fumchurstblog

A Mother’s Hug

We were invited to practice lectio divina during our staff devotional time. As a reminder, lectio divina literally means “divine reading.” It’s an ancient spiritual practice of reading, meditating and praying on a passage of scripture intended to foster connection with God. That day, the passage was Psalm 94: 17-19: If the Lord had not…

The Screw

Ten years ago, my grandfather wrote a book called “Do You See What I See? Musings on Life at 83.” In the book are 723 entries; most only a few lines. Each one a perception, interpretation, reaction or comment. Entry number 714 stood out to me this morning, so I share it with you now: …

I’ve Always Hated Reading

True confession . . . as a child, teen and young adult, I always hated to read. I absolutely hated it. I would read what I HAD to read for school and nothing beyond that. There were even a few times in high school when I paid my little sister to read novels to me…

Detours & Blessings

The Hurstview/Pipeline intersection was closed AGAIN. It’s not just the way I get to the church but also the way I take my son to school each day to avoid as many lights as possible. But now I had to find a different way. So, I drove through one neighborhood to avoid one school zone,…

Holy Possibilities

Friday is my officemate’s day off, so I usually have music playing to keep me company. This past Friday, instead of my usual Spotify playlist, I instead had the first all-female spacewalk live video feed open in the background on my computer. For several hours, I listened to astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir working…

Little Faith, Big Impact

Do you ever have experiences that just melt your heart? Experiences that reduce you to a puddle of emotion? I had one about a month ago. On most evenings our family of three sits down to have dinner together at the table. (A practice I hope we are able to continue even as our son…

God is in the Color

For several months, my husband has had a set of encouragement cards that I made for him on his dresser. Bright colored cards that are labeled with a day of the week and share some sort of positive message. Some days have a Scripture passage, some a prayer, others a reminder to look for God…

The Butterfly Effect

I am a rather reflective person. I oftentimes find myself looking back on where I was in this exact moment one, two, three years ago. I don’t do this because I want to go back but because I find it so important to remember who and what helped me become who I am today. It…

Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic

In August, I answered a last minute call to participate in a one week mission trip to the Dominican Republic with the Trinity Habitat Global Village Team. It was a great opportunity to serve families in need of safe, decent and affordable shelter. We arrived in the capital city, Santo Domingo then took a bus…

A Pew Perspective

Sneaking in the back door during the opening hymn, I was trying to remember if I had ever worshipped at my church on Sunday morning in a pew. I probably had—just couldn’t remember. Usually, I was up front in the chancel area with the other worship leaders—reading scripture, praying, giving an offertory meditation or occasionally…

You Wouldn’t Like Me When I’m Angry

I can’t remember the last time I was so angry or frustrated. I received a call about a woman in our community who needed some help. We receive these calls often at the church–there’s a lot of need in our community and the fact of the matter is that we can’t help everyone we’d like…

Take Me to the Water!

I have an obsession with bodies of water. If it is an ocean, lake, pond, river, swimming pool or hot tub, then I want to be near it, on it or in it. I grew up being around water: fishing, sailing, floating, tubing, etc. We had to drive across a bridge every day to get…