Tuesday, February 28, 2012

I breathe air ---- HE breathes Grace

I sat in the car waiting for the high school boys to emerge from their session at church. Everything was wonderfully silent (for the moment), i indulged in "listening". Our church was hosting a weekend event for hundreds of high schoolers, working to help these young people navigate through challenging waters they all feel in the teen years.
Praying for the boys about to fill up my car, praying for our Maggie as she shared the weekend with her 9th grade girls, praying for our Mike as he too shared the weekend with his 11th grade boys.
It rolled through my mind --- how magnificently ABLE our God is.

At any given moment, everything imaginable is before our Savior.
-someone is dying
-someone is being born
-someone is considering ending their life
-someone is fighting to live
-someone is hoping for death
-someone is working to save a life
-someone is finding out she's pregnant
-someone is having an abortion
-someone is giving birth
-someone is miscarrying
-someone is hearing wonderful news from the tests the dr. ran
-someone is trying to breathe through the bad report
-someone is buying their first house
-someone is losing their home
-someone is moving in
-someone is moving out
-someone just hugged his wife
-someone just hit his
-someone is cradling their precious baby
-someone is ignoring their little ones cries for comfort
-someone is injecting a drug
-someone is stealing from their loved ones to pay for more drugs
-someone is celebrating days of being drug free
-someone is forgiving a hurt
-someone is feeding bitterness
-someone is falling in love
-someone is signing divorce papers
-someone is screaming at God
-someone is clinging to Him

How mighty is our God ---- El Roi --- the "God who sees us".
He's not concerned so much with how happy or comfortable or easy or pleasant our days are --- He knows there are much more important things to deal with now.
Happy, comfortable, easy, and pleasant --- those are Heaven words. Those are things we are promised in Heaven, along with no pain, no suffering, no sickness, no death.

God -- our wise, mighty, loving God --- is much more concerned with us clinging tightly to Him and His ways --- no matter what our moments may look like here.
The enemy of our Lord would want us to doubt God in the hard moments and rail against Him in the  moments that break us apart.
But God knows --- that it's in those very moments, those gut-wrenching moments --- we will be able to taste His goodness if we hold on tightly and keep our eyes, our focus, on Him. We will be able to "feel HIM" as never before. He's fully prepared to carry us through.
We will miss Him completely if we insist on turning our focus inward and indulge in the self-pity that haunts the edges of all pain.

As the teenagers began trickling out of the doors, i wondered, what is a reality in their life that doesn't show on the outside. And do they realize Yahweh is just as near to their pain as He is to their joy. And that Yahweh can do just us much with suffering as He can with joy --- perhaps even more.
When they are happy, it is because of God's goodness. When they suffer, only God will be able to bring good from it. Will they cling to Him? I hope so. I prayed as they bounced about doing their goofy teenage antics across the parking lot. And i wondered, do i live my days in such a way that would inspire the silent, distant observer to choose to cling to the Father no matter what???
I knew the answer was no --- so i kept talking with the ONE who remains with me, even when i choose poorly, even when i don't show HIM WELL. He's that forgiving --- He breathes out Grace --- I'm hopelessly His ---- and so i am filled with HOPE.

And i praised God --- that in that very moment --- He could hold the one dying and present new life to a mother's waiting arms.
I worshiped God, that He cares enough to be attentive to the details of a tiny human life.
He needs nothing from us ---
He has much for us ---
We can do nothing for Him ---
He can accomplish much through us ---
If we will ---
He will ---

It's what i'm clinging to this week.
The God who sees us --- sees all that we face --- all that we will endure --- all that is required.
And HE SMILES.
I may tremble. I know i am unable...
He smiles. He knows He is about to show His greatness!

This picture taken by a mother for her very sick daughter. They had left the hospital after cancer treatments, the little girl was violently ill in the car, but looked up and said, "Mom, look at all the angels watching over me". It was shared with me, to include in this post. Even in the clouds ---- He can show Himself with us. Please pray for little Alyssa.


