To the annoyance of the more competitive, I’m in the latter category. I participate to tell and hear funny stories. The …
Glory to God and Peace toward men. Isn’t it funny how we spend most of our lives trying to reverse the order? We glorify man and expect God to be at peace with our action. We garner glory for beauty, creativity, wisdom, and skill — all gifts given to us by heaven’s grace. We struggle between a lack of …
“His faithfulness is a shield” (Psalm 91:4). These words from the Psalmist continued to stir in my mind. “His faithfulness is a shield.” For years, part of my spiritual armor has been to take up “the shield of faith” to extinguish the enemy’s missiles of doubt and deceit. But all too often, this shield constructed by …
She was coming. Yes, I’d invited her, but I really hoped she’d be unable to come. After all, she intimidated me. Her clothes were better. Her house was bigger. Her lifestyle was best. And yet, it was Christmas. I was supposed to have peace and good will toward all – even her. So, as I had …
“The promise of His presence knows no limit and has nothing to do with how we feel.” Martha Kirk’s quote from her recent post keeps throbbing in my spirit. Indeed, we walk by faith, not by Sight or (2 Corinthians 5:7) Smell or Taste or Sound or Feeling. Each of those sensory perceptions are sourced from our …
So are you stressed out yet? As much as we love having a holiday, it sometimes becomes a time of anxiety, huh? Too much preparation, too little time to get it done, too many people gathering together, too little patience. I began being “in charge” of the full fixin’s at age 28 and have hosted …
