Category: Personal Growth

  • New River, New Courage

    New River, New Courage

    In my chaplain work with law enforcement I sometimes ride with officers to connect and to learn how to serve them better. You’ll hear in the video (below) that fear of going a greater distance with “Pilgrim” to meet them almost robbed me of opportunity. My inner spirit said, “I don’t want to.” But, God’s Spirit said, “Don’t miss it.”

    Here’s a reflection from my journal—clips of reality at the river.

    Space; alone … but not really; setting up camp; feet in the river; sunset; geese flying; brilliant black; unaware of how aware God is; rest. Sunrise; life in full color; oatmeal; peace; curious; creaking gate; police vehicle; time to ride; time to listen; time to learn; time to return; thank you.

    Another night; me and the teardrop, specks in a spacious place; solitude; peace; sacred; alone … but not really; more sovereign handiwork; galaxies; (“Steve, you would love this.”) fireside; pause; gratitude; prayer; wonder; joy; worship; rest; orange art in the sky; “Good morning.”

    We can pray that beautiful places will continually lift our eyes to the Creator who gives us courage to say “yes” to new opportunity.

    The Treasure: “For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” (Isaiah 41:13 NIV)

    If you’d rather read than watch the video, here’s the full video transcript:

    (Geese flying … honking) I must admit – fear is a common struggle that I have. Pilgrim and I have just taken our longest trip. We’ve come from Williamsburg down to Fries, Virginia which is near Galax. With the camper it took me six hours. It’s an invitation by a law enforcement officer to come to the New River Wildlife Conservation Club and to camp on their land here. There’s only me—there’s nobody else around. It really is beautiful. Last night was my first night here and I slept for nine hours. I think that’s because I was really tired. But here’s Pilgrim in a primo spot; the sun is going down into a gentle sunset on the New River. So, we remember that we can stay within the fence where Pilgrim lives at home or we can go beyond the fence. Pilgrim represents courage to go beyond fear and loss so that we don’t shrink our lives. I must say my life is not shrinking; it’s expanding into a spacious place. But I was afraid to come. I even, for a moment, didn’t want to come. It felt too big, too far, too different; I didn’t even know where I would be parked; I just knew it was going to be in an isolated spot. But oh the blessing of going beyond the fence when it’s time. It’s not always time to go beyond the fence. I wanted to share this beautiful moment with you. Wish you could be here.

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  • A Pilgrim’s Blessing

    A Pilgrim’s Blessing

    You may remember from the video on my blog home page, that three years ago, Pilgrim and I had never ventured outside of the fence. The video you’re about to watch (below) took place during those early days when grief threatened to fill me with despair. My pastor, Travis Simone, came to give a blessing to me and the camper to help set our momentum. I admit the idea of blessing a camper sounded a bit strange at first, but I love what he said so much that I want to pass the blessing on to you. It’s for all of us. We all have a key of promise that frees us from giants that seek to imprison us in Doubting Castle. I felt as hot and haggard as I looked on that steamy summer day, but Travis’s words continue to give me courage when fear tempts me to despair. Please watch the five minute video and receive this powerful blessing as your own.

    The Treasure: “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deuteronomy 33:27)

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  • Wild Serenity

    Wild Serenity

    When my husband Steve died, I looked out toward a vast, empty horizon. It was neither dark nor light—just empty and wide. I would come to realize that Steve’s death gave me the kind of freedom that I never wanted … but freedom nonetheless. And so, this summer I went to Montana for a whole month to be with my fast-growing Montana grands and their parents. I stayed half the time in a VRBO. It was a really great plan, except for the hard parts. If you are living in the aftermath of loss, you know that you can feel full of joy one moment, and hollowed out from loneliness the next. In Traveling Light, Eugene Peterson normalizes the “pain of being human” and those “moments of emptiness and waiting.” His words reassure me. He also inspires his readers to never “abandon the awesome silence of worship.” Alone in a Montana mountain town, I captured a moment of balance between the emptiness of solitude and the silent worship of God under His vast blue sky (see video).

    The Treasure: “Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.” (Romans 1:20 NIV)

    If you’d rather read than watch the video, here’s the full video transcript:

    It’s a great way to start the day here at Red Lodge, Montana at Wild Bill’s Cabin in a hot tub on a 57degree crisp, cool morning. Beautiful blue sky. I’m remembering the introduction to my blog series, where Pilgrim and I are inside the fence and we haven’t gone anywhere because I’m afraid to go anywhere because everything’s changed in my life. And Pilgrim, the camper, represents courage to go beyond fear and loss so that we don’t shrink our lives. Well, when I was getting ready to come up here to Red Lodge, one hour and a half from my family’s home here in Montana, I felt really empty, saying to myself, “What the heck are you doing?” It was hard to come away. It was a little … not scary, but a little unsure. But oh my gosh, I have been on a hike, I’ve seen beautiful sights. When we do familiar things in different ways, there are treasures along the way. So, as you go along your way, maybe life has made a big change for you too … you may not be in a hot tub at Wild Bill’s Cabin, but there will be other things that you do where you take risk, so you don’t shrink your life either.