"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

"The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”Deuteronomy 31:8


"No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."  Joshua 1:5

"That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  2 Corinthians 12:10 (oh God -- please grow us thoroughly to this place of strength --- YOUR strength found when we are at our weakest -- amen)


©2012 Donna Taylor/Reaching for the Robe

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Jiggers are to a Foot what Sin is to a Soul

In Africa, and many subtropical areas of the world, there is a miniscule monster that causes immense pain and can even lead to death if left untreated. I've never suffered from it personally, but have met those who have and read much about it. Jiggers cause much pain and it all begins in the sole of a foot.

All over the world, even on Mockingbird Road, there is a miniscule monster that causes immense pain and can certainly lead to death if left untreated. I have suffered from it personally, and i've met others who have as well. I've read much about it and studied endlessly the effects of this killer that can grow quickly and overtake a life. Sin causes much pain and it all begins in the soul of a person.

Jiggers are to the foot what sin is to the soul.
They attack silently.
They embed themselves head first and begin feeding on the lifeblood of their host.
They stay in place, head first, feeding and defecating; draining life and producing stench.
Their presence causes a large blister to form that produces pain and can eventually debilitate their host.
In time, they produce eggs, dozens of them, eggs that hatch and dig in as well. Draining more life, causing more pain, producing ultimate death to the one they have chosen to cling to.
The death comes very slowly. It's very painful. It's completely unnecessary, can easily be treated, but out of ignorance and lack, many will die.
They carry with them a stigma. Other people don't care to be around a jigger infested foot or a sin infested soul. It's uncomfortable to see the pain, some people are afraid they might catch the killing parasite.
It's a tragedy.

A little about jiggers. They come from the tiniest flea, sometimes called the sand flea. When it's time to reproduce, the female flea will attach to the nearest warm blooded mammal she can find. She just needs an available soft place to bite and then burrow herself head first into. She's looking for blood. So in Africa, the soles of human feet, not covered by shoes, are seemingly her first choice. The initial bite and burrowing is actually not that painful at all, just a bit irritating. The burrowing in is not even very noticeable to the unwilling host. But during the next couple of weeks, as the parasitic flea feeds off blood, she grows a blister around her that usually causes much pain. The backside of the flea is still able to be seen, it's just a tiny dark spot in the middle of the blister. Through her "bottom" she breathes and defecates. It's all so tiny, it almost invisible to the eye, but those with trained eyes know exactly what it looks like and the pain it causes. One female sand flea, or Chigoe Flea, can produce literally dozens of eggs. They fall to the ground to hatch. Then the dozens of tiny fleas look for the nearest warm blooded mammal to bite and move in on. And you guessed it, they usually find the same host their parent still resides within.
One jigger isn't a big deal. It's irritating and a bit uncomfortable, but not life threatening at all. However, one leads to many in a short amount of time. When the many attach themselves, the host begins having trouble walking because of the intense pain. After another cycle or two, which doesn't take long, the host mammal is held to the ground because walking becomes an impossibility. Since hundreds and millions of eggs are now hatching on that same ground ---- the soles of the feet are not the only things now sought after by the tiny monster fleas. They don't care about  the host ---- they are only looking for blood. Life giving blood.

Shift with me now to the parallel our Lord gives us in the lessons we can learn from the horrific Chigoe flea. Not fun --- i agree --- but necessary.

Life is hard in this world.
Our Savior is the One who made it very clear to us, that because of sin, because of the fall of man way back in Eden, life would be very hard this side of Heaven.
But our Abba meets us and walks with us in this hard place. He does not leave us alone to deal with the life draining moments. He comes to us as our Shepherd, our Savior, our Redeemer, our Healer, our Comforter. We need Him to be all that He is to us, because we are in a world filled with Chigoe fleas looking to drain life.

The Chigoe flea is a visible example in the physical realm of exactly what happens to us in the spiritual realm when we allow sin to reside.
Not a fun topic --- not an encouraging post --- but hang with me ---- because it does get better.
First though ---- let's be real --- let's dig deep --- and then let's encourage each other as we see God's mighty response to the soul fleas looking to steal, kill, and destroy His children.

