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’s looking. Even when no one knows. Even her children. I believe it’s the God-gene she carries – not in a biological sense, but
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer In the 1980s, during rodeo’s off-season, my husband worked with the Race Track Chaplaincy of America, serving as a chaplain five years at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. He also spent one race meet at Aksarben (now dismantled) in Omaha, Nebraska, and one
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer “If God can make everything new again, in spite of the hard, painful parts, then we should let Him.” Sounds like an obviously simple concept, right? Simple, perhaps, but not easy. There’s a difference. The quote is from my latest book, An Unexpected Redemption,
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer What would you take if you had five minutes to evacuate your home? When I was a newspaper reporter, I covered a lot of bad news. This photo is of one event I showed up for, arriving moments before flames roared through the front
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Last week I thought I was having problems with my computer. It wasn’t doing what I depend on it to do, as in downloading and uploading files – things I can’t explain in techy terms but desperately need. Basically, I knew enough to know
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Have you ever blown it? Not just miss a beat, but miss the whole boat? Think you’re humming right along, focused in, on target, and then—wham? This picture of Linger Rodeo Company’s saddle bronc horse, Curly Wolf, circa 1980s, drives home my point. Curly
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer When Jesus died on the cross, He paid the sacrificial price for our sins. He bought us back, so to speak, making things right between God and us. It was enough. But He did more. He got up from the dead and stepped out
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Tomorrow is the first day of spring – the season of rebirth, renewal, and resurrection. Of all the seasons, I believe it is the closest to God’s initial creation. The very first thing the Bible says about God is that He created. These words
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer One morning last week as I read Matthew 14, I was struck by the approachableness and positivity of Jesus. Loosely paraphrased, here’s what I saw: Setting: Small inland sea at night, high wind, boat full of weary men sent ahead of their leader to
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer “I don’t do nothing well.” No doubt you bunched your shoulders and cringed when you read that sentence. The double negative scratches our linguistic sensibilities like fingernails on Styrofoam. Does the sentence mean the speaker can’t do anything well? Or does the speaker fail
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I was just nine years old. Just along for the ride. Just sitting in a folding chair in the middle of a football stadium on a starry night with thousands of people who had come to hear Evangelist Billy Graham. Honestly, I don’t remember
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The first time my California Cowboy visited Greeley, Colorado, his nose told him he’d never live there. Lots of feed lots in that part of the country. “That’s the smell of money,” an old timer said. “You’ll get used to it.” He did. So
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Conversation hearts – fun, right? How do I love thee? Let me count the misaligned ways that I can’t even read. These colorful little confectioneries exemplify what has happened to a once tender expression of affection and remind me why I’m not a fan
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer My granddaughter helped me bring in firewood one evening, using a cloth shopping bag to carry her load. “I can’t carry the big pieces like you,” she said. “That’s okay,” I told her. “It’s the little pieces that heat up the fire.” Those little
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Each morning, my radio comes on at 5:25, set to a Christian music station, and I catch the last five minutes of an inspirational program before the day’s music begins. Sometimes I crawl out of bed immediately. Sometimes I lie there and listen to