In 1985 I was junior at University of Arizona majoring in General Studies – the major for students who have no idea what they want to do. I went to U of A to swim on their synchronized swimming team. We won the 1984 Collegiate National Championship, and then the team was cut due to lack of funding. Harsh reality of college sports, but a good thing for me. Continue reading →

My story is not deep or poignant or profound—but, like all our stories, evidence of God’s loving providence.  It’s a fun story, one with a happy ending.  It’s about how my husband Bob and I finally got together for life—our “courtship” and engagement. Continue reading →

Have you ever had a moment in your life where you wondered how you ended up somewhere? You emerge from a cloud and wonder what just happened? Well, that was the case for me in the wee hours of the morning on Friday, October 28, 2011. Continue reading →

Just last month, I was leaving my house on a Sunday afternoon. Home from church, I was headed to the grocery store. After working all day throughout the week, I want to sit down each evening with my family over a meal. I’ve got to plan ahead to make it happen. It’s my Sunday routine. Well, this Sunday afternoon would be anything but routine. Continue reading →

So much pain and no good reason why
You’ve cried until the tears run dry
And nothing here can make you understand
The one thing that you held so dear
Is slipping from your hands
And you say Continue reading →

“Grandmother isn’t here anymore. This is only her body. She has gone to be with Jesus”.

This is my very first memory. Continue reading →

Every year, when we are on the very edge of colder weather, I unpack my bins of winter clothes; and there at the bottom is a loosely woven sweater, light gray, adorned with sequins. Continue reading →

I love preludes. Chopin and Rachmaninoff each wrote a whole set of them for piano, and they are truly beautiful pieces. More than that, I love the idea of a prelude. Continue reading →

I’ve known Jesus most of my life. Growing up in the St. Louis Christian bubble Continue reading →

You never know where life will take you.  As much as you plan and dream for your future, God has His own plans. Continue reading →

I went to a high school where students were either rich or smart – preferably both. I wasn’t a stand-out in either category but my father had gone there and I wanted to follow in his footsteps. We also shared a love of running. Continue reading →

(This is the story I used in my college application essay.  There was a good reason at the time, though I can’t remember it now, but apparently it’s really stuck with me.  This time around, I imagine it’s for a slightly larger audience than an admissions panel.)
Continue reading →

Me, My Clarinet, and God

I began my musical training early, starting piano at five years.  In fourth grade, we were to choose instruments for school orchestra, and they said I should play the violin, so I did. Continue reading →

“So, class, there is a test on Thursday over Chapter Eight, so we need to…” Ms. Miller announced at the beginning of second hour, Algebra 2.

Maybe I should get a pixie cut… Continue reading →

When I first started thinking about the word “miracle,” I thought about God’s supernatural work where impossible occurrences come together for His great plan. As they are out of the ordinary, miracles certainly wouldn’t happen to ordinary people like me. Continue reading →

The hardest thing I have ever had to do was cut my sister’s hair. Continue reading →

The summer after my freshman year of college, my family drove up the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, detouring to some of California’s beautiful parks along the way back home. By the time we got to Yosemite, Continue reading →

“WHAT WAS GOD THINKING?”
Finding Humor in His Decisions

I met my husband in 1980 when I was working at the service desk at Target and he came in to cash his check. We were married a year later and settled into life as a teacher and construction engineer. Wanting to be settled, we waited to start our family for a couple of years. Continue reading →

As I pulled Keegan out of his car seat at the sitter’s, I heard one wheeze.  He was fourteen months old and we’d already gone through so much in his first year, he couldn’t possibly also have breathing problems now.  I brushed it off, telling myself it was just a squirrel.  I kissed him goodbye and headed to work. Continue reading →

“Of Pain, Brokenness, and Love”

I will let these snippets of journal entries tell part of my story. It’s choppy. It’s not a story with great ebb and flow. It’s life. This is me and this is raw. Continue reading →

Two weeks before my tenth birthday, my parents had finally decided they were divorcing. I say “finally” because it had been in the works for months, separated since March, and it was almost September. Continue reading →

On Friday morning, December 19, 2015 I had surgery for a substantial rotator cuff tear, a bicep tear and a bone spur. I wish I could say that the injuries were from throwing a curve ball the wrong way. According to the doctor, it was plain old “wear and tear.” How noble. Continue reading →

My earliest memories have to do with performing. I loved the dress ups that my mom had in our playroom and would often concoct skits and commercials to perform for whomever would sit and watch. Continue reading →

THE SHIELD

Reunión de creyentes. Prayer meeting. It was an hour that would later become a favorite part of each day—a time before dinner to reflect on God’s goodness and beg for His glory to be manifested again. Our team of missionaries and Peruvian seminary students sprinkled the sanctuary in groups of two or three. Continue reading →

Have you ever held a grudge against someone?  Yes, even as a Christ-follower?  Well, I have, and it’s not pretty.  It doesn’t make you feel better, and it certainly doesn’t help the relationship.  But, I’m so glad I didn’t have to learn the hard way about letting go. Continue reading →

The journey I am sharing is our adoption story of our daughter, Heather, in the form of prayer journaling. And it begins in the spring of 1984. We had been married for 6 years already…

Dear God, My sister, Debbie, called today to tell me she’s going to have a baby. I want to be happy for her, but the hurt inside me seems too big to get past. Continue reading →

Meeting the Poet

by Lynn D. Morrissey

Note: This story unfolded at Central Presbyterian Church, in St. Louis, where I am a member.

Louis. Daniel. Brodsky. After the names caromed around in my mind, I shaped each one with my mouth, thoughtfully, haltingly, as if trying to retrieve from memory the lyrics of some long-ago song, lyrics I had once known well, but had since forgotten. Continue reading →

I began volunteering with Hospice several years ago. I have met some remarkable people and yes, in most cases they have gone home (I say ‘in most cases’ because several of my patients have actually graduated out of hospice.)

Earlier this year I was paired with Earlene.  Continue reading →

118 Walter Court

I grew up in a small northwest suburb of Chicago called Bloomingdale. There was nothing significant about my little corner of the universe, other than the fact that I lived there and my world fit into a small five house cul-de-sac. Continue reading →

I never thought I would have trouble birthing children, but does any woman? My sister, Sally and I each got married about eight weeks apart. After two years of marriage (isn’t that the magic number?) we both began trying to conceive. She got pregnant first. I remember feeling a twinge of jealously but realized it might be great for her to “break” my parents into the grandparent scene rather than me. No big deal. Continue reading →

In February of 1986, I turned thirty and my husband of seven years walked out. There was no warning, no prior struggles, no big fights – just a simple, “I don’t love you anymore and I don’t want to be married.”

To say the bottom dropped out of my little “Susie-Homemaker” world would be a severe understatement. Continue reading →