I find myself praying for pastors and church leaders. My friend and pastor, Efrem Smith at Bayside Church in Sacramento stated in a recent interview, “The church ought to be equipping, empowering and releasing reconciling-disciples of kingdom transformation into this broken, sinful, divided, upside-down world.”
Ya’ll, the good Lord has been doing work in my heart lately. I can’t fully explain it, but I’m a writer, so I’ll do my best to share what I can. Over the past few months, my husband Dillon and I have become podcast junkies…
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Denis Keith as our new Executive Director! Denis’ will coordinate our operations including our retreat and seminar offerings, our coaching and advisory team, as well as…
They should have fallen long ago, but this year dried autumn leaves have clung to branches well beyond when they should have let go. Recently, they let go in a shower that was reminiscent of a blizzard. As I watched the beauty of fluttering fall colors floating on the...
Hidden in plain sight is this phrase scattered throughout the New Testament, “the foundation of the world” (examples: Matthew 25:34; Luke 11:50; Matthew 13:35; Revelation 13:8; Hebrews 4:3; John 17:24). The New Testament authors note that God has created the world...
Last night I did something I haven’t done for a long time. I stayed up late writing. It feels like its been ages since I’ve allowed myself the time to sit in front of an open page, with no prompts or deadlines, and instead search inward to see what has...
If God did not rest because God was worn about after His creation, why did God rest? Genesis gives us several clues when it states (2:2) “finished His work” “rest” “blessed” “made it a holy day”. God modeled our need for rhythm and provided a sense of the sacred in...
Silence blanketed our part of the forest. The air of silence penetrated our hearts. No birds. No squirrels. No movement. Yesterday had been full of life. Birds singing, hummingbirds zooming each other, squirrels managing to heist another morsel...
This has been a busy month for Open Hands as we hosted several different events over the past few weeks. At “A Day Away”, we talked about “Listening – Leaning in to hear the whisper of God”. It was a fantastic time of learning, fellowship, and a reflective pause in...