"How do I pray when .... ??" Join me for my new Prayer 101 series.

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“Teach us to pray,” Jesus’ disciples asked him. This seems a strange request from men who were undoubtedly devout in their faith. They prayed and heard prayers being said at the temple. They listened to the prayers of their ancestors read from the scriptures. They had been following Jesus, for goodness sake, and observed him praying. Surely, they must have known how to pray. Yet, perhaps they wanted to learn to pray better. Sometimes you might feel like the disciples. You have been following Jesus for a long time. You have prayed in church. You’ve listened to other people pray. You know The Lord’s Prayer offRead More →

Three fresh ways to create quiet spaces in your busy day

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Sometimes I don’t realize how noisy and hectic my life is until I have an opportunity to slow down and be quiet. This past week I have been in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. What a contrast to New York City, where I had been before that. City noises are a constant assault on the ears. I endured the whack, whack, whack from the construction site opposite our hotel every morning. It was so loud I thought the window was open. But, no. As I pressed the catch to slide back the pane of glass, a cacophony of city sounds swept in like a tsunami.Read More →

It’s not the size of our prayers that matters, but the magnitude of the one who receives them.

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Sometimes, I doubt whether little things can really make a difference. For instance, I pray asking God to bring peace to help the innocent men, women and children suffering in South Sudan, but I question whether my little prayer will bring change. My prayer seems inadequate in comparison to the huge problems facing that country, and the forceful tribal leaders controlling the fighting. Yet, recently an experience made me reconsider my uncertainty in the power of small. I stood on the aft deck of our cruise ship, while on vacation, looking out at the huge wake created as we powered across the azure waters ofRead More →

Work hard in prayer then see the wonder of what God can do.

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As a member of the women’s ministries prayer team at our church, I frequently pray for other women. Sometimes, we intercede for women I don’t know. My prayers flow freely and easily for their needs. Others times we pray for friends and women I know well. Then I pray passionately for God to move powerfully. Before you think this makes me holier than you, I want to be upfront with you. In all these moments, I want my prayers to be effective. Occasionally, this requires me to stop and take notice of the feelings I have for the person I know and for whom IRead More →

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Moving house is stressful. According to one research company the strain of relocating will last more than three months. I think they’re underestimating the results. Still, this explains my meltdowns this past week. I went to bed worrying about where exactly my family and I will be laying our heads after June 28. Oh, we have a rough plan to be in England for July, but so far we have not booked flights or a place to stay. My husband and I had a heated discussion. Uncertainty does that. Transition also brings fear of the unknown, and anxiety over losing what we’ve relied on—the challengeRead More →

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A photo in the New York Times the other day showed world leaders sitting around a table as if it were family dinnertime. President Obama sat chatting to David Cameron, the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, and Francois Hollande, the French President sat on either side of them. With the world’s political and economic powers munching caesar salad together, what did they talk about, I wonder? Surely, by being at one table they could bring about life-changing decisions to make our world a better place. If only it were that simple. The Bible urges us to pray for all those inRead More →

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Why did she have to be so mean? I had only phoned to show my concern and to see if I could help. Clearly I had said the wrong thing. “What’s that got to do with you?” came the sharp retort. Her words whipped across my heart like a sharp knife. I know we were both stressed and finding it difficult to deal with a serious situation but did she really have to treat me like that? This wasn’t the first time her words had cut deeply. These new lacerations came on top of fresh scars. I tried to talk to my husband. He rolledRead More →

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Front row seats can be expensive. My husband and I discovered this when we bought tickets to a U2 concert. So we chose to sit a bit further back. But, still it was exciting. An ordinary-looking man stood in front of us. We noticed a lot of people stopped to say hello and shake his hand. Turns out, it was Bono’s brother. Often we think of the front row as where the action happens. But, being up front and close to Jesus can look completely different. One woman in particular, Mary, the sister of Martha, shows us what it looks like on the front rowRead More →

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I looked at the bare patches on the ski runs—ground showing through where the snow had melted—a result of some mild weather. I thought about my daughter, due to arrive for her spring break, who wanted to ski. “Lord, please let it snow,” I prayed. The morning before she arrived, I woke to my phone buzzing. A notification came up with the overnight snowfall: nine inches. Only one or two had been forecast. The next day: nine inches. Then: seven inches. And: eleven inches. Was it divine intervention? Had God answered my prayer? Is there someone in heaven who governs what happens on Earth? ThisRead More →

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When we’ve been hurt by another person and it’s not fixed, what do we do? When they neither seem to notice what they have done wrong, nor care about the pain they have inflicted, let alone say they’re sorry, how do we live? Eva Mozes Kor along with her twin sister, Miriam, were taken to Auschwitz at age ten where Dr. Josef Mengele used them for medical experiments. Although Eva and Miriam were liberated from Auschwitz at the end of the war, Miriam died in 1993 from cancer attributed to the ordeals she had undergone. No one else in their family survived the war. Eva livesRead More →