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  • The Easy Way

    The Easy Way

    At the top of a ski slope in Red Lodge, Montana I felt like I didn’t have a care in the world. Difficulties lay behind me; challenges yet unknown lay before me. But for two chairlift rides up (and down) the mountain, I inhabited a euphoric bubble, free of expectations, bad news, or disappointment. With the breeze on my face and beauty all around, I almost believed I’m entitled to the easy way (see video).

    It doesn’t take long for life to challenge a mindset of entitlement. Like Jesus told His first followers (and us), “In the world you will have trouble.” But He also tells us that he came so we could have peace in the midst of it. He said that His power to overcome within a world of trouble gives us every reason to take courage. (John 16:33)

    I suppose it can take a lifetime of practice to trust God when what we want and what life yields don’t match up. But when we develop a “personal history with God” we begin to see the evidence that gives us hope. Looking back on what trust has yielded in our history with Him encourages us to trust Him sooner next time the journey gets rough.

    The Treasure: Swing with the easy times; let challenges springboard us to adjust and trust God.

    If you’d rather read than watch the video, here’s the full video transcript:

    I really like taking the easy way in life. I like gliding; I like getting on a lift chair and going to the top of a mountain instead of hiking it. I like looking around me without having to catch my breath—looking around at the beauty of the heights. I guess life isn’t like that. Life isn’t like that all of the time. Sometimes we need to take a tough hike and keep putting one foot in front of the other as we go to elevated spots in our lives. But today’s not that kind of day. Today’s an easy day. It would be nice if I could always have a top-down view, don’t you think? It would be nice if we could just see things from God’s perspective all the time so that we wouldn’t fret about what’s going on in the valleys of our lives. But that’s where trust comes in. He says to trust Him, and that it gives Him great pleasure. But for today … I’m taking the easy way. His perspective is always good; it’s complete; He’s always working a good plan for our lives. At my age now I actually just bought a senior ticket. I can look back and see the reality of His goodness—of how when times were hard, He was doing His best work in me. Now it’s my pleasure to trust Him. I don’t always trust Him very well, but it is my goal because He’s a good God and does the very best for us.

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  • Mistakes Matter

    Mistakes Matter

    NOTE: My upcoming book is requiring time to meet exciting deadlines. In order to maintain a 12/9/25 pub date, I will be blogging once every two weeks for a while. That means my next blog will come to you on Monday, 9/1/25. See you then!

    Years ago I bought an expensive sandcastle bundt cake pan. And so, last week I devised a plan. It would be simple. I’d prepare dinner and bake a cake for my family to celebrate my own birthday. I had made this cake before. But in a hot second, I messed up and didn’t know it until it was too late (see video).

    The family, not knowing I had a yummy cake on standby (store bought!) showed great compassion as I placed the messed-up cake in front of them with lit candles and a smile. I lingered, apologizing for the mistake and thanking them for their kindness. Then I brought out the store-bought cake and put it front and center.

    Because it was my birthday, I knew I could choose a table topic of conversation. My topic of choice? “How can we make mistakes matter?” The response of our guest, perhaps pertaining to sports, but applicable to burned cakes was:

    “In winning you are gracious; in losing you seek gain.”

    We seek gain by learning from our mistakes. I seek gain but putting on my readers before setting the oven temperature for a birthday cake … for starters!

    The Treasure:  If you’re not making mistakes, you’re probably not doing anything.

    If you’d rather read than watch the video, here’s the full video transcript:

    I made a mistake this week. I wanted to build a cake—a sandcastle cake. I had the ingredients and made it from scratch with my grandson and put it in the oven, but I made a big mistake. I set the oven for 475 instead of 325 and I burned the cake. I made the mistake because I read the directions on a small phone without my glasses, and I ended up not being able to use the cake, except I do have a plan for the cake. I’ll tell you that in a minute. I decided I can’t really use that cake. So I went to Publix, and I bought a cake and I had them write on the top “Mistakes Matter.” And we’re going to talk about that a little bit as a family tonight. My mistake wasn’t very costly, but some mistakes can be, but all mistakes are valuable if we use them well. So, I took a hunk out of this cake just to see if I could eat it. It actually isn’t too bad inside; it’s kind of dry, but it tastes char-grilled on the outside. And so, I decided I’m not going to make another one, I’m going to make it easy and get a new cake.

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