God is our Maker. Maker is His name and His identity. He loves to make things new. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). Not only does God love to make things, but He loves to remake them.  He loves to remodel. He loves a fixer-upper. He looks at the original model, and He remakes it.

He is going to remake heaven and earth: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (Rev. 21:1).

He is remaking everything: “Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new'” (Rev. 21:5).

He remakes those who call on Him: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8).

We are remade according to His image, and He enables us to put off the old and put on the new: “But now you Read More

The heart of the wise teaches his mouth,

And adds learning to his lips.

This verse was one that always seemed somewhat straight forward to me, and it certainly is that. Having wisdom will impact what comes out of your mouth.Then I ran into it in the ESV (the above is NKJV) – where learning is translated persuasiveness. And suddenly – this verse seemed to sum up so much of what my heart desires as I interact with my children. “The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious, and adds persuasiveness to his lips.” Read More

Suffering is not limited to our age or marital status. There is unmarried suffering and married suffering; childless suffering and suffering with children; old age suffering and young suffering; wealthy suffering and poor suffering; friendless suffering and suffering in the midst of community; educated suffering and illiterate suffering; healthy suffering and sick suffering.

In other words, we cannot escape suffering by moving to a new place or getting a new job. God apportions our lot to us and He does so wisely. He is changing us into the image of His Son, and suffering is one of the means He uses to shape and mold us. We sometimes think if only we were married, then we would be free from suffering. Or if only we had a child, then we would be happy. But the world is full of trouble and suffering, as the sparks fly upward. There is no place to run but to Christ. Read More

Wisdom is a woman. She is a wise hearted woman. I love this passage in Exodus 35:25-26 describing the women getting things ready for the tabernacle: “And all the women that were wise hearted did spin with their hands, and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose hearts stirred them up in wisdom spun goats’ hair.” Their wise hearts taught them to get busy spinning and weaving.

The woman in Proverbs 31 “works willingly with her hands” (verse 13). I think we can say that wise hearts produce working hands. Wisdom doesn’t sit around thinking great thoughts but is building something, making something. The wise woman in Proverbs 14:1 is building a house. The wise-hearted women in Exodus were making fine linen. They had busy hands. “She extends her hand to the poor, yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy” (Proverbs 31:20).

God works wisdom into our hearts and it comes out our fingertips. This is a feminine strength, not to be despised or blown off. This kind of wisdom is not idle. It is stirred up to make lasagna and wash the sheets. There is nothing menial about the work when a wise heart is stirred up to do it.

A wise heart bestows beauty: it’s blue and purple and scarlet. It is very fine. So is my mac and cheese (or so my husband says).  A large, tender heart is the perfect place for wisdom to reside.