My brain is drafting a conversation about ‘comfort zone.’ In Sunday School today we talked about calling and how sometimes it can be hard to follow a calling because we are not willing to go outside our comfort zone. At the time, the thought of being willing to find a new comfort zone came to mind. [...]
Author: Marissa Neil
Thirteen Years
I am reading the book Gently Awakened by Sara Joseph about the intersection of faith and art/creativity, about giving it all to God and letting God work through your art. In the chapter titled “The Precision of Timing," she talks about her dream of having an art studio. When she finally has one and is first setting [...]
Morning poem
I am not sure where to find You today, Lord, so I'll start here... It is still on the back patio except for the siren of the cardinal, the buzz of the bee, the peck of the woodpecker, and Molly rustling in the bushes. A mourning dove joins the chorus, and other songs and calls [...]
The Comfort of Crying: A Guest Post by Matt Schroeder
Today, I am sharing a post by one of my favorite seminary peeps, Matt Schroeder. He is a deep and compassionate soul and a great writer. Enjoy! The Comfort Of Crying I’ve never been good at crying. I try to shut it off as soon as possible. I come up with every reason why I’m [...]
Go and Tell
That time when your church invites you, along with other laypersons, to write a Lenten devotional for one day in April. And you procrastinate on picking which day. And you get Easter Sunday. No pressure! You can follow the link to see the post, or read the text below. First Grapevine UMC blog post At [...]
Called to the Edge – A Holy Hike
As a Spiritual Practice for Holy Saturday I was invited by my church to go on Holy Hike. The original plan, of course, was that we would all hike together. Since that was not possible, I went by myself to the park. I wanted to write about what I had seen but I was afraid [...]
Eyes that See
It is Pride Month and I’ve been wanting to share something to honor that, but I have been timid. Then I had the opportunity to hear a panel of LGBTQ Voices at a local Methodist Church sponsored by The Reformation Project (www.reformationproject.org). When asked “How can someone express their support? How can we be good [...]
One Word
This Lenten season our church has been talking about Transformation. Many members have shared their personal stories of transformation, so I thought I would share more of what God has been doing in my life. During Lent, we are often encouraged to take on additional spiritual disciplines. Some common ones are prayer, journaling, fasting, worship, [...]
The Woes & Adventures of a Seminary Dropout…
Well, it was a short adventure, but a good one. I have withdrawn from Seminary. Yes, after just seven weeks. But that was enough. It was enough for me to learn what I needed to learn, for now. I knew going in that it was an exploratory venture. That I would ‘check it out and [...]
This is my (Crazy) Story…Crazy for God
This week I shared a bit more of my story on my church's Spiritual Formation blog. You can follow the link to see the post, or read the text below. First United Methodist Church Grapevine Blog post This is my (Crazy) Story…Crazy for God God is calling me to Ministry. I am not sure exactly [...]
