Morning Briefings

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/25dbd2cf/who-is-god-speaking-to-right-now-advent-joy-2025 God speaks   in unusual places, sometimes to those we consider unusual people... to those we would be tempted to look right past.  "Jesus I know something about ... God, not so much," I heard a woman say as I walked past her table at Bible study. And she was not alone. Over the years, people have offered the same sentiment. Yet if we take note of the details surroun

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/305551d9/peace-is-it-possible-advent-2025 It was an austere, stark night of contrasts in Bethlehem, when the angels announced to the shepherds that our Savior had been born, bringing peace to earth. Peace, not the absence of war, but peace to our inner worlds and to our souls. A well-ordered mind, a mind at peace . . . is it possible to have such a thing, no matter what is going on around us?   The book of Proverbs has a l

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/5ae82dbb/a-christmas-miracle-advent-2025 Merry Christmas, Friends! This morning, being the 9th day of the month, I looked to Psalm 9 to see if there were words I could pray ... and not surprisingly, look at verse one: I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done . Why, yes! How apt is the Word of God. You see, t oday marks the five-year anniversary of a very strange event

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/f9837af2/in-the-middle-a-prayer-peace-advent-2025 Sometimes our lives do not get the message that this is supposed to be both a holy and joy-filled season of the year. The fact is--trials do not let up. For starters, in the last week, I have had the privilege of praying for two young women battling cancer.... did I say 'young'? It is mine to pray and also to fan the flames of faith-filled hope in our loving, miracle-workin

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/25e5cb0d/the-hope-of-christmas-and-every-day-advent-2025 How do you start your day? With optimism or something less?  As a child, I remember one of my first thoughts when my eyes fluttered open was 'what do I have to look forward to today?' Okay, maybe that is still one of my first thoughts. Because of that, not long after my feet hit the floor I choose to land on this thought: This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejo

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/2e354426/hope-you-can-feel Our hope is neither flimsy nor fleeting; rather, our Hope has a name: Jesus. Long before He was born, the Heavenly Father told of his coming, giving him the name Immanuel. "The virgin will be with child and shall bear a son,  and they shall call his name Immanuel,"  which translated means, "God with us." 1    The prophecy of Isaiah, rendered 700 years before the birth of Jesus. 2   Hmm, Immanuel,

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/35ede34c/something-we-cant-live-without-advent-hope Today is the first day of Advent - a time we anticipate Christ’s first coming as a baby born to save the world, and also his second coming, when all things will be set right. This is a season of true hope  for all the world.  Holidays always bring up different sorts of memories--even seemingly small ones. Last year, whilst struggling with a tangle of lights I was trying t

Grateful or Ungrateful?  You get to pick your seat! podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/1cb75952/thanks-giving-choose-your-seat Good Day! When we choose to be thankful, it changes us.   On the other hand, when we do not think much about being thankful, or expressing it, some change is in order.  Unexpressed thanks or gratitude is not worth very much.    Something about the prayers and writings of believers from years gone by moves me, and I'm praying that t

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/959295c2/gods-favorite-day-of-the-year Do you think God ever looks at a calendar? Well if he does, I bet he likes Thanksgiving Day best of all--I bet it is his favorite day of the year! Perhaps this is the set-apart time of the year in which we please God the most. No gifts expected, just family and friends and food . . . and most importantly, giving thanks to our great God.    Ah, indeed the Lord is good, and worthy of our

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/2985f4a9/the-power-of-god-in-prison-no-43-acts About midnight, this happened .   Our priorities define us. Have you thought about that? Though we later read his eloquent prayers, this is the first we see that Paul was a man of prayer, and we get a peek into what his prayers and praising God accomplished. In the start of Acts chapter 16, Paul’s second gospel journey, along with Silas, Timothy and Luke, Paul went into Philipp

podcast: https://www.pastorwoman.net/podcast/episode/1d65ef3d/one-compelling-female-taking-a-page-out-of-her-book-no-42-acts I'm a'wonderin' - do ya have a place of prayer? "Yeah, I do," she said, "at my kitchen table, every morning."                     "Yes, I sure do," he said. "I pray with a bunch of guys at our small group." Well, which is it? Is a place of prayer the place you privately pray or is it the place you go when you have cares - great or small - to be surround