Refreshed Soul

A Place to Find Respite, Grace and Growth in Christ Through Our Ever-Changing Lives

Checklists to Surrender: Walking With The Spirit

I am a checklist person through and through. Nothing pleases me more than crossing off a completed task. It makes me feel like I’ve conquered the day with productivity. But when I fail to plan my day, I feel more like Dory—aimlessly swimming through the sea. While lists can help steer our ship, they can also steal our joy, imposing themselves as rigid rules we feel obligated to follow. The same can be true in our Christian walk when we focus more on the law than on our relationship with the Lord.

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Navigating Loneliness in Life’s Transitions

Change, whether initiated by us or thrust upon us through life transitions, is an inevitable part of life’s journey. When these shifts occur, we often find ourselves struggling in unfamiliar waters, desperately seeking support to stay afloat. Such changes can profoundly affect our relationships, sometimes even severing them. Events like relocating away from loved ones, entering or exiting marriages, children leaving home, and experiencing the loss of a loved one are all examples of life transitions that can leave us feeling isolated and in need of companionship.

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Abide In Me

December is always a time of reflection for me as the new year approaches, a season that serves as a poignant reminder of the gift of Christ. In these moments, I often find myself searching for the definition of “who I am” in Christ, recognizing the importance of staying connected to the true vine. While I have found peace with God through my faith in Jesus, the question lingers: Am I truly relying on Him to foster genuine growth within me? Christ, in his wisdom, calls me to abide first in him before charting my course forward.Read more

Who Am I?

With the snap of the corporate fingers, a company abruptly eliminated a friend’s job after dedicating twenty-eight years to them. The company car, her passion for the industry she served, her phone, her computer, and her connections were all wiped away in the blink of an eye. The cherished job and her entire sense of self-worth turned upside down.

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Behind Every Smile

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This sentiment held its truth as I gazed upon a photograph capturing a family member, their infectious smile stretching from ear to ear. Yet, behind that smile lay a narrative of struggle — one of worry, sadness, sickness, and rejection. The path leading to that climatic moment had been fraught with immense efforts. Though the outcome was positive, the journey resembled a turbulent roller coaster, a truth obscured by the photograph.Read more

Nurturing Your Spirit, Soul, & Body

I value physical markers of momentous occasions and people in my life. I have two particular plants which represent significant lifetime events. One is a Peace Lily and the other, a Schefflera. I have had the Lily for 26 years and the tall, now lanky Schefflera for about 14 years. At some point, I had replanted the Peace Lily from its original container many years ago. The Schefflera was still in its original plastic pot from when it was delivered to me. As I was repotting them recently, it reminded me how our bodies need the same type of nuturing in spirit, soul, and body before we face a life transition instead of waiting till we are withered.Read more

My 2022 Lament

One of my favorite Christian authors is Jen Pollock Michel. In a recent email, she asked a series of questions for reflection of 2022. One of her questions caught me by surprise – “What did I lament?” This is certainly not something I typically allow space for in my thoughts but it made me curious enough to explore.Read more

Why Does God Bless Us?

Dive Deeper: Psalm 67, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24, Philippians 4:4-9

(A devotion from the Fall of 2020)

This question caused me to stop and ponder during the delivery of a recent Sunday sermon. Honestly, my first response in my head was “Blessed!?!”; this is 2020. As I continued to reflect on the words in Psalm 67, the passage is pointing us to God’s desire in acknowledging our blessings, even when they might seem more bleak or small. The Bible actually calls us to give thanks in ALL circumstances, joy and suffering. That call has certainly been difficult in the year of 2020 as COVID has caused much grief, anxiety and strife in our lives. The moments we looked forward to in our children’s lives have been squashed; experiences we hoped to celebrate with them also extinguished. Trips and family gatherings have been put on hold for an indefinite time. We have quarantined till we are blue in the face. Sadly, some have had to say goodbye to those who have succumbed to COVID or other illnesses.  But God in his goodness, gently reminds us in his word to look up and forward to the hope we have in Jesus Christ. He calls us to continue to run the race set before us regardless of the thorn in our side. God calls us to give thanks in ALL things; “Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” [1 Thes 5:16]

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Hope in The Burden-Bearer

Dive Deeper: Isaiah 53,  Mt 11:25-30, 1 Pe 2:23-25

It was a dreary, rainy day as my son and I traversed across a college campus for a tour. The rain was turning to ice on the trees. As the night wore on, ice continued to weigh down the branches of all our trees. What compounded the ice accumulation were the leaves still remaining on the trees. The combination was devastation waiting to happen as the rain and cold pursued. Slowly, the drooping sagging branches could no longer carry the burden of all the weight, causing  both small and large branches to snap, thundering to the ground.

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