Rose DeShaw

I've always been geographically dyslexic. My family used my inability as a reverse GPS. They'd ask me which way to go, and the opposite direction was always right. But I never thought that I could become spiritually dyslexic. It started … Read more

Even though I regularly ask God not to allow me to be led into temptation, it never occurred to me that I might lead someone else there. In my senior year in Bible school, I was ignoring the 9 p.m. curfew imposed on dorm dwellers. … Read more

"Have you heard about …?" is a sentence more and more people start conversations with lately, especially after listening to the news of the day. It's like they were all saddled up to ride with the fabled Four Horsemen of Alcoholics … Read more

I grew up in a dysfunctional family. My mother turned to arson when life dissatisfied her. If we could keep track of her discontent, sometimes it was possible to head her off, but it wasn't easy. We lived mostly in isolation in the bush … Read more

Praise the Lord! Psalm 150 commands everything, "Just DO it!" — not just humans, but ladybugs, coyotes, stars in their heavens. A woman stops by to admire the sunflowers in my garden, turning their heads as they follow the sun. Their … Read more

In the spiritual life, there is an important action called "The Sacred Pause," part of two-way prayer. Before proceeding, we stop and ask God whether the way that we are heading is the way that He intends us to go. Then we pause ("The … Read more

A friend told me that he was looking for a new therapist. "I thought you were happy with the one you had," I said. "Oh, I can't go back to him," he said. "When I thanked him for helping me, he replied that talking to me had been a … Read more

The police gave my brother a choice — either join the navy or go to jail. He was just sixteen, but he'd fallen in with the wrong crowd and had been the wheelman when they were stealing speakers from a drive-in movie theatre. My father … Read more

During World War II, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers built a much-needed highway through Canada connecting Alaska to the contiguous United States. It wasn't yet paved or open to the public, but my father decided to take our family down it … Read more

In the early days of the Internet, there was a handwritten letter in my mailbox. I hadn't seen anyone put it there, but I opened it without much thought. Then, like an icy deluge, its words poured over me, accusing, condemning, judging — … Read more