uptomytoes

Category: Prayer

  • Straight Paths and Slam Dunks

    I’m trying to dig deeply into Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight.” It’s verses I’ve had memorized for a long time. Every time I come across them, the promise of…

  • Everything Uphill

    I just got off the phone. I was praying with a friend about this life that is feeling very hard. She is such a dear friend. She knows the life I’ve lived for the past ever so many years and she prayed, “Lord, it just seems like everything is an uphill battle.”   And I felt…

  • Life on the Stump

    There once was a glorious old oak tree that, for years, we affectionately called “Grandpa’s Tree”. It stood on a bit of a hill overlooking the river. In its prime, this mighty oak provided peaceful shade and a quiet place to read a great mystery, ponder life and love, and offer heartfelt prayers to God. …

  • Bits and Pieces

    The other night, my oldest daughter and I walked around a bookstore for about an hour. We like to take pictures of all the books we want to read. We took a fair number of pictures but bought nary a book. I’m sure Barnes and Noble loves us.  We had been chatting, discussing, and pondering…

  • Not Exactly What I Was Looking For

    One morning recently, my oldest daughter and I were having our weekend morning coffee together time. We talk, share, and lament the lack of sleep one or both of us had the previous night. This particular morning we decided to get on the ferry and head to a beach where you can find shark teeth.…

  • When You Lose It

    Over the years I’ve lost a lot of things…the biggest being my marriage and the second is probably sleep. But there have been a few other things lost along the way…I’ve lost my mind a time or two, lost my appetite (could stand to do that a bit more), lost my courage, lost an argument,…

  • Where else would I go?

    I have written a lot lately about being loved. It’s a place I haven’t felt God leading me to leave yet. I’m on this journey to have my hope restored, my broken heart repaired, and to learn to trust again. Without the love of Jesus, I do not believe it would be possible. Even with…

  • Asking A Lot

    On the second floor of my home is a little room barely big enough for a twin bed and a very small dresser. We call it the tiny room. I’m not sure what it was designed for, but for a while, I called it my “junk drawer.” You know, that kitchen drawer that becomes the…

  • The Dearest of Words

    Sun has set. Moon has arrived. Slowing down. Climbing under blankets, pillows plumped and primed. Soft knock and that dearest of words, “Mama?” “Yes Love?” “Talk?” “Sure” Reshuffling pillows up. Rubbing eyes open. Patting blankets. Climbing up. “Mama, what do I do?” Oh, how I wish I had the answers. Father, what do I do?…

  • Counting It All Good

    One Sunday when I was in my early teens, my mom and I sang a song together at church. I remember how nervous I was while I waited in the front pew for the end of the Scripture reading. Mom and I walked up together, stood behind the pulpit, placed our hymnal down, and waited…