Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4 NASB
We just returned from visiting again this year with our grandson Eli and his family to celebrate his “Halloween time” birthday. Predictably, we got to see the neighborhood again filled with ghosts and goblins, scarecrows and pumpkins, punctuating yards all around. .
Read More“Should we knock on the door or just leave them here?” I wasn’t sure which would be best.
John and I were just passing through on our way home from a Bible conference at the Cove in Asheville. And now we found ourselves on the front porch of a perfect stranger in a neighborhood of a city not our own.
Having checked into our hotel, we had walked out the door to build up a few thousand steps on our exercise app. After all we had been sitting in the car for hours. And in the course of our walk we found ourselves walking past some houses in an older neighborhood reminiscent of earlier times in our lives.
Read MoreEarly in the current pandemic, the Lord spoke to my heart about how to make it through in peace and rest in Him. I took a peek back at a post He gave me early on. I realize this is something we need everyday in every circumstance of life.
Come and revisit this post with me. You won’t regret the few moments to reflect and receive from the Holy Spirit for your TODAY.
. . . The implication was that this same balance can help us survive this present pandemic crisiS. The two things kept in balance are “accepting our present reality” and “holding on to hope” at the same time….
Read MoreChristianity is a PERSON, not a procedure; the LORD, not a list! Not church attendance, not Christ-like qualities, not good works, not the Christian "to-do list" (which may vary depending on the group and "camp" you are in)...
Not evangelism, not mission trips, not a quality "quiet time," not Scripture memorization or Bible study...
Not spiritual disciplines, not prayer, not fasting, not obedience, not miracle-working faith...
Read MoreDetachment, Relinquishment ... Letting go! No matter how you say it, it is hard but beautiful. And it is needed...needed, that is, in order to grow in the spiritual life. In fact, Jesuit Richard Rohr, says, "All great spirituality is about letting go." (Everything Belongs) Our Lord Jesus was the One truly spiritual Person on this earth. And He was detached in a healthy way. He was detached because He was attached to Another ... to His Heavenly Father. All through the gospels, especially the gospel of John, we see and hear this truth clearly.
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Have you ever felt like you don’t belong? Like you don’t fit anywhere?
Welcome to the club. But it’s not really a club, because as far as your feelings go, there are no other members, right?
Actually, feeling out of place CAN be a good thing. Let me tell you why.
Read MoreWhere do you go to commune with your God?
Do you go to a chapel or a church? to a favorite place near a stream, at a mountain retreat, or on a beach? Do you go to a "prayer closet," a special place in your own home?
But maybe you are frustrated because there never seems to be a "place" where you can go. Maybe you're a mom with young children or a special needs child. Perhaps you are a working mom or a worker who needs to moonlight at a second job to make ends meet. Maybe you or a loved one has a handicap or serious illness that takes you to services and medical places that seem to consume your life. Where is the place for you?
I have good news for all of us ...
Read MoreI am more than excited and honored to share my next Guest Branch, my dear, dear, dear friend and sister in the Lord, Penny Mandeville. Penny and I have been friends for many years — through the weddings of children, our launch into grand parenting, and through the up’s and down’s of life.
Penny very often would open her home to our ladies’ Bible Study group. So we have studied the Word of God together for a long time. I’ll never forget Penny’s comment one Bible study morning— “God’s Word is so delicious!
Read MoreMany of you dear “PRAY-ers” responded so generously with love and prayer when I posted our sweet sister in the Lord PEGGY’s urgent need for prayer. See her story here: Urgent Prayer for a Sister.
Well, Peggy is still waiting for her canceled but needed surgery to replace her fractured hip. And of course, as some of you may remember, she is grieving the sudden recent home-going of her beloved Ernie.
Peggy says, “ I have no idea when or if they will schedule my surgery. I am getting so very tired at this point, I can hardly stay awake much of the day. I’m beginning to wonder if I will be strong enough if I do get the opportunity for surgery. I’ll probably try it anyway, living with this amount of pain for the last 3+ months is intolerable.”
Read MoreWe humans in our humanness are weak, dependent people. Some of us are weak, and we know it. Others of us are weak, and we don’t know it. And this latter group may be the weakest and most helpless of all.
