I am once again a passenger, dependent on someone else to drive me wherever I need to go, mainly for two reasons. First, I cannot drive here because the cars in Portugal that we can afford to rent are manual transmissions. I have no idea how to crank one up, much less drive one. I... Continue Reading →
We all need a safe space, a place of refuge from the difficulties and challenges of life. It is important to choose a safe space that has the power to strengthen and keep us in times of trouble and upheaval in our lives. In the psalm for this week, Psalm 46, one of the descendants... Continue Reading →
Walking along the boardwalk listening to people talk, I am amazed at the numbers of languages spoken here in Portugal. I am just nosy enough to want to know what everyone is saying, and whether they are words of joy, love, fear, or anger. What is comforting for me is that until people start to... Continue Reading →
For weeks, the
Troubles are equal opportunities events, having no regard for social class status, race or ethnicity, gender, or occupation. Everyone at some time or another will suffer a trial or tribulation that seems too overwhelming to survive. One trouble that often appears too dark and deep to weather is an attempt to defame our character by... Continue Reading →
Using the definition of talisman as anything whose presence (and by extension, lack of presence) exercises a remarkable or powerful influence on human feelings and actions, I believe that love, by its presence or its absence, is the greatest talisman. This is why it so important that children learn that their parents love them. When... Continue Reading →
To compare oneself to someone else is a recipe for unhappiness and anxiety. One of my fellow Sunday School teachers refers to this behavior as "compare-tinitis." It is like an illness that invades the mind and the spirit, and the only cure is to come to see that not being identical to anyone else makes... Continue Reading →
As a professor, it was my job to incubate a love of learning and to encourage students that they could achieve and be all that God created them to be. As an incubator, IÂ nurtured young minds to see the world as a place in which they were expected to make a difference, rather than... Continue Reading →
I know that the title seems a little weird, but I am using a different definition of wrinkle. A wrinkle is also a useful piece of information or advice. Today is my husband's last day to work. He retires today, and I am so excited that now we will be able to spend so much... Continue Reading →
When I was a little girl, I had many plans regarding who I would be and what I would become in life. But, often the plans we make in life simply don't end up being the life that we lead. Some people have told me that they were exactly where they had planned to be... Continue Reading →
Help from Heaven 