Last week’s prayer points focused on praying for God’s personal strategies for pursuing marriage.   And I’ve been thinking. What would happen if other believers started praying and partnering with us in this?   I mentioned a woman who started soliciting prayer partners as God put them on her heart. She was amazed by the encouraging words these women had for her as they prayed. She also said it opened the door for her to tell them she was open to being introduced to someone.   Because it sometimes feels like a taboo subject, desire for marriage isn’t something that Christian single women...

Oh God, You hold the knowledge I don’t. You see far ahead of me, as You saw before my birth: You are truly the way, and I cling to You, my Path. In Your hands are my days, my loves, my tears and the abundant fruit, the inheritance You long for me to receive.   Father, I receive. I lift my hands now, empty of my past and my own wisdom, my unknowing. I lift them, relinquishing doubt, fear and unbelief.   To take hold of You is to grasp faith, to see the unseen. To know the truth and to walk in it. So I walk forward, one foot already touching the water, and I see You ahead of me.   I trust...

I’ve had several interesting conversations recently with a few women about pursuing marriage.   For one woman, that means telling certain trustworthy women about her desire for marriage and asking them to pray with her for it. For another woman, it means asking some of her guy friends about why they do—and don’t—pursue dating relationships. And for one more, it means delving into the world of online matchmaking for the first time.   What about you? Have you ever thought about asking God for a strategy for pursuing marriage in this season of your life? One book, Get Married: What Women Can Do...

Today, the sun came out, after a stint of gray weather. It brightened the office later morning. This afternoon it sparkled on the little pond outside my window. It took its time settling into twilight, stretching a pink, then salmon, then deep magenta band over the horizon.     Today, I remembered the long, dark night my mother lay dying in her room and that awful, final exhale just before sunrise two years ago.   Yet, I could feel the wonder of tonight’s lovely sunset, something I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to do again.   And today I felt joy. Something I wasn’t sure I’d ever be...

O God, Tend now to my dissonant heart with the calm of Your binding love. Submerge in its depths even loneliness, Secure in its faithfulness, peace. Outlast all my stubbornness with its longsuffering ease. Preserve, in my frailty, with its power and grace.   O God, tend my heart; its discord with holiness mend. Its darkness snuff out with the passion of Christ. Its sorrow comfort with the presence of hope. Its selfishness change with eternal life.   O God, Source of Love, of original grace! Tend to this heart as a Shepherd to sheep; with tender mercies and kindness, O God, my heart keep....