Jesus said,
“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:3 NASB
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? [your life, self]
Is anything worth more than your soul?
Matthew 16:26 NLT
This was my waking thought today.
Read MoreDear Praying Readers,
There is an urgent need for prayer on behalf of a dear sister in the Lord.
Peggy is almost 90 years young and has experienced the sudden and deep loss of her husband. And this has come in the midst of a long period of personal physical pain. The surgery that was to be her only option to fix the fracture in her hip was scheduled for mid-September. But it has now been cancelled indefinitely because of COVID.
Dearest friends, would you beseech our God on behalf of this dear one whom Jesus loves. Rescue, deliverance, healing in Jesus name.
Read MoreIn the midst of anxiety and panic, we can be sure that our Enemy is alive and well.
And so in our last post (When Anxiety Assails), I shared 1 Peter 5:8-9
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith…
You can be sure that when God is doing something in our lives, the devil is always helping the weakness of our flesh to draw us in the opposite direction.
Read MoreFeeling overwhelmed and defaulting to tears …needing to return and so I’m sharing just in case you need this too.
When I get really afraid, I come to you in trust.
I’m proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God.
What can mere mortals do? Psalm 56:3-4 MSG
I’ve always been prone to anxiety. As far back as I can remember, I have been nervous about all kinds of things — quizzes, tests, performances of any kind, up coming unfamiliar events, putting my face in water, amusement park rides, and other “stupid stuff.”
This past Sunday during worship, I was arrested by the final stanza and chorus in one of our worship songs:
My final breath shall be forever Jesus
When shadows lengthen before my eyes…
And I thought of the beautiful group of online sisters I lead on Tuesday evenings — most of us in our 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and even very close to 90! We are in various areas of the country, though mostly in Ohio. And we share so many things, mainly our love for Jesus and each other because we are sisters IN HIM!
During these closing weeks of the summer, many of us are focusing especially on the children in our lives. School is starting (or has already started), and we are longing for a rich year of learning, love, and acceptance...good friends, caring teachers and adults in their young, vulnerable lives. And our wish list for them and prayer list on their behalf go on and on.
So whether a parent, grandparent, aunt or uncle, teacher or caring friend, this is for you. I know it can be easy to discount or forget the glorious potential in those little lives that we love and care about.
Read MoreI’ve been thinking a lot about this question lately. We conservative evangelicals (and I’m sure others) have been really good at judging one another lately and attributing motives to one another (both publicly and privately) that we have no way of knowing. Why? Because we are not God, and we have not walked in our brother or sister’s shoes.
And as much as I have been grieved to see and hear this all around me, I have been grieved to see and “hear” this in myself.
Read MoreWe just returned from my lovely place…my refreshing place … my longed for place …. my happy place — the beach/ the Jersey Shore/ Long Beach Island and Belmar, NJ.
And we went this year for the epitome of reasons — to celebrate John’s and my 50th wedding anniversary and to have a family reunion of sorts with our kids, grandkids, my siblings and families (aunts, uncles, and cousins to our kids), my 95 y.o. godmother-aunt and my cousin.
And it was much anticipated and planned for over the course of the previous year.
But for me, it began with struggle and stress and hidden tears …. until the Lord met me very early one morning, thankfully at the beginning of the week.
Read MoreEven though it is summertime, taking a look ahead toward winter can virtually cool us off and calm our souls. And it also causes us to remember a loved one in those later stages of life and treasure the beauty in a life well lived. May we do the same.
So I am looking ahead and also remembering …
Beaches are beautiful, no matter the season...and that even includes winter-time. There's a calm...an aloneness (not many brave the cold and wind)...a beautiful bleakness!
The winter beach is a silvery wonderland at times
Read MoreFor several years before my mom went to Jesus, I spent lots of precious time with her on the coast in New Jersey. One of the highlights had always been my early morning walks along the beach at sunrise.
I’ve just returned to Ohio from our awesome trip this summer to the Jersey Shore. But before I begin writing fresh posts, I’m returning to this blog that I wrote after a sweet summer with my mom at my sister's house in Belmar.
Read MoreJanet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.
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