When i was little, growing up in my wonderful little country church, i believed salvation was what i needed, and then God would take care of everything. In a way, a childlike way, i was correct. We do need God's salvation, we NEED His presence in us. We want Heaven for eternity after we breathe our last air here. And truly, God can take care of everything when He is Lord of our lives ---- BUT --- and it's a big BUT ---- He empowers us to take care of much with His hand upon us.
He is not a room service, santa claus, magician who can give us what we want when we finally realize what we need. Instead, God is in the business of transforming us into the likeness of His Son, Jesus. To become transformed it will take the grace of God and intentional work on our part. Becoming a Christian does not mean we are immune to sin. Far from it. Christians do not receive a special "vaccine" that keeps them from "catching" the effects of sin in their lives. Christians are just as susceptible to the effects and pain of sin as everyone else. The only difference (in a world of sin with an active deceiver) between a Christian and a non-believer, is the fact that the Christian has the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit inside giving truth and guidance, and power for the battle against sin if we will pull our sword and fight. The most pitiful Christians i know are those who sit with parasitic sins draining the life blood from them and wallowing in the misery they claim is their "cross". That is NOT the way our Savior leads ---- that is the way the deceiver lies.

Jiggers to the soles of an exposed foot are very much like sins to the soul of a person (Christian or not).

God's Word teaches us what is sin and what is not. God doesn't want us to be overly sin-conscious -- He wants us to be beautifully God-conscious. So when we pick up His Holy Bible -- we should dig in to it looking for Him, watching for how He is leading us, becoming aware of what brings blessings and what brings death (spiritual). We want to read His Word --- because we know there are sin jiggers that will appear as tiny, miniscule, unimportant dots on our soul if we are not on guard and attentive. We want to follow HIM ---- not a list of rules. We want to move when our Father guides us to move, obey in the ways He will guide us, step away from something when He says to leave it alone because He knows it will infest and destroy us. We want to cling to HIS Robes and listen to His whispers to our soul. Because He is the One who loves us most and will carry us through this sometimes painful place. In following Him, He will work to make us aware of the dangerous tiny monsters that will drain us of life if we allow them to attach to us --- not because of a list of rules to follow ---- but much better -- because of a loving, guiding hand giving us gentle but solid direction.
When i was a young Christian ---- i was a rule follower.
As an adult daughter now ---- i am an Abba follower.
When i was a young Christian i would be startled and disheartened when i faced a sin in my life. I would claim that my Savior had paid for that sin -- and that was/is very true. But i was deeply disappointed in myself, that i had allowed sin to slide in --- i had failed in following ALL the rules. That is called living under the law...
But as a daughter of my Savior --- i now search for -- anything present in my that is not in line with the way my Father leads me. I read His Word to know Him more and then step by step lay down what needs to be stepped away from and pick up what needs to be embraced for the transformation to flow from who i was to who HE saw all along. It's a walk --- a journey --- a joy that can be found this side of Heaven --- for every one who reaches for His Robes.

I'm reminding myself this week...
Last week, my dear Steve and i found "jiggers" working to dig in to our home. Nothing dramatic or news worthy at all. Just tiny ugliness that if allowed to remain would have drained life and produced ugly death.
Jiggers to the soul can look like ----- jealousy or pride or self or fear ----- or lust or envy or self-promotion or self-hatred ---- or rejection or arrogance or anger or hatred ----- or gluttony or waste or laziness or dishonesty...
Oh how we NEED God's WORD to help us stay attentive to and diligent against all the many types of "jiggers" that can infest a soul.

God knows we need Him ----- and He is always there for us. We don't have to take a number or try and perform to get His attention. Just a simple --- Dear God... opens the door to sit with our Abba.

To get rid of jiggers --- they need to be dug out, the skin needs to be washed with special antiseptic, and ointments, and kept clean. Then the person needs to wear shoes --- so re-infestation is prevented.

