Category Archives: Faith

Quieting the Overwhelming “Whys”

Janis Van Keuren

Questions Need Soul Answers-Psalm 131          I could feel the depression creep into my skin like an insidious attack of insects looking for a winter home in which to roost. I flipped my head to the other side on my soft pillow, hoping to rub out the feeling of invasion and a Saturday morning filled with dreariness.     Only the morning’s grogginess filled my waking mind at first. But once the invasion began, my contemplation of the day ahead became sullied … Continue reading →

Thinking On the Lovely

Janis Van Keuren

“Whatever is lovely…think about such things”       “You worry too much,” my cousin wrote the words that so aptly describe the workings of my mind. Just a few weeks ago I was held captive by worry as I drove home from work, not an uncommon happening.      Anxious thoughts crept into my mind and spiked on the Richter scale of patterns zigzagging across the internal screen. As I wound up the road home, the intensity of worrisome scenarios built for … Continue reading →

A New Heart Reaching For the Son

Janis Van Keuren

          I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 11: 19. NIV      When my mother was in the hospital more than 14 years ago, I listened to this song over and over again. I needed the Lord’s heart beating in my heart to endure the months long trial of her illness. I needed to know His … Continue reading →

Reflections in Glacial Blue

Janis Van Keuren

Chiseled in chunks of ice  Reflected in turquoise waters  His Majesty is proclaimed.       “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. Oh Lord, you preserve both man and beast.” Psalm 36:6 NIV      “Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.” Psalm 96 NIV From My Heart to Yours, There’s a “gathering of blue” at 3 from here and there

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A Moment of Silent Reflection–Our Visit to Ground Zero

Janis Van Keuren

Photos from our trip to Ground Zero in 2003      It was just two years after 9/11 and the reverence of Ground Zero reverberated in the silence on the lips of passersby. Honor for those who gave their lives to save the lives of thousands. Respect for the hallowed ground where heroes were buried on that day. Prayers for the families left behind. All spoken only by the heart.      Ten years have passed since terror struck our nation, vengeance … Continue reading →

As High As the Heavens

Janis Van Keuren

        “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear me.” Psalm 103:11 NIV      Staring  into the vastness of the celestial blue space above draws me into wonder at the greatness of our God. A God who compares His love to the never ending blue expanse that stretches beyond our sight. Beyond space shuttle journeys. Beyond the stars and planets that dangle suspended as buoyant jewels in … Continue reading →

Between the Cloud and the Pillar of Fire; the Sunrise and the Sunset

Janis Van Keuren

Sunrise            The the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” Isaiah 4:5-6 NIV      Because I am not an early-morning riser, I have missed the … Continue reading →

On Eagles Wings and Prayer

Janis Van Keuren

     Hidden off the main route was a pristine lake ringed by pine-forested hills. Majestic bald eagles swooped overhead as we stood mouths agape with wonder. Their giant wing span, strong grasping talons, and tenacity on display before us.      Watching them pierced my heart with an ache reminding me of mother eagles pushing their young out of the nest. It had only been a few months since I experienced my youngest fledgling jumping out of the nest. This mother … Continue reading →

The Promise is in the Clouds

Janis Van Keuren

       I’m looking heavenward again. My eye and heart are on the sky. I catch the rainbow pushing upward and I chase it, hoping to find its source and the depth of its color. But I only see a fraction of what lies ahead. Then like a shade, a curtain of clouds are pulled across the heavens and my heart sinks. The hope of seeing the rainbow in its glory is fading. Only darkness remains.      I snap the cover … Continue reading →

His Delight In You Will Lift and Deliver You

Janis Van Keuren

     So many days were filled with fear, anxiety, and doubt. Depression wrapped me in its smothering cloak. The darkness weighed heavy with each breath. How would I ever escape the entrapment? Would I ever find joy again?      “When you hurt, go to your secret closet and weep out all your despair!” wrote David Wilkerson in a letter for his organization’s newsletter.      But I had cried from the depths of my being and I only got weaker and … Continue reading →