Terribly Interesting

Denbigh and I spent a few days this week on a spiritual retreat in Copper Mountain, Colorado. Our mentors in hospitality have been flying them up there for six years. The feed us, take us on snowy adventures, and spend hours in prayer with us. It is a gift.  Doris, our hostess, asked a question of us. What was our primary message. Hers is forgiveness. Another person's was obedience. Mine is grace. Much of the time, people think about grace as this sweet thing that God gives us when we do bad things. I knew that mine was not a wishy washy message and so I prayed for a word picture for it. A few things came to mind over a period of days. The next morning when I got up, there was a powerful snowstorm in the area. I watched as the snow seemed so furious in its falling. It limited all visibility and blanketed everything it touched with inches of thick powder. My mind drifted to Isaiah 1:18, which tells us that though our sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. I...

One of our goals here at Gomer's House is to provide sweet respite away with Jesus. More than anything, we want to give those who come here a quiet time to pray and hear from God Himself. This led me to start wanting to facilitate prayer retreats and get people comfortable with prayer. It can seem so intimidating, daunting, and downright scary. The thing I know is that God can answer and mend in ways that no human or manufactured thing ever could.  I often laugh when I tell people God sings to me. Now, I know He says He does in His word. In Zephaniah 3:17, it tells me that the Lord rejoices over me with singing, so it's not the fact that I hear Him singing that makes me laugh. It is what He is singing. I often hear God singing Norah Jones' Come Away With Me. The first time I heard it in my prayer time, I went and asked Denbigh if he thought God liked Norah Jones.  A few weeks ago I got a flier in the mail about a guide to prayer retreats. The name. You guessed it. Come Aw...