One Letter Can Make All the Difference
ALT="old typewriter"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer As a writer, I spend a lot of time looking at words and how similar one can be to another, such as rapid and rabid. One letter can make all the difference. In my novels, do characters whimper or whisper? Do they pick up …

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The Seeds of Creation
ALT="sunshine through green aspen leaves"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer It’s so easy to take certain things for granted when we’ve never known anything else. Like creation. Everything God started “in the beginning” continues today. The seed from the first tree and flower has reproduced kind after its kind over the millennia. The light …

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Mom-Care

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer What is it about a mother that makes her do things for her children all the time? Even when no one knows—especially her children. I believe it’s the God-gene in her—not in a scientific, physiological sense, but in a spiritual sense. God’s fingerprint is …

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On My Own
ALT="toddler on grass Always Before Me"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer When my youngest granddaughter was a toddler, I watched her one day each week. She slowed me down, thank God. She drew my focus to tiny hands, the floor I thought was clean, the lower shelves of my bookcase. She forced me to look …

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For the Journey – Always Before Me
ALT="book cover for Always Before Me devotional book"

By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The psalmist wrote: “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be moved” (Psalm 16:8). With God as his focus and companion, the psalm-singer knew he would not be shaken off his path. This …

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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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