by Elaine Olsen | Jul 5, 2024 | Asbury, calling, dad, holiness, Jadon's fight, methodism
Holiness. I’ve been chewing on this one today … gnawing away and swallowing bites of something I don’t fully understand but something, nonetheless, I deeply desire – to be like Jesus. Getting there isn’t easy. The way of holiness often includes our weaknesses – the...
by Elaine Olsen | Jan 4, 2020 | conviction, God's Word, holiness, Holy Spirit, hunger, living God's truth, truth
Christmas has cost me a few pounds. A recent doctor’s visit and my turn on the scale indicated this reality. Accordingly, upon my return home, I purged the remnants of my kitchen–those remaining crumbs of a recent, earlier delight. I had had enough of...
by Elaine Olsen | Nov 15, 2019 | freedom, holiness
He knelt down in the gravel, purposefully digging in the rock bed that houses the welcome sign for the entrance to my neighborhood. His presence there was unexpected. He was, after all, part of the work crew responsible for digging ditches and placing new gas lines on...
by Elaine Olsen | Feb 27, 2019 | church life, holiness, methodism, ministry life, pain, surrender
“Even if it wounds him.” That was the prayer that I prayed several years ago on behalf of one of my sons who was going through a particularly difficult time in his life. It was a hard prayer to pray. No good parent wants to invite unnecessary pain...
by Elaine Olsen | Jan 9, 2016 | fellowship with God, God's Word, holiness, living God's truth, words
Words. Spoken. Written. Thought. Some beautiful. Some bitter. And others, somewhere in between. All words? Powerful. Why? Because they are attached to the heart. “ … For out of the overflow of his heart, his mouth speaks.” –Luke 6:45 The words that grow in our hearts,...
by Elaine Olsen | Aug 30, 2015 | christian perfection, holiness, Lessons from the Lunchroom, obedience
I’ve been thinking about them some … my last-yearers. It’s been odd seeing them so close-by yet realizing that they’re “hands off” – not mine, not this year. I’ve kept my professional distance, and they’ve kept theirs. A few of them have made their way to my door,...