Isn't it true with our soul jiggers as well --- those sins need to be dug out (faced, confessed, take responsibility for them, and carry them to God with repentance over them -- remembering that "repent" means- to turn from), then the soul needs to be washed (Christ provided His blood as the special antiseptic), rubbed with ointment ( Psalm 23:5b "He anoints my head with oil"), and kept clean (that's our choice --- we can choose God and His ways  -- we are so blessed to have a choice). Then we need to cover our souls, so re-infestation is prevented --- that's the clinging to His Robes with the reading, taking in, digesting, and living out of HIS WORD.

Steve and i just dug some ugly nastys out ---- actually God dug them out --- when we asked Him to. We are no different than anyone else. Except maybe that we are willing to admit something needed to be removed -- dug out -- painfully --- laid at the foot of the Cross --- and abandoned there.
We're not in Heaven yet ---- you're not either my friend.
So don't be afraid to take out that magnifying glass and dig out what needs to GO.
God will meet you in that moment ---- and you'll see Him as the Redeemer and Healer.

I pray God will use Steve and i in Kenya to help remove jiggers from tiny feet that are suffering ---- and sins from souls in pain.
Please pray for us.


1 The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. 

Psalm 23

(no photos this week --- jiggers are not a pretty sight...)


©2012 Donna Taylor/Reaching for the Robe

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Weeds in a Garden

Sunrise at Grand Canyon

Over the past few years its been an unspoken goal of mine to see how many different ways i can see my Father in the details of each day.
Some days seeing Him seems obvious -- beautiful sunsets, powerful lightning,  well-timed words, and last minute, much needed arrivals. Our family will often say, "now that's a God thing" in those unquestionable, overwhelming moments.
But then we have the days where the laundry must be done, the beds need to be made again, the weeds have overtaken the flowers, the dinner is waiting to be made. And we might be tempted to wonder --- is God able to speak to me even through the monotonous.

God is never silent, He's never far away, He's never quiet or distant or confusing.
Sometimes we might feel like He is --- but He isn't.

To see God in the mundane - oh it's surely worth watching for -- because somewhere in the mundane moments we find the path that leads to the great ones.

Last week, the weather was unseasonably warm here in Georgia.
(This week it's unseasonably cold. Feels like our home went from Florida to Montana -- without moving an inch.)

But last week, with a clothes line filled with clean flapping towels and sheets, i focused on the winter "flower" beds with their growing weeds and left over remains of last falls blooms. It's as if the over eager bulbs and early sprouting weeds knew i had been away and they had their chance to spread mischief in the winterized beds.
The soil was moist and the weeds were big --- so the task of pulling them out by the roots was easily accomplished. And as i pulled it struck me, my soul-garden is much like my winterized flowerbed. And i had another opportunity to see my Abba's hand in the mundane work of cleaning out winter beds.

So over the next few hours as i worked, these where the thoughts that rolled through my mind:
- If i'll keep the "soil" well watered and moistened with His Words --- then the "weeds" will be much easier to pull out by the roots.
- Weeds will not just go away -- not in a flower garden, not in a soul-garden. We can't "hate" them enough to make them disappear. We can't wish them away with a magic potion. Ignoring them only seems to fertilize them. We have to put our hands to them and pull them out. 
- Just as i had been away from my flowerbeds and the weeds had tried to take over the sprouting bulbs --- so it is in my soul. If i "go away" and become inattentive to my soul-garden -- "weeds" will grow and choke out the flowers that could have grown there.
Gerber daisy transplanted from my grandmother's flowerbed

