Prayerful Pondering

by Pat Luffman Rowland

Tag: love

  • It hurt to watch her confusion. She was in a corner of the room trying to find her way out, turning first to the left and then the right. Not able to bear it any longer, I went to her and helped her find her way. Samantha is my 15-year-old Siamese and she is going…

  • In the sweltering heat of southern summers, there was somewhat of a Sunday afternoon tradition at my grandparents’ house of putting small children down to nap on a pallet. A pallet was a homemade quilt folded over once or twice, depending on the number of grandchildren needing rest. Nearby, would be an oscillating fan, giving…

  • . . . take root downward and bear fruit upward. (Isaiah 37:31 ESV) My grandmother’s Bible was a treasure beyond any price. I had hoped as her oldest grandchild that I might inherit it, however I never discussed that with my grandmother or my mother and so in the end it didn’t come to be.…

  • Sometimes I think about the day my grandfather was told he had a terminal illness. Daddy had called to let me know Papa was being admitted directly from his doctor’s office to the hospital. I told Daddy I would meet them there. When I got to Papa’s room, he was sitting on the side of…

  • The Season of Thanksgiving prompts us to think of the many ways we have been blessed. It is a right time to step away from disappointments and anxieties that will always be a part of life and count our blessings instead. Here are some at the top of my list: I am grateful for having…

  • “. . . and if I have a faith that can move mountains but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). I have a deep and abiding faith, a faith that has sustained me for a lifetime and I am now 72. It is a faith that has carried me through the waters…

  • In the English Standard Version of the Bible, “steadfast love” is mentioned 196 times in the Old Testament, 127 times in the Psalms alone. One of my favorite verses using steadfast love is Psalms 6:4: “Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.” These words of the psalmist David…

  • At 10:30 each Tuesday morning, women gather in Room 144 of our church. We come happy, grateful, and expectant. We arrive for one purpose and one purpose only: for intercessory prayer. For the most part, we are members of First Assembly Memphis. But there is a sprinkling of ladies from other churches who are just…

  • When I worked in a hospital, we sometimes had meetings over lunch for educational purposes. I have often thought of one speaker in particular, a counselor from our Behavioral Health facility, an off-campus care center for treating drug and alcohol addictions. The counselor, who had once been addicted to drugs, explained what it was like…

  • The words of my morning devotional stood bold before me: “Unity doesn’t depend on outward conformity, but understanding hearts.” It was an apt description of my Tuesday morning prayer group.  Outwardly, we are quite different: different personalities, different backgrounds, different in many ways. But there is commonality that unifies us, and that is love for…