We’re not what I would call fully ‘green’ folks, but this weekend my husband was a definite tree hugger. The corner lot our house sits on was blessed with trees by the former owners. Planted twenty-five years ago, they were small clusters here and there of “little popsicle sticks,” they proudly pointed out when we […]
Desert Days – As a Watchman Waits
It has been extremely difficult to get the flow going these past two weeks as I’ve attempted to write. Thus, there was no post a week ago and this is now Monday morning. All I could do was wait. Two weeks ago I returned to work after these past ten months of breast cancer treatment. […]
Desert Days – The Gentle Gale of God
There’s a commercial that’s been running on television the past six weeks or so. The few times I’ve happened to catch it I’ve thought to myself, “There’s a blog post in there.” The setting is the desert with sand as far as you can see. In one quick scene there are two four-drawer file cabinets […]
“Wellspring” First Anniversary & Birthday Edition
Today it’s joyously appropriate to publish an extra edition of “Wellspring of Life!” One year ago today, our granddaughter, Rielyn Jolene Bentz, made her entrance into our world. In obedience to Holy Spirit’s undeniable instruction to me that “Nancy, it is time to start writing again,” I published my first blog post the evening of […]
Holy Fruit II – Uncorked
This past week my husband and I have been on vacation. On Good Friday we drove to the Oregon coast for the trip to the ocean we had promised each other last year when we began to realize the length of the journey we were embarking upon. My breast cancer recurrence had made itself known […]
Desert Days – A Heart Set on Pilgrimage, Part 3
I love God’s trees, even in the wilderness. Not sage brush and spiny cactus, but the ones that stand as sentinels of God Himself. He began with one tree of import in Genesis – His ‘kindness and sternness’ (Romans 11:22) instructing Adam and Eve (and me and you) the single one to avoid in His […]
Desert Days – A Heart Set on Pilgrimage, Part 2
Welcome to the next installment of Desert Days. There is definitely a specific focus to the writing these days, courtesy of the Lord. I find myself held in this place by His Spirit until He releases me on to something different. I wouldn’t wish it any other way (and pray you aren’t finding yourself saying, […]
Desert Days – A Heart Set on Pilgrimage, Part 1
One thing God intended about deserts: we were never meant to linger in them longer than necessary. “Necessary for what?” you might ask. To come to the realization that desert journeys are not just ‘part of life,’ as we blithely remark. More than that, they are purposed as a Divinely-orchestrated thoroughfare (in spite of the […]
Desert Days – When You Have Forgotten the Words
“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” Last December I needed my friend, and bless her heart, she came through. The email she sent me in reply to my cry to ‘sing my song back to me!’ fairly […]
Desert Days – Him Who Rides in the Deserts
These are the days that try men’s souls (women’s too). In fact, this woman is tiring of the desert trek that has gone on since last July. Today marks eight months since I was told cancer had returned. But in looking at what I just typed – eight months – that is such a pittance […]