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
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer This week marks the official turn of the seasonal clock to autumn, my favorite time of year. Crisp air, beyond-blue skies, migrating geese. Bugling elk (if you’re lucky enough to hear them) and outlandish aspen-gold draping the mountains. What a palette of sensory detail!
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer How valuable is a cup of cold water to someone who is hot, dry, and thirsty? Jesus told His disciples that when they gave so much as a cup of cold water to a child, their deed was worthy of reward (Matthew 10:42). Cold
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer This year, a national holiday celebrated in the United States and Canada, Labor Day, coincides with the Jewish New Year at sunset. Translated as the Head of the Year, Rosh Hashanah is the first of the high holy days, a day of considering the