enLIVEn Devotionals

Abiding in Jesus - Overflowing His Spirit

An Accidental Highway Adventure

I’m a small-town girl from the beautiful island of Grand Bahama. I currently live in Dallas, Texas, where it really does seem like everything is bigger, especially the streets. In the Bahamas most of our streets are two-way streets, so there are no multiple lanes of traffic to navigate. Also, our speed limit for most roads is 45 mph; although, I admit, we do take liberties with that speed. Life on my island moves much slower than here in the big city. Where I lived on the island was less than a 10-minute drive to the school I taught at and getting caught in traffic meant reaching work in 15 ... Read the Post

Serving God’s Love

For years, I had been a housewife and a mom when I suddenly found myself in need of a job. I received employment as server for a popular restaurant chain, and this particular location had the highest turnover rate in the state. In the midst of the unfamiliar drama and unstable attitudes, I discovered that this experience was less about earning a living and more about truly learning about God’s awesome love. A few weeks after my acclimation as a server, I started seeing how our general manager’s anger would be the catalyst to cause me to lean into the Father and become a doer of Luke ... Read the Post

Transformation at Camp

I was sitting in my cabin alone while all of the other camp staff and counselors were busy corralling campers, breaking up fights, and preparing for evening chapel. It was a weeklong summer camp for abused and neglected foster children. I knew it was going to be rough. I prepared myself for reckless behavior, shouting, angry outbursts, and a measure of chaos. What I wasn’t prepared for was what was going to happen on the inside of me as I encountered all of this. I sat on the edge of my bed weeping with my head in my hands and my heart on the floor. It was only day three of five, but I was ... Read the Post

Lazy River in the Desert

I saw a lazy river in the middle of the African desert. Let me tell you how it got there. My brother and his family are missionaries in Africa. This call came many years before they actually set foot in Mombasa, Kenya, where they now reside. The process of uprooting a family from western culture is a tediously lengthy one. We don’t realize how truly blessed we are until we have to sell every single thing we own. My sister-in-law had to not only let go of the comforts that we take for granted, she had to let go of family and personal items that held memories and sentimentality. ... Read the Post

The Beach

My family lives close to the Gulf of Mexico, so one day after church, we decided to head to the beach. We hadn't been in a while--the summer weeks have been racing past us--and our kids have been asking daily to go.  We finally relented. We reached the beach. I sprayed the kids down with sunblock, and they ran straight to the warm waves. I loved watching them smile and laugh as the splashed through the salty current. It was a perfect day--blue skies, slight breeze and smooth ripples. I couldn't help but thank God for our Texas coast and promise myself that I would not neglect this beautiful ... Read the Post