Dianna Buchwalter

  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.   Lamentations 3:22-23 As soon as my eyes opened wide, I mindlessly scrolled through my phone.  I messed up today, Lord. Priorities already misaligned.   Woke the kids up for school and spilled coffee on my shirt. Put a dirty dish in the fridge and dropped my laptop in the dirt.   No time to read my Bible this morning, so I listened through the app in the car. Slammed the brakes just in time. I didn’t see the animal from afar.     Pulled up to the school and yelled at my daughter for no reason. Tried to make myself feel better by saying: it’s only this crazy season.   Frazzled and annoyed, I sat down at my desk. While secretly wishing I had more time to rest.   Lost in work and emails and scratching off to-dos. I sighed a little loud and wondered, God, where are you?   He answered back, but I ...

The loud annoying sound blared in my ear. “It’s 5:50 already?” I asked myself. I felt 83 instead of 38 as my body snap, crackled and popped after a few steps were taken from the bed to the bathroom. I woke one child, followed by the next three, made breakfast, fed the dog, brewed coffee and paid a bill online. Then, I remembered I needed to shower. I breathed a sigh of relief as, one by one, the kids safely made their way from our front door to the bus stop. I poured my cup of joe and sat down to meet with Jesus. Shortly after I thanked Him for the day, my mind wandered to the other bill I forgot to pay and if I washed the conditioner out of my hair. Ever been there? Where the thought of a calm, peaceful day or morning is a memory you seem to recall but is a little fuzzy. I sat down on my chair at work where I flipped my daily encouragement calendar. I grinned as it read “Be still and know I am God.” A few moments later, the same verse appeared in an article I read. “Ok...

The clock read 8:45 a.m. By then, the kids were dressed, had eaten breakfast and been taken to school. Two loads of laundry were done, Bible read, prayers sent and the grocery list written. I glanced at the empty coffee mug and knew I needed a double dose of Joe and Jesus. The bags under my eyes and frown upon my face were a telltale sign I needed to stop and slow down. I'm not good at slow. It means I have more time to focus on all I need to be doing but it also points out what I've been ignoring. Busy work is unavoidable. We check off our to do's and before we know it, the day has slipped away from us. Doing so makes it easy to drown out God's whispers. For weeks I'd had the same prayer: "Lord, help me balance my time wisely so I can keep up with housework and homework and still do what I love-write." I like keeping a tidy house. I enjoy making hot meals for my family (especially when they eat them) but to sit quietly before God as the pen flows ...