Quiet on Purpose

In this episode, we will wrap up our series in Psalm 62. Much like making coffee with my French press, which involves careful pressing and patient pouring, time spent with Jesus calls for a "pressing" in and a "pouring" out of all that is in our hearts, and then entrusting it into his care. When we are patient and careful to make this our regular practice, we find that God is o...

Sometimes I find myself working to defend my own honor. Can you relate at all? Do you ever find yourself in situations where you find yourself compulsively needing to correct someone’s impression of your behavior? Or defensively reacting to any perceived “slight” toward your honor? In today's episode, we'll take a few minutes to consider another way, and whether our loving Savior Jesus has...

In today's episode, we finally get to the part of Psalm 62 where David, who wrote this psalm, seems to give us a clue as to what is troubling him, and we're also encouraged, once again, to give counsel to our own soul, based on truth and regardless of our circumstances. It's the kind of encouragement I need regularly, how about you? Read Psalm 62:1-8 Questions from today's episode:...

Where do we run when life's circumstances shake us to the core? What, or Who, is our Fortress? In today's episode we'll spend a little time considering these questions and more, from the foundations of Psalm 62:1-8. Listen in! Read it here Questions from today's episode: How instinctively do I run to God in the midst of the daily trials that arise? And what about those larger trial...

Over the next several episodes, the plan is to linger in several verses from Psalm 62, allowing the comfort of this Psalm to find its way deep into our souls. Today we'll focus in on verse 1. At any given point in time, any number of things in our lives can leave us in need of the kind of rest that only God can provide. As we spend just a few minutes together in this episode, we'll take ti...

I'm always challenged by the words of verse 2, “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord…” The question that arises for me is, “Can I honestly say that my soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord?” Have you ever stopped to evaluate your longings? When we have a longing, doesn’t it indicate that something is missing from our lives? Sometimes our longings indicate a de...

Welcome to a new season of Quiet on Purpose, friends - I can't believe we are beginning our 6th year together! What a delight for me. As 2025 was winding down and I began to anticipate the start of a new year, I began, as has become my practice, paying attention to what God seems to be up to in this season of my life, and where I felt His Spirit at work in my heart, especially seeking a “word...

Have you ever had the experience of getting together with a dear friend or family member after a long period of absence and wanted to just soak up every moment with them, savoring their presence with you? Have you ever realized, after perhaps hours of sitting and visiting with them, that you’ve lost all track of time because you have been so completely “with” them? The first chapter of the Gospel...

This episode is being released the day before the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. Today's scripture highlights the practice of thanking God for what He has done, and it makes an interesting connection between gratitude and hope. Listen in! Read Psalm 52:9 Questions from today's episode: What am I grateful for today? What do I have to be grateful for every day? As I take time to...

Complaining about our bodies or our personalities is a "Great-American-Pastime" it would seem. But the scriptures confront that habit in Psalm 139, when the psalmist declares that he is "fearfully and wonderfully made". In today's episode we'll linger in the imagery of being "knit together" in our mother's wombs. Listen in! Read Psalm 139:13-14 Questions f...

Recently, it has seemed like everyone I know and love is involved in some kind of battle. Battles with various health struggles, battles with addiction, battles with a multitude of unforeseen life circumstances that are completely out of our control. It’s not only the world around us that feels out of control, it’s our own daily, personal lives. Have you ever noticed that sometimes life can be flo...

I think I’ve mentioned here and there over the years that I like to choose a word each year to represent where I see God at work in my heart as I step into a new year. In 2024, I chose the word Dwell. "Sitting quietly in the presence of God and my own soul" is one of the foundational purposes of this podcast, and spending an entire year dwelling on the word Dwell helped draw me back, and draw me d...

I don’t have extensive experience on the sea, but I’ve spent a bit of time in and around the ocean and other large bodies of water; enough to know what I bet you know too: it doesn’t take much time out on a large body of water to be impressed by the immensity of it. When you’re out in the middle of the water on a vessel that seems large from land, you suddenly feel very small. Imagine being surrou...

Friends, there was an error in the original upload of this episode, so that the audio was a repeat of Episode 105! My apologies! This episode has been edited with the correct audio now added! Does your church, or maybe another church in your vicinity, have church bells? Do they ring out on Sunday mornings? Have you had the privilege of traveling abroad and been touring a city when you hear church...

Does your church, or maybe another church in your vicinity, have church bells? Do they ring out on Sunday mornings? Have you had the privilege of traveling abroad and been touring a city when you hear church bells ring, calling out to those within earshot that a worship service is about to begin? I think the sound of church bells is so joyful and sacred! But we don't have to wait for church bells...

One of the highest values of this podcast is to help us all banish wrong assumptions about God, such as, his posture toward us is one of anger because of some sin we've committed. This episode takes a look at yet another scripture in which he reveals an entirely different posture toward our sins! I hope you'll listen in! Read Isaiah 43:25 here ! Questions from today's episode: Do I struggle to tru...

In this episode I share a story about a "work of my hands" that I have abandoned. I'm wondering if you have a story like that too? I think sometimes we tend to believe God feels about us the way I feel about my abandoned project! I think sometimes we believe God has treated us like I’ve treated my abandoned project! But today's scripture encourages us to understand and believe th...

I believe I may have mentioned once or twice that I have 2 beautiful and delightful grandchildren, yes? Have I also mentioned how they live over 5,000 miles away from us?  Perhaps so. While being a Grammy to those 2 precious souls is one of my great delights in this life, I am not well-served when I think that it is the greatest delight of my life. The reality is that many, many of us have tough s...

The awareness that he was intimately known and loved by God created within Moses a desire to more intimately know God, love God, and walk in His ways! I often think of life and relationships as on a spiral. We can either be moving upward on the spiral, toward greater wisdom and maturity and health in life; and toward greater love and intimacy in our relationships; or, we can be spiraling downward...

Zephaniah 3:17 says: The Lord your God is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing! How often do you consider the fact that God is exulting over you with loud singing? Honestly. Ever? How often do you picture Him as a warrior in your midst, fighting to give you victory over your enemy...

This week is Holy week, the week in the church year from Palm Sunday to Easter, when we take time to reflect on the events of Jesus’ last days before his crucifixion and prepare to celebrate his resurrection! While I know, for me at least, it can be difficult to lean into the solemnity of all that it represents, I think that when we do choose to press into and consider deeply all that he endured,...

Continuing our series through the season of Lent, this episode returns to John 15 and Jesus' final teachings to his disciples before he goes to the cross. He tells them that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends, and that they are his friends if they do this one thing that he commands: love each other. It's a simple command, but not so simple a task...

This is our second episode in 2025 during the season of Lent. Historically, Lent is practiced as a time to reflect on our own mortality and sin nature in preparation for Passion week, culminating with the celebration of Easter Sunday. I mentioned previously that I grew up in a church tradition that did not follow the liturgical calendar, but today I find some of the rhythms of the church calendar...

Today marks a very special day in the church calendar. It is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the season of Lent. Historically, Ash Wednesday and Lent are practiced as a time to reflect on our own mortality and sin nature, as we prepare for Passion week, culminating with the celebration of Easter Sunday. I grew up in a church tradition that didn’t focus on the liturgical calendar, but I still fi...

For my last birthday, one of my soul sisters gave me the gift of a simple leather bracelet with a tiny metal plaque, on which is engraved “Be Present.” I treasure this gift both because it’s a testimony to the fact that she sees me and knows my heart, and because it is a daily, much-needed reminder to me to be present for all of it ! I want to be present to God’s presence with me; I want to be pre...