- Pulling weeds from my flowerbed takes time, it doesn't happen quickly, there are no shortcuts. Likewise with my soul --- pulling "weeds" (unwanted, unwelcome, uninvited, unproductive growth) from my soul takes TIME. They won't disappear just because i want them gone --- it takes work, focus, attention, and perseverance. A clean "soul garden" takes work.
- If i leave the weeds to grow in my flowerbeds --- eventually, it will look as if no one lives in our home. All grown up and abandoned looking --- the whole home will begin to look shabby and unkempt. The same is true with my soul-garden. If i don't tend it well and keep it cleaned out --- the whole "temple" i live in will begin to feel shabby and unkempt.  The appearance of one will effect the other.
- I could hire someone else to clean out my flowerbeds. No so with my soul-garden. The work there can only be done by God and me. But i can seek wise counsel and ask someone to help me identify the "weeds" in my garden. It's good to have a clear understanding of what needs to go and what should stay. But pulling the "weeds" is my job alone.
French iris's from my mother-in-laws flowerbed

- A weed filled flowerbed does not promote a warm welcoming feeling to visitors when they stop by --- just like a "weed" filled soul-bed does not make other souls feel welcomed or at ease when they come near our overgrown, unkempt garden. It's not something that is seen with the eyes, but it's surely something that is known between souls.
- i could just spray the garden with weedkiller -- it's much easier, but then nothing would grow there. Some people opt to spray their soul-garden though. If they've been hurt too much, they spray for "weeds" and end up with a blank, empty garden. Pulling out the weeds by the roots may be hard work --- but it's the only way to make room for what will bloom. Weed spray is to a flower garden what a cold heart is to a soul garden.
- Weeds are persistent. They come back year after year. We must be persistent as well. We must never grow weary in doing good --- so we pull the weeds and prepare for the blooms year after year after year.
-  When pulling weeds in my flowerbed, i'm wise to use gardening gloves. The weeds can have barbs that prick and the dirt of the work can get inbedded under my fingernails if not wearing gloves. When cleaning out our soul-gardens, we need to keep our hands covered (with God's Word) as well. Barbs from old wounds revisited can cause new pains and dirt from old conflicts can get re-embedded under our "nails". God issues good work gloves in His Word. We need them.

As i worked in my flowerbeds, our wonderful red-bone hound dog, Ridge, lay beside me with his head in my lap. There's nothing quite as sweet as sitting in the dirt, holding a hound dog's warm head. Even there --- i could feel God's good comfort. But then, as if God wanted to be most certain i knew He was with me, i faintly heard two honking geese in the distance (honking geese flying overhead is one of my all time favorite things). I looked up, trying to find them in the brilliant blue sky. With a pile of weeds beside me and a hound dog in my lap, the geese flew low and directly over my head honking their greeting -- it spoke to my soul.
I thought to myself ---- all the great huge sky around me, and God in His goodness, chooses to send them directly over my gardening spot. I felt cared for, seen, loved, and touched.

Ridge - the most wonderful hound dog in the world

When we put our hands and hearts to the task of cleaning out our "soul-gardens" ---- God makes very sure, we know, He is present and powerful. He works in us, for us, with us, beside us ---- He enables us to do the work, and then He pours out His blessings in the blooms that will soon appear.

We are fortunate children indeed.
(i'm thankful His Robes reach into my dirt filled winterized flower-bed)

"The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." Isaiah 58:11

"He (Jesus) told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.” 
Matthew 13:31-32

"I (Jesus) am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener."  John 15:1

"At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid."  John 19:41

I'll post a more "Valentiney" writing on another day --- a day when we are not already thinking about our loved ones. To me --- the sentiments of Valentine's Day should last all year long --- so at an unexpected time --- i'll write of love... :)

Photos taken by Maggie and Steve


©Donna Taylor/Reaching for the Robe

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

"Learn the unforced rhythms of Grace"

If we...
... never needed to be healed --- would we ever know Him as our Healer?
... never needed to be comforted --- would we ever know Him as our Comforter?
... never needed to be rescued --- would we ever know Him as our Savior?
... never felt lost --- would we ever know Him as our Shepherd?
... never felt scared --- would we ever know Him as our Protector?
... never felt exposed and in danger --- would we ever know Him as our Rampart?
... never felt weak --- would we ever know Him as our Strong Tower?
... never felt our neediness --- would we ever know Him as our Provider?
... never felt the rawness of our humanness --- would we ever know Him as our GOD?
... never felt a hunger in our souls --- would we ever know Him as our Bread of Life?
... never felt the deceit and trickery of this world -- we we ever know Him as the Truth?

