[Linda Thompson] At What Price Freedom?

Today marks the 79th anniversary of the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the event that propelled our nation into history’s bloodiest war. Looking back, I have to say stories from WWII have captivated me from an early age—probably from the day I first picked up The Diary of Anne Frank in school. I also remember

[Patricia Lee] Searching for Thankfulness

As the year 2020 nears its end, many of us sigh in relief. The past several months have been filled with one crisis after another, from COVID-19, to congressional antics, to claims of election fraud. We, as a nation, are anxious for the curtain to fall on this chapter of our history. Lock the door.

Photo by redcharlie on Unsplash

[Dana McNeely] How to Handle a Drought

The specter of death walked the land of Israel. After three years without rain, streams ran dry and wells became mud. Crops failed and food supplies dwindled. The effects of the drought gripped nearly everyone, from the poorest laborer to the king and queen in their palace. But in Zarephath, a Canaanite city far away,

[Melanie Campbell] Book Baby Side Effects

Authors often refer to their novels as a “Book Baby.” The term is fitting. A completed novel and a baby share many of the same qualities. Like children, each one is different. And like pregnancy, each book’s journey to completion has its own unique story. Mother’s often talk about how with one pregnancy they were

[Susan Kimmel Wright] A Special Autumn Recipe

“There is something in the autumn that is native to my blood…” Every week my fourth-grade teacher passed out our poetry sheets, printed in fragrant purple, from the mimeograph machine. Though I disliked memorization, many of the poems, like this one—”A Vagabond Song” by Bliss Carman—have stuck with me for years. I particularly loved the

[Sara Davison] Putting the A back into ACTS

Since the pandemic began, I have been more intentional than ever about carving out time for prayer and reading the Bible every morning. I have found this quiet time to be the most effective weapon against fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. Recently, though, I started to examine how I was praying. Too often, I rushed into

[Melanie Campbell] Wildfires and Clouded Vision

A few weeks ago, my town was blanketed with thick smoke and covered with ash. Wildfires were dangerously close and people in nearby areas had to be evacuated from their homes. There were reports of arsonists setting other fires. It was chaos, doom and gloom. In other words, another page in the nail-biting saga of