by Susan Schneider “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) “Ask and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone […]
by Julia Seymour I saw the pair of shoes on the shelf near the window, when I was almost out the door. Their eye-catching color and unusual heel shape pulled me like a magnet. “Please don’t be my size, please don’t be my size,” I chanted, as I lifted the right one. Phew! […]
With work, family and other obligations, our expectations of ourselves may be out of whack. Learn how saying no can help us say yes. Sarah Scherschligt explains in this month’s podcast. Check out the February podcast here and on iTunes.
by Sarah Scherschligt Four friends – all Lutheran young adult women – marveled that they found a few hours for dinner together. With their schedules, planning to see each other does not come easy. As they chatted and caught each other up on their lives, one of them said: “Didn’t you think that life would […]
by Tiffany C. Chaney If you circled the floor at your gym today searching for an available elliptical machine, repeatedly bumped into the person next to you in Zumba class because the room was so crowded, or stood in long lines at your weight-loss meeting waiting to weigh in, you are not alone. […]
by Stephanie Anderson Apparently it’s December. The Christmas decorations are out, the malls of Cape Town are packed full of busy shoppers, and the familiar sound of Christmas music is everywhere. Yet, to this Minnesotan the palm trees, ocean breeze, and longer days give a completely different feel to the Christmas season. So while my […]
by Laura Johnson I knew the road was there, it was just doing a spectacular job of hiding. Like buckets of cotton balls pouring onto my car’s windshield, the snow ravaged my surrounding landscape, allowing me to see only a few yards in front of me. White-knuckles clenching the steering wheel, I crawled slowly […]
by Megan Rohrer When I became the executive director of the Welcome Ministry in San Francisco, I was a 21-year-old and in my second-semester of seminary from Sioux Falls, S.D. I never expected to get the job, but my previous work with children in a residential home, my seminary background, and most of all, my […]
On one early morning, a week before Christmas, I was one of four passengers in a van that slipped on the ice, careened and crashed into a guardrail. We were making our way from graduate school at Northwestern University in Illinois back to New York City for winter break.
by Julia Seymour I heard Leymah Gbowee speak at the Women of the ELCA Triennial Gathering in 2011 and tears poured down my face as she talked. The emotional and spiritual power that emanates from her is real and overwhelming. Some people experience the same thing when they see the documentary, Pray the Devil Back […]