The January Thaw

In the days when my grandparents, Levi and Edna Latty, were on their 300+ acre farm at Etta, Pappy Latty always looked for the January thaw, those few January days when winter paused to take a deep breath and remember that spring would soon be on its way. During the January thaw, Pappy would hitch […]

Etta Bend Devotional–Tep Willis

Etta Bend Devotional–Tep Willis

Etta Bend Devotional January 18–“Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store” (Deuteronomy 28:5). My great-grandmother, Catherine Serepta (Tep) Barker Willis, was an outdoors person as was my grandmother and my mother. I can picture her now, wearing a long-sleeved blouse (she would have called it “waist”) and long skirts that reached the tops of […]

A Covenant of Salt

Yesterday, as I was reading Scripture, I came upon II Chronicles 13:5.  In that verse is an interesting term, “covenant of salt.” I’m sure I’ve read those words before but yesterday, I took particular notice. Sometimes that happens. A verse that I must have read several times suddenly stands out.  I checked out the significance […]

Hope

Hope

Aren’t you glad for hope? When problems plague us, we can always hope that they will be resolved. When we aren’t feeling well, we hope that soon we will feel better. When finances get tight, we hope that our ship will come in and, in fact, we see the sails rising just above the horizon. […]

Owl Shadow

Owl Shadow

We were sitting in the living room when Sara said, “Mem! There’s an owl on your wall.” And there, above the sofa, was the shadow of the small, plastic owl that sticks on my deck door to warn the birds not to fly into the glass. The sun was striking the door at just the […]

‘Twas the Day After Christmas..

‘Twas the Day After Christmas..

And now, mail resumes, banks re-open, some people go back to work, and I heave a sigh of contentment for another wonder-filled Christmas, come and gone. Matt and his family, my brother Richard and sister-in-law Linda were here. It was a happy time of visiting and eating, and reflecting on God’s Word. Each year, Matt […]