Blog
Summer Sampler: Unexpected to Unbelievable!
I love living in New England, and I welcome the diversity of all four seasons. The new birth of buds blossoming, the splash of salted waters, painted crisp fall leaves, and a fresh snow blanket descending from the sky.
Not so welcome are the unexpected seasons/storms that abruptly knock at our doorstep. Yet we all have those uninvited visitors barging in. For some it may be a …
Summer Sampler: Persevering in Our Suffering
Forty years ago, I began my journey of growing in the knowledge of God’s gracious provision of persevering endurance through my health challenges. In the spring of 1983 – my sophomore year in college – my kidneys began failing. I began dialysis in July of ’85, and after six months I received my first cadaveric transplant. Nine years later when…
Summer Sampler: Persevering with Perspective
Wars. Protests. Rebel takeovers. Tornadoes. Floods. World leaders denying wrongdoing. Innocent people suffering. Lives and homes destroyed. All these events and their repercussions are just one day’s news.
We can be alarmed and anxious, and say, “Surely Jesus must come back soon!” But we also want to know the best way to live each day when such horrible things are going on in the world.
One thing I’ve learned from living in big cities like New York City and London, where worrying events make headlines on a regular basis, is …
Summer Sampler: A Shattered Faith
In the mid-1980s, “Stress Test Biofeedback Cards” were all the rage. They were plastic cards with a colored scale and a testing square – you held the card with your thumb lightly pressing on the square and counted to 10. The color of the square told your stress score.
I think my stress square might be stuck on black based on the last 10 years of my life.
Summer Sampler: Gratitude in the Midst
In the mid-1980s, “Stress Test Biofeedback Cards” were all the rage. They were plastic cards with a colored scale and a testing square – you held the card with your thumb lightly pressing on the square and counted to 10. The color of the square told your stress score.
I think my stress square might be stuck on black based on the last 10 years of my life.
Summer Sampler: Journey to the Summit
“I would rather die.”
People asked, was I serious? Totally. When the surgeon told me I had a ruptured bowel and I needed a colostomy bag, I refused. The hospital staff said they would make me comfortable until the end. That’s when my family came over the top.
They took my hands, begging me to continue fighting. I thought, “What’s the point?” I had stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer with not long to live. Finally, …
Summer Sampler: In His Grip While in the “In Between”
Celebrate the seasons –– a time for everything! Solomon trumpets this theme in Ecclesiastes, championing that each season will be made beautiful in its time with God as its designer.
There are only a few people in scripture for whom we have the privilege of celebrating their seasons over a lifetime: Moses, Joshua, David, and Mary, to name a few.
But we have seasons of our lives as well! Seasons come and seasons go. Some arrive suddenly –– with the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, a sudden move to a new city –– the plot twists of life we never see coming. Other seasons arrive so gradually that we barely notice we’ve entered a new season. When did…
Summer Sampler: Why I Stopped Hiding My Pain
Keep a stiff upper lip. Grin and bear it. You may be familiar with these idioms to “soldier on” and put a lid on suffering and pain. I certainly am. Recently, I’ve been convicted of how that kept me from glorifying God by showing the reason for – and hope in – my suffering.
I was a “perfect attendance” child. I didn’t even get colds. Then in 1986, at age 23, I woke up one day unable to …
Summer Sampler: Persevering in a Troubling and Ever-Changing World
The dictionary definition for the word “perseverance” says this: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : STEADFASTNESS.
Perseverance is a word that I don’t necessarily enjoy talking or thinking about. Like, who wants to persevere when things are messy and hard?
Sharing and Seeing by the Spirit
I feel very blessed to have many women in my life who have walked alongside me in my faith throughout the years. Women like my mom, my worship team “aunties,” Sunday school teachers, mentors in college, and mentors in my current ministry organization (informally or formally) have encouraged me and loved me in highs and lows. In this current season, I am especially thankful for Sam.
Barbara Arbo: The Woman of the Word (and Lots of Patience)
I did not know about dresses. Come to think of it, I’m not sure I wore a bra. And my memories of basic hygiene are vague. There stood before me a tall blond woman, her blue eyes lit with a joy I was still unfamiliar with. She was stunning! Her dress matched her earrings, both swirling in rich turquoise and fuchsia. And she wore lipstick. I wore an old T-shirt that smelled like yesterday’s ashtray...
Bloom Where You're Planted
These women shared a common thread that greatly impacted my own personal spiritual growth, in each one I saw a faithful acceptance of where God had led them each to be. And in that acceptance, they had grown hearts that longed to lift others up to their heavenly father.
Keep Looking Up
In 1975, Miss Coughlin assigned the new girl to the seat right next to mine. Lenore was introduced to the 5th grade students, and before homeroom ended, the teacher asked me to show her the way to the girls’ bathroom. From that day, we were drawn together as best friends in every way – except one:
My Angel Mama
I like to say we met on a wing and a prayer. Unlike the implication of this old adage, however, our friendship was blessed from the beginning.More than three and a half decades my senior, this angel on earth was our pastor’s wife, but I didn’t first meet her in church.
Barriers and Resources
When we think of investing in the lives of others as God has commanded us, so many barriers can quickly pop into our minds! Perhaps the common phrases “full,” “not much margin,” or “tired” come to mind. Sadly, I must admit: I have used these terms more than once lately to describe my own life. Or maybe it’s not the resource of time that you feel is in short supply; perhaps you feel that you don’t have much emotional margin due to difficulties in your own life … perhaps you feel like you aren’t a great “people person” ... maybe finances are tight. Whether you feel in short supply in the area of time, finances, emotional margin, energy, or people skills, listen up: I have a word of encouragement for you!
Being Discipled
When I first met Barbara back in March of 2021, I was going through a particularly challenging time in my life. I had been dealing with a severe health issue for the past nine months, with no answers from doctors and no healing in sight. I had reached out to Barbara for help and guidance. Not only was my health struggling but my marriage was suffering. I found out
Both a Leader and a Friend
I was an awkward 15-year-old when I first joined my new church’s youth group. We had been going to the church for a while but hadn’t gotten around to checking out the student activities until then. I remember feeling incredibly nervous and shy around all the kids my own age. I used to get anxious when trying to get to know new people and find things to talk about, so I didn’t think it was going to go very smoothly.After wandering around for a while
Can You Spare a Cup? (Partnering in Kingdom Work)
Serving is a little sweeter with by design ministries. Support is a little closer, community a little tighter, and growing a little easier.And that’s why we exist. For you. For the sake of the Kingdom.
Ready to Serve: Encouraged & Equipped
Knowing the by design ministries’ mission “to develop women who are servant leaders for the equipping of God’s church and the enlarging of His Kingdom” was freeing, as I wasn’t being recruited for something new but being fed, encouraged, and equipped to go back to my home church and serve where God had called me.
Designed for Community
In a quick Google search, you can easily find multiple studies that speak of the loneliness and isolation that can come along with being in ministry leadership. Leaders are often overextended, lacking in support staff, and so focused on serving others that they can forget to actually jump into the communities they are bringing together. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I know that, for myself, the first things to go when I am stressed or busy are spending time with God and quality fellowship with others.