April 1, 2024 #922 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY February, 2024 Ill health. It seems to be popping up all around me these days. There is no sickness without suffering. I see so much courage displayed in the face of illness. So how do I respond to all these people, family and friends, who are beset […]
March 25, 2024 #915 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY January, 2024 Three statements in Romans 5: “…we exult in hope of the glory of God.” (v. 2). “…we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance…” (v. 3) “…we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now […]
March 18, 2024 #908 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY December 2023 Sometimes I think God is extra-special gentle with me. That is just my ego. And yet the tender care…the patience, the understanding, the acceptance…the leisurely pace at which He leads me…the light He shines pointing the way…I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Hidden within one of […]
March 11, 2024 #901 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY February, 2024 Process not results. God has impressed that concept into a marching order for me. I am instructed to act, and He takes care of the consequences. It is a partnership. My part is beautifully stated: “…whatever you do in word or deed, do all in […]
March 4, 2024 #894 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY February, 2024 “All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend […]
February 26, 2024 #887 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY January, 2024 In Stephen Ministry we are assigned a person who for whatever reason is going through a difficult period. That person becomes our care-receiver, and we schedule periodic visits. As a care-giver one of the most important things to remember is that we are not responsible […]
February 19, 2024 #879 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY January, 2024 “The river is within us, the sea is all about us.” –T.S. Eliot. The river is my individual pathway, the current God is using to bring me home. The sea is God, all about every single one of us. The river flows into the sea. February […]
February 12, 2024 #872 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY October, 2023 C.S. Lewis, preaching on what God is trying to knead into my heart: “…Never, in peace or war, commit your virtue or your happiness to the future. Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from […]
February 5, 2024 #865 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY November, 2023 I am moving from the material to the spiritual–we all are. That involves embracing the spiritual and letting go of the material–not abruptly, for this is a gradual progression. It helps to realize at some point in this journey everything I see is going to […]
January 29, 2024 #858 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY December, 2023 Gregorian chants. I and my son-in-law are the only people I know who listen to them. I think they are incredible–it is like hearing music from a different part of your brain. They are wonderful for meditation. They don’t engage me–they slide through me, encouraging […]
January 22, 2024 #851 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY December, 2023 Job said to God, “I repent in dust and ashes.” He realized that all of his constructs, all of his suppositions, all of his expectations were vapor in the presence of the living God. Every time I question why things turned out a certain way, […]
January 15, 2024 This from a year ago, applies today… #844 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY February 1, 2023 This is our fifth day essentially indoors (so cold and icy we don’t dare step outside). The river of life is sluggish today. While I battle with cabin fever, I know we are blessed just to be […]
January 8, 2024 #837 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY December, 2023 I died in my dream last night–first time that has happened. We were driving down an extremely steep and narrow mountain road. The driver was a former student, I was riding shotgun, and my sister was in the back. He drove too near the edge […]
January 1, 2024 My New Year’s declaration… #830 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY January 1, 2024 Karen made this comment after a recent post: “I wonder if people reading this can relate–if they think: How does he know that ‘voice’ is God’s?” I bet some people do think that, but I refuse to wonder about it. […]
December 25, 2023 #823 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY December 25, 2023 This from C.S. Lewis: “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the Incarnation. They say that God became Man. Every other miracle prepares for this, or exhibits this, or results from this…” On Christmas, with all the family and the presents and the food […]
December 18, 2023 #816 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY December, 2023 Believing I am supposed to impress someone with my Christianity is a terrible trap–a sham. It trains my vision on myself, not God. I am not His representative; He is my companion. December 19, 2023 Golf Tuesday at good ol’ Plantation… #817 HOW GOD SPOKE TO […]
December 11, 2023 #809 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY September, 2023 My Stephen Ministry group is delving deeper into empathy. What stood out to me tonight is that I cannot be empathetic and allow my ego to be involved. My first step is to put myself in the other person’s shoes. The next step is to […]
December 4, 2023 #802 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY October, 2023 “I wanna tell you people it’s a natural fact/ Every man don’t understand the Bible alike/ And that’s all, I’ll tell you that’s all/ But you better have Jesus, I’ll tell you that’s all.” –Denomination Blues by Ry Cooder There is no spiritual blessing in […]
November 27, 2023 #795 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY September, 2023 As I’ve said before, God speaks to me through other writers. It is cool when a spiritual reading mirrors exactly my own life experience: “Over time I have learned two things about my spiritual quest: First of all, that it is God who is seeking […]
November 20, 2023 #788 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY October, 2023 The situations may be complex, but the pathway is simple: be led by the Spirit of Christ. That may seem like an either/or decision or a hopeful guess, but it is really a “learn how” development program. The basic ingredients are love and awareness mixed […]
November 6, 2023 #774 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY July, 2023 “Jesus said to him, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:37–38). Ever have a verse just pound you in the heart? That […]
November 13, 2023 #781 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY September, 2023 “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (Matthew 7:14). I am reminded of the fruitlessness of attempting to share my faith with someone who is not ready to hear it. Or, as my former muse Phil Ochs sang: “Soldiers disillusioned come home from […]
October 30, 2023 #760 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY July, 2023 “Then onward in the journey I come to understand that every hair is numbered, like every grain of sand.” –Bob Dylan. Another epitaph line. St. Paul says that nothing past present or future can separate us from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38). […]
October 23, 2023 #753 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY August, 2023 Empathy–the subject of our Stephen Ministry study. Atticus told Scout (in To Kill a Mockingbird): “…you can never really understand a person unless you put yourself in their shoes.” That is the beginning of empathy. What stood out from our study is it’s not really […]
October 16, 2023 #746 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY July, 2023 So many people write so brilliantly about God. I love the Bible–there is no substitute for it–yet my faith has been so greatly enhanced by writers who express their views about God–about what the Bible means–about how it plays out in this world–about how we […]
October 9, 2023 #739 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY August, 2022 (a year ago) I do experience some doubts about my writing project. All four of my sisters and several other relatives have asked to be taken off my email list. My own children barely acknowledge it (and then in kind of an embarrassed way). If […]
October 2, 2023 #732 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY April, 2023 Family strife. I suppose it is all around me, even in my families (I pray I am not a cause!). It’s all deep and complex and usually hidden. If I was a family counselor, I could only offer one piece of advice: read I Corinthians […]
September 25, 2023 #725 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY September, 2022 (a year ago) “Let all who take refuge in the Lord rejoice; let them ever sing for joy. Spread Your protection over them, so that those who love Your name may exult in You. For You bless the righteous, O Lord, You cover them with […]
September 18, 2023 #718 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY May, 2023 Conversations. In every discussion, there can be a time to listen, a time to speak up, and a time to walk away. Wisdom is learning to recognize those times. September 19, 2023 Golf Tuesday–happy to say I’m playing again… #719 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY August, 2023 A […]
September 11, 2023 #711 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY June, 2023 The inner journey. It’s so easy for me to get caught up in daily events that I give the inner journey short shrift. But that’s where I can most easily cultivate the fruits of the Spirit, and it’s where I can most easily sense His […]
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