Are you struggling to find joy today?  Are the disappointments of life dragging you down?  Could you use a little hope? I imagine there were eleven men walking around feeling the same way on this day some two thousand plus years ago.  Eleven disciples, minus the traitor Judus Ascariot had believed in someone.  They had left everything in their lives; their families, their profession, their beliefs; to follow someone they believed to be the chosen Messiah.   And then he was crucified on a cross yesterday. Can you imagine how they must have felt today.  That day over two thousand years ago, the day after the person they put all their…

The other day while at the bookstore I picked up a bible study called “the minor prophets.”   This particular study included six books of the bible; Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Malachi.  After arriving home, I remember wondering why I had picked that particular study.  I had once, long ago, tried to study the small band of prophets in the back of the old testament.  My time of study hadn’t lasted long and been at all fruitful.  So I wondered to myself, why now would I find myself drawn to this particular study. Today I know why.  I began to study the story of Hosea at the beginning of…

Recently I went through a time of discouragement that has led me to prayer and sole searching.  After publishing my first book, I received some criticism that was hard to hear.  I know as a writer that I should get used to hearing my work be critiqued.   I know that is part of being an author.  When you put your work out publicly, not everyone is going to receive it the same.  Not everyone thinks the same and not everyone will see it from your eyes.  Everyone has their own opinion about what you put on paper and I suppose they have every right to voice those opinion. Taking my…