Love. God has lavished such great love on us that He calls us His children! What a great and beautiful love He pours out. My beloved children came in for a brief early Christmas. Oh, how I love them! With everything in me I love them. My heart’s desire is to love my children as lavishly as God loves me, not because of who they are but because of the love God has put into me. If you break it... Read more
My friends, I’m delighted to announce I’ve got videos up from my recent retreat — so exciting to live in this technology! Below is a sneak peak at one of them! Watch this one, and then go to the website: FreedHearts.org and click on “Schedule Susan to Speak.” There are several other video clips there. This gives you an idea of my speaking style and content. Feel free to invite me to speak at your event, church, retreat, or group. ... Read more
I learned something new today. Religion means to tie back, constrain, as in bondage. Fascinating! Religion is about constraint, about a return to bondage. Isn’t that the truth? Haven’t you been sick to death of all the rules and regs associated with world religions? “Do this, don’t do that.” Religious rules are man-made. They are invariably about what you can do to be right with God. May I tell you that Jesus comes right alongside you to say he’s sick... Read more
What comes to mind when I say the name “Jesus”? Do you think of his love? His grace? Forgiveness that only he provides? Or do you think of everything he is against? If you think that question is facetious, read these words of Philip Yancey: “Recently, I have been asking a question of strangers–for example, a seatmate on an airplane–when I strike up a conversation. ‘When I say the words “evangelical Christian” what comes to mind?’ In reply, mostly I... Read more
My husband, daughter and I are on a ship right now. Out over the vast ocean, we saw a rainbow shooting out of the clouds into the water. Unlike most rainbows off in the distance, this one was right in front of us. We followed the arc around to the left and found the other side, pouring into the water. The top went behind dark clouds, but what we could see formed an arc, a perfect half-circle. What kind of... Read more
Jesus is the founder and finisher of our faith. Our faith. NOT our actions! Oh, our actions naturally flow as we get to know Jesus more and more, and entrust ourselves to Him more and more. But our actions are a byproduct of our faith. Yet, how much time do we spend focused on, teaching, and striving to correct our actions? It’s like watering branches hoping for fruit. Jesus begins and ends (created, cares for, and directs) our faith! Faith is... Read more
Yesterday was Thanksgiving. We spent the day with people we love. My sisters, next to me and center, my niece, far right, all our husbands and some of our kids. The men bonded over football, and we women laughed ourselves silly in the kitchen. Yeah. It was fun. We enjoyed those who were with us and remembered those who weren’t. My sister said, “Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, even more than Christmas. Just food and family — and being thankful.”... Read more
Our God is an awesomely creative, amazingly abundant, beyond-our-imagination God. This flower is a beautiful, garden variety (ha) flower–just one of thousands of types of flowers. But below is a closeup of one of hundreds of tiny flowers inside the flower. I mean, really. What is the mind that comes up with this? And why?? For delightful discoveries too deep to plumb over the millennia? To show us just a glimpse of who we’re dealing with in this universe? Then there... Read more
Lately, I’ve been taking stock of my eating habits. I’ve always tried to eat somewhat well to maintain health. But lately it’s been more than just eating enough spinach and beets. I’m slowly realizing that even “benign” foods like too much wheat and cheese are settling in and causing me trouble. (Am I going to start talking about stiff joints? Absolutely not.) While never an all-out junk food junkie, I have been quite casual over the years about putting junk... Read more
How are you doing with that to-do list? That infernal list we all have that hangs over our head. The one that tells us we haven’t quite yet measured up. That no matter what you do you fall short. That list of what’s acceptable and what’s not — or how we’re falling short as Christians (reading, praying, serving). Maybe it’s the spouse who is never quite happy with us, the job we can never do quite well enough, or the... Read more
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