Praise Him Psalms & Parables, Praises & Promises

When God Closes a Door… He Gently Guides You to the Library Aimee Little had been sad ever since she had been laid off from the Maplewood Herald as a graphic designer. She had lost the easy smiles others had given her as she had gone about her day. Maybe she had been so in her creative bliss zone she hadn’t noticed the rest of the world was just hanging on in many ways. No one really seemed happy, joyful or even grounded.  She wasn’t sure what to do next. Her mom wasn’t a constant in her life. She was in and out like a ghost, never quite finding a resting place with family. Her granny Aribella had died over a year ago and she had been Aimee’s rock. Grandpa Ellis was a tinkerer and woodcrafter. But he rarely set foot in the house he and Aimee shared.    She felt like she was alone in the world. Her creative spark was waining in her depression and many she had turned to for support were now always too busy or in the middle of one of their own life trials.  Publisher Ma...

🍃 Sycamore Square Devotional: Grant Me The Courage 🌿 Keep love on your mind and heart. - From Grow Your Inner Courage 🦁 Ellie Grant typed out the words but there was no a haha moment behind them. She knew she needed more love in her life but as she scanned the newsroom around her, it looked as if everyone needed some uplifting ideas in their lives. She sighed and sat back. How did one go about finding something so intangable and elusive? She was a reporter. This was something she could be compelled to dig into. But she could see how this lack of love as her focus put a bit of a depressing tone in her daily walk. Not just with God but with herself and her needs and wants in life. Where to start? "Think, Grant," she whispered to herself. "Love, love, love." She spoke it as a mantra as if it might be enough to entice that emotion to scurry back to her like a lost kitty did to its mommy. And that imaginary kitty was looking at her as if she had lost her mind. Okay, ...

  Aimee Little bit her fingernail as she surveyed the space around her. The place seemed stiff and lonely. Although, the woman on the phone setting the interview up seemed nice enough, pleasant, bright and happy. Interviews sometimes felt like you were walking the plank hoping that when you finally stepped off the edge sharks weren’t circling below you. She took at deep breath and let it out slowly.   Her mom, Charlotte, had convinced her to go for a better paying job at one of the local government offices in town. The Herald newspaper had laid off half their design and production staff due to lower subscriptions since the takeover from the new, not so altruistic, company. Mrs. Brighton, former owner, had been put in a nursing home recently and that gave her sons carte blanche to sell the paper out from under her. It was a sad reality of life sometimes.  It was sad life had become about how much money you could make to survive. The position she was applying for wouldn’t b...

Below is an expanded version of  "Hills & Valleys: Learning to Look to Jesus during Life’s Emotional Highs & Lows" prompt journal Bible study, with deeper weekly themes, discussion/reflection questions, and devotional thoughts for a richer group or personal study experience. You could easily use this for a 6-week church group, small group, or solo journal journey. 🌄 Hills & Valleys A 6-Week Prompt Journal Bible Study Learning to Look to Jesus during Life’s Emotional Highs & Lows ✨ How to Use This Study: Each week offers a devotional theme, Scripture focus, journal prompt, reflection questions, and practical application. You can use this alone, with a friend, or in a group. Set aside quiet time each week to invite God into your peak and valley places—and learn to see His steady presence in both. 📖 Week 1: The God of the Mountains and the Valleys Read: 1 Kings 20:28, Psalm 121:1-2 Devotional Thought: The same God who shows His glory on the moun...

Here is a tender Maple Lane devotional moment featuring Rita Logan , shaped around  Isaiah 6:8 —where she stands on the edge of a bittersweet season, not sure where the road leads, but slowly choosing to trust the One calling her forward. 🌿 Maple Lane Devotional Moment "Here I Am, Send Me" – Rita’s Crossroad The front porch swing creaked as Rita Logan traced her finger along the fraying edge of the acceptance letter in her lap. The one from the big university her best friend Georgia called a “dream school.” It should’ve felt like a golden ticket. But dreams sometimes come with dollar signs. Inside the Logan home, her mom was humming over a bubbling pot of lentils—comfort food and frugal planning in one. Her dad had just left for his second shift at the hardware store. And Rita knew, deep down, they couldn't afford this. Not without help they hadn't received. Not without sacrifice that felt too steep. The mail that day had also brought a second envelope, sma...

 I dreamed last night about working the early shift, a dismantled front desk and someone asking me about my childhood minister's legacy in town. Here's how AI helped bring my dream to life in two Maple Lane moments —first through Clara’s mysterious midnight vision, and second through Tori Rae’s gentle reflection in her journal. 🌙 Maple Lane Scene 1: Clara’s Dream of the Vanishing Desk It was barely past 3 a.m. when Clara Wren sat up in bed, sweat cooling on her neck like dew on autumn grass. She reached instinctively for her journal and flashlight from the nightstand. The dream had been too vivid, too odd, to ignore. In it, she had been standing in her police uniform—though oddly, she felt younger somehow, more like her cadet self—waiting for the morning shift to begin. She was at the precinct’s front desk, but something was… off. The lobby was hazy, like morning fog rolling through the valley. Citizens gathered outside the frosted glass doors. Clara moved to open them w...