We're back home on Mockingbird Road, been here for 4 days now and life feels like a dream. On our last day in Nairobi, i purposed in my heart to indulge in the thoughts of "we're going home today". Silly i suppose, but i knew full well, it would be a long, long time before i'd be able to have another day like this one. I keep diligently coaching myself with encouragements like --- "donna, no where on this earth is really 'home', not Mockingbird Road, not Kenya, not anywhere this side of Heaven"... That is real truth. But just because my head knows something doesn't mean my heart will feel it.
And so on Tuesday last, i embraced the feelings of "i'm headed 'home' tonight".

If i... never felt homesick --- would i ever know Him as my one true Home.


A bit jet-lagged and wrestling with a head cold --- i'm nesting in blankets with chicken noodle soup and orange juice as close companions.
What better time to choose the verse for this month! Last year i memorized Acts 4:29 at the urging of our pastor --- "Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servant to speak your words with great boldness." It's been a great verse to roll through my heart and soul over the past few months of trying to put into words what God is whispering to my heart.

If i never felt at a loss for words --- would i ever know Him as the complete Word.

The day after we returned home, someone i love very, very much got some challenging news. A new, unexpected chapter is in her "life book" --- she is about to see and feel God in deeper ways than ever before. Out of sincere respect for her, i will not share details --- but i will state --  my February verse will be spoken back to our Abba --- each and every day for her --- for this whole chapter in her life.
Acts 4:30 says --- "Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
It's important to note, "your" is referring to the Lord. Here's the fullness of the two verses 29 and 30 all together.
"Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” Acts 4:29-30

If i never felt helpless --- would i ever know you fully as my Abba?




I type out the fullness of both verses for the purpose of keeping them in context. How beautiful it is to realize -- God does not ask us to do anything alone or independent of Him. Instead He reminds us in these verses that HE will enable us, His servants, to speak His word. Then He will stretch out HIS hand to heal --- through the holy name of Jesus. God may choose to do this through us or He may choose to do this independent of us. God can certainly work independent of us --- we can never work independent of Him ---- for HE IS GOD.
Our responsibility in all this ---- to speak His words with great boldness. We are to speak because He will enable us to do so. We are also to share of the "signs and wonders".
"It is my pleasure to tell you about the miraculous signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me." Daniel 4:2
Daniel did it ---- we should as well.

If i never needed a sign or wonder --- would i ever know You as the Most High God?

The people of Israel were given many signs and wonders, and yet they seemed predisposed to forget what they had seen and experienced.
---- Much like me --- oh God please forgive me for those times i carelessly forget your great signs and wonders in my own life.

If i never needed to be reminded --- would i ever realize His great faithfulness?

The apostles were given charge to perform signs and wonders, as were Steven (Acts 6:8), and Barnabas and Paul (Acts 14:3).
i believe God has a storehouse full of them ---- are some of them perhaps already labeled with your name?
I'm praying and asking for one very specific sign and wonder to be labeled with my dear loved ones name. She is a beautiful soul in my life --- a gift from God.

If we never felt the prick of disease or sickness ---- would we ever really know you as the Giver of Life?

This bowl of chicken noodle soup and this soft warm blanket are to my stuffy head and achy body ----- what YOU are to my heart and soul Lord. A deep comfort and place of rest. And so we want MORE of you ---- can you blame us?
You Lord --- have hopelessly spoiled us ----
now nothing will do ---- but more of You.


If we never knew our great need of You ---- would we ever feel the peace that comes with your prescence.
If we never knew the depth of our unworthiness --- would we ever feel the flow of your Grace.


“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 NIV

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."Matthew 11:28-30 (Message)

Photos taken by Steve in Kenya


©2012 Donna Taylor/Reaching for the Robe