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 …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I like to walk just before dawn. I don’t always make it, but when I do, I am awed each time by the moment night becomes day. Many verses in the Bible speak of it, and one of my favorites is Psalm 130:5-6. I …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer How often do our New Year’s Resolutions involve denying ourselves something in order to improve our life? Stop over-eating. Stop smoking. Give up sugar. Don’t criticize my spouse/siblings/in-laws. These are admirable aspirations and well worth our efforts. But typically, such resolutions fall by the …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I have never thought of Christmas as a time of gratitude for those who grieve. However, I’ve had a closer look lately. Long ago, the prophet Isaiah foretold that God would send One to bind up the brokenhearted and comfort those who mourned. That …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Christmas carols – I love them. That’s because I don’t sing them year-round or even in November. I wait until December and then savor them at church, in my home, and in the car on the radio. Many of the carols have roots in …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Merry Christmas! This week I’ve joined Hallee Bridgeman and twenty-three other Christian authors in Hallee’s annual Christmas Christian Fiction Scavenger Hunt. The prizes are spectacular: $250 first-place, $150 second-place or $100 third-place Amazon gift cards. I hope you’ll visit all the authors’ blogs so …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The guide and I walked a rutted dirt road used by Forest Service vehicles. Pine, scrub oak, and aspen bordered the road on each side. All was quiet – blissfully absent of people, their machines, and their devices. As we moved deeper into the …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer She stood at the water dispenser in the market filling white one-gallon jugs and loading them into her shopping cart. A lot of them. Like fifteen or so. Wearing a worn jacket and knit cap against the day’s chilly temperature, she kept looking over …
Today, friend and fellow author, Susan G. Mathis, shares a unique perspective on forgiveness that she may have picked up from the heroine in her latest release, *Colleen’s Confession. Stoning Unforgiveness By Susan G Mathis Forgiving isn’t easy, but it’s the best way to be free. Proverbs …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer This post first appeared on Nov. 11, 2019. It appears edited today in honor of JPat Branch, *pictured above, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross recipient, who reported to his last call of duty on Oct. 29, 2021. When I taught sixth-grade world history, …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I’m still in the twenty-third Psalm, wondering why the Shepherd has to make me lie down in green (or golden) pastures. I think it’s because I don’t stop and rest on my own. I’m too busy. I have so much to do. I don’t …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Would you follow someone you didn’t know down the path in this photo? Why not? My guess is that it’s all about trust. Lately, I can’t shake the twenty-third Psalm. It pops up in music from the radio. It’s referenced in social media or …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I belong to a group of women who pray. Collectively, I see them as a river that surges out from our midst, coursing through our community, swirling around boulders of sickness, spreading through exposed tree roots, and washing over sun-drenched sandbars in praise. The …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Several years ago in one of my digs through the past, courtesy of the Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center, I found an article about Texas Creek, Colorado. It wasn’t called Texas Creek in 1881, but rather, Ford Junction, a stage stop, …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Most of us have heard someone say right before the disaster, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this …” How NOT to worry? Not doing something is often a non-event. Like dieting. NOT eating the wrong food leaves a vacuum that I want to fill with all the …