Life by Grace Alone

47  years ago at the age of 22 I was a college student at University of Md. I was deeply and wonderfully in love for the first and only time in my life. As Christmas approached, I easily burst into song as I went from class to class and when  I was with a group singing carols, I had extra energy to push out those notes. For the first time that I can remember people would tell me what a nice singing voice I had. What happened? My voice has always been too unpredictable and usually dependent on the singing skills of the person singing next to me. For this season of my life, my voice took its proper place as it reflected my joy at God's new gift to me. For the past few years my husband has been attending various churches often with me by his side as he preaches or talks on outreach. One thing seems clear. Far too often people just aren't singing. If they are singing they have their noses in their hymnals and they look more like they have a bad case of indigestion or they are re...

Over the years I have at times rejoiced at the insights God has given me about the life of a believer and the marvelous character of our heavenly Father. Occasionally I pick up a piece of writing I did a long time ago and I am amazed at the amount of spiritual maturity that seems to be present. More recently I am apt to doubt where I am coming from spiritually as my time with God forms more of a hit or miss pattern{heavy on the miss} This fall and winter have been stressful. The end of September I had knee replacement surgery. Shortly before that we decided to invite our daughter, her husband and three children to move into our house while we moved into their small garage apartment. We all still have the same address but the square footage changed dramatically. Although the move made logical sense it took awhile for my emotions to adjust. I had underestimated my claustrophobic tendencies. These last three years or more I hurt if I stood or walked anywhere. Now that my second knee w...