With the sun behind her, low in the sky, a woman mountain climber rests for a moment, hanging from the lines that attach her to the cliff.

Mary Magdalene stuck her neck out

Thank you, Mary Magdalene, for coming to Jesus. Your story shows: REST is humbly serving the One who always treats me with high respect, entrusts me with significant responsibility and involves me in things of first importance.

White hatchback car, sitting at a gas pump in the dark

The most unwanted assignment

  • Post category:My Story
  • Post last modified:November 4, 2023

Sitting in my car at that gas station on that winter afternoon, staring at Isaiah 58:1, I began to cry ... Oh. Lord. Not. This. Assignment.

Back view of woman with brimmed straw hat, standing in field of tall grass, her arms outstretched at her side, her face toward the setting (or rising?) sun

Cries of the shunned

In the middle of that dark-valley time, I often found myself alone with God, crying aloud and writing passionately in my journal. During that time too, I came to identify with David, the shepherd-poet-warrior-king, in ways I had not before. For David was also ostracized by people he trusted. And he cried out in distress - and in faith.

Sun rises in an orange sky above a mountain slope that ends in the sea

Radiant! A glory story

When all seemed lost, Moses pressed in: To know the character and ways of God. To live in his Presence, to seek his face, to see and reflect his glory. May your heartcry echo that of Moses. And even when you do not realize it, may you become ever more radiant because you have been with your Lord.

From cover of Return to Your Rest: new growth on a tree, with slender green leaves

The blessing of rest

Real rest is so different from what I had thought. It’s so much more expansive, and desirable, and enjoyable. And it’s so very vital. Thing is, I desperately needed real rest long before I knew I needed it. I had no clue how rest-deprived I was.