For Those Who Grieve

Mother’s Day is finally behind me, but today would have been Daddy’s Birthday, so my heart will still be heavy. To me, grief is something like an added layer of skin, always there, and something I cannot shed, but there are seasons when it’s thicker. May and December...

They Go Where I Cannot

A couple of weeks ago, my sister was sifting through Mom’s pictures and she ran across this old photo. It’s a picture of the missionaries with whom we worked last year in Kenya. This picture was taken over twenty years ago when they first entered the mission field. I...

A Legacy of Hope by Ramona Richards

Six weeks after my mother’s funeral, I still had not done anything with the boxes and furniture I’d brought home with me from her room at the assisted living facility. My brother and I had had to empty the room in less than a week, so much of it went to charity. My...

Looking Beyond a Bird’s-Eye View

By: Brandy Heineman Last summer I went to see my grandmother at a rehabilitation facility, the kind of place where people go after catastrophic health events, strokes and amputations, for whatever measure of recovery the Lord intends for them. I always think of “hope”...

Hope Despite Anxiety or Depression by Janet Ferguson

In my mid-thirties, after being involved in a bad car accident, I began having panic attacks while driving on the interstate. I’m an open person, so I’ve shared my experience with this anxiety problem when it felt appropriate (or when asked to drive on the interstate,...

They Call Me “Mama” by Connilyn Cossette

Thank you Shelia, for your invitation to share a story of hope from my life. It was quite easy to come up with a story to share, since the two main characters live in my home and call me “Mama”. I’ve been married to my husband Chad for over eighteen years and we were...

Yogurt Pie

Thanks to guest author, Alice V. Roberts, for dropping by my garden today to share her recipe for Yogurt Pie which goes great with any fruit.  I can just imagine enjoying this delicious summer dessert at the beautiful Hilltop Inn, the setting for Alice V....

You Don’t Need Luck

I hope you had a fun time celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day.  I believe Saint Patrick would agree with me.  You don’t need the “Luck of the Irish,” if you have Jesus. If you were born in America or any Christian nation, you’re blessed. Psalms 33:12  “Blessed is the...

And the Winner Is…

Congratulations to Kay Morrow who won the autographed copy of “My Mother’s Quilts: Devotions of Love, Legacy, Family and Faith” by Ramona Pope Richards.  Keep watching because Ramona will be my guest soon, and my subscribers will have another...

My Mother’s Quilt

Last week. God blessed me with the opportunity to be the speaker at the Franklin First United Methodist Church Women of the Vine’s Quiet Meal.  As I looked over the sea of expectant faces, I wondered, What am I doing here? God reminded me that I’ve been commanded to...