WANTED: Jesus of Nazareth
ALT="Wanted poster for Jesus

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Slip out of time with me—more than 2,000 years back—and consider: Jesus was dead. Crucifixion will do that to a person. But all things are possible, right? Isn’t that what the angel told Jesus’ mother thirty-three years earlier? Clearly, she believed and proved it

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Would Jesus Have Social Media Accounts?
ALT="cell phone"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Would Jesus have social media accounts? I believe He would. In first-century Palestine, Jesus participated in the social medium of the day: itinerant teaching. From hillsides, roadsides, tables, and wells He met the people where they were, where they were looking, and where they

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Many Happy Returns – 10 Tips for A Happy Birthday
ALT="baby with birthday cake"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I thought “returns” were things you took back to a store because they weren’t what you expected or because they were defective. Even online marketing mentions “free returns.” But that’s not what “many happy returns” is talking about. The short phrase derives from a

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Getting from Here to There
ALT="man walking across field"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer “Transition” is not one of my favorite words. It implies hard work, change, letting go of the familiar, and heading into the unknown. It takes a person from what was to what will be and often involves pain. Biological mothers everywhere know exactly what

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What Do I Smell Like to God?
ALT="daffodils"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer If someone came up to me and said I smelled, my reaction would depend upon what they said I smelled like. Cinnamon rolls? Fresh flowers? Bacon grease, dirty socks? People care about how they smell, and because of that, smell is big business. Air

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It’s Time for Daylight-Saving Time
ALT="pocket watch"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer This morning (Sunday) clocks were turned ahead from 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. for the commencement of Daylight-Saving Time. Personally, I wasn’t awake to spring ahead and lost those precious sixty minutes of sleep between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. I think this manual

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The Lord Is Our Shelter
ALT="two doves in a tree"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The morning I opened my Bible to Psalm 57, I had just read a social media post from a young woman in a war-torn country. She recounted miracles and unexplained accounts of things happening that should not have – but for the power of

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Could You Repeat the Question, Please?
ALT="a country road"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer If God asked you a question, what would it be? “God doesn’t need to ask me a question,” you say. “He already knows everything about me.” True, He does know everything about you, but God is relational. He asks questions of those He loves. 

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Under Construction: “Always Before Me” – devotions for women
ALT="under construction sign" Always Before Me devotional book

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer In recent months, I’ve had a few requests for copies of my out-of-print devotional book for women, Always Before Me. So remodeling has begun. Additions are framed in, and an open house is set for this spring. The original book had 30 daily devotional

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Share the Love
ALT="For God so loved the world that He gave."

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Romantic love is celebrated on Valentine’s Day, February 14, in North America and in many countries around the *world. With unclear *origins, a great deal has been written about the observance. However, there is much more to love, and other languages, particularly Greek, have

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How Small a Whisper
ALT="sunrise"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The man named Job spent a great deal of time observing God through His handiwork and had some interesting things to say about the Creator. In chapter 26 of his ancient book, we find one of Job’s lists of God’s amazing deeds and attributes

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The Cat Who Came In From the Cold … for a while
ALT TEXT = "ruined mini-blinds)

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Imagine my surprise when I walked into my attached garage one morning and found the remains of the mini-blinds on the only window in there. I didn’t know cats could do such damage. Apparently, they can. Especially if they are feral and resent the

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A Reminder that God is There
ALT="deer by a bench and tree"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The doorbell rang. When I answered it, a friendly young man greeted me from a company I have done business with for several years. After leaving his delivery, he mentioned the deer in my driveway and yard. He had encountered several on the roads

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Just Add Water
ALT="narcissus growing"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer At Christmas I became the hesitant owner of a Paperwhite Narcissus Bulb Kit – Ziva. Hesitant because things looked pretty barren in that mostly empty box. However, it was worth trying if success meant the heady perfume I associate with narcissi. According to the

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Live at the Speed of Life
ALT="church steps"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer A new year. A new month. A new week. Do you ever get the feeling that you have to gear up and get a jump on things? Get a head start? But a head start on what? Anxiety, stress, over-achieving? Completing that to-do list

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