Hello you people who love others in distress as though it was you or your own loved ones. I appreciate you, I see you, and am grateful for your hearts. Your vision and your work matters, we need you. I hope to come alongside you today by sharing another recording from Beloved Prayers, prayer seventeen. Press play below if you’d like to join me. Thank you for being here, for.. Read More
I recorded a new prayer for us to join in together this week from Beloved Prayers. I also want to share with you tonight a video I received this week of a secret baptism in Bangladesh. It felt appropriate with the prayer for this week. It’s based on Colossians 3:3, “For you died, and your life is now hidden in Messiah in God.” These words are often thought of as.. Read More
Hello, want to imagine we are somewhere beneath an open sky? Maybe you are reading this at the end of the day we have come to call The International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted (IDOP), or maybe the morning after. I’m glad we have this day, but I also know the ease of which the evening comes and thoughts of the day fade away, this is often good. As.. Read More
Belonging—it’s been on my mind recently. The way the word longing is in the midst of it. The way we respond—and don’t—when an invitation to belong comes our way. We want it, we want to belong, but…when the wholeness of the risk involved comes into view, we often hesitate, if not freeze. Paul spoke of belonging and counting the gain and even the loss of everything (including belonging) as nothing.. Read More
Christmas Greetings Dear Martyrs’ Cross Family! I keep thinking lately about the Scripture that says, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart.†(Ecclesiastes 7:2) Considering what it was the teacher was saying, I realized I used to confuse this thought with the idea.. Read More
“It is of great importance, when we begin to practice prayer, not to let ourselves be frightened by our own thoughts.†― Teresa of Ãvila, The Life of Saint Teresa of Ãvila by Herself Sometimes in prayer, it’s easy to get distracted. Sometimes, it’s easy to get frightened. Sometimes, it’s easy not to pray at all. Sometimes, we just have to pick up where we left off—not condemning ourselves for.. Read More
Friends, I haven’t been writing here much as I’ve been ill the last few months, but one thing that I have been able to keep up with is our weekly prayer group. I want to invite you to join us in that again if you need/want some companionship in remembering our persecuted family in prayer. Subscribe here. Each week we have a particular Scripture(s) that launches the direction of our.. Read More
My beloved is mine, and I am his; He pastures his flock among the lilies. ~ Song of Songs 2:16 God’s story is a love story. We can read His story in the Scripture, behold it in the seasons, wonder over it in the oceans and maybe more than anywhere else, we can catch glimpses of His great love in our relationships, the completely broken and the less broken ones. The completely broken ones point the way, even.. Read More
The accuser comes against the productive, alive, soul. Job, of the Bible, in the land of Uz, was one of these. The first thing we learn of him, that is repeated by God himself, is that he, “was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.”(Job 1:1,8) What does this kind of life look like? Here’s a picture of it from the book of Job: “… IÂ delivered the poor.. Read More
Hello Friends! The Scripture that our prayer group focused on this week was, “Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:16) It was the word “dwell” that really caught my attention. It catches me different right now than at other times in my life, maybe due.. Read More