Last January I chose "blossom" as my word of the year---or perhaps the word chose me, for as I pondered and prayed over the coming year, "blossom" kept coming back to me. What will open up for me in 2019? I wondered. Where will God channel my energy and vision? How will this year grow … Continue reading God Still Speaks: Inspiration from Purpose Magazine
Late last night I returned from a fantastic few days connecting with people in Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC). My sincere thanks to everyone who so graciously hosted me and for the opportunity to share with you in so many ways both formally and more informally! The invitation I received to speak at the Spring … Continue reading May Jesus Walk With You from One Creative Step to the Next
When I heard that Upper Room Books planned to publish a spiritual formation resource that combined lectio divina, prayer, yoga, aromatherapy, and journaling, I felt both curious and puzzled. Curious, because I've written for the Upper Room daily devotional guide; because the Upper Room publishes A Guide to Prayer for Ministers and Other Servants which is a classic … Continue reading Curious, Puzzled, and Holy Listening for God
"If you're bored, then you must be boring," said Harvey Danger, Dr. Laura, and I'm-not-sure-who-all-else, but if you're bored with your prayer life, I don't think it means that you're boring and neither is God. If you're a regular pray-er, it's not uncommon to get stuck in a rut of well-worn practices, whether you find … Continue reading How to Get More Life in Your Prayer Life
The headline just below the fold in last Tuesday's National Post intrigued me: New mantra for working fathers: Lean out. Financial titan quit after critique by daughter. The article told the story of Mr. Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Executive Officer of the world's largest bond firm and the father of a ten-year-old daughter. One evening, he … Continue reading Renewal: Sacred Pauses for Leaders
I was delighted to lead two seminars at this year's Mennonite Church Canada Assembly in Winnipeg. Cultivating Spiritual Practices was the title suggested to me by Assembly organizers, but the sessions might just as well have been called Deepening Your Walk with God, or Growing Your Relationship with Jesus, or Developing Spiritual Discipline. In this post, I share my seminar outline.
I've read Psalm 139 many times, have preached on it several times for funerals and for Sunday morning, but a group lectio divina helped me hear it in a new way.
One of my spiritual practices for this year is reading through the Bible in the form of The Message//Remix by Eugene H. Peterson. I don't know how many people besides me actually read through the intro section of their Bible (less than 1% is one guesstimate), but in this case I found it quite helpful since … Continue reading Lectio Divina in Plain English
April Yamasaki 