Storyteller. Grace Dweller.

I’m Jennifer — wife of an Iowa farmer, mom to two girls, new book author. I believe in you, because I believe in Jesus. You matter to Him, and you matter to me. more »

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Category: Heaven

Saturday 5th January 2013

I’m Going to Live in an Abbey Someday

Eat your heart out, Downton Abbey: I am smitten by the PBS program, Downton Abbey. Season Three begins Sunday night. But I am even more smitten with the fact that one day, I get to live in an Abbey above all Abbeys, with the King above all Kings. And everyone will have a... Read More

Friday 22nd June 2012

What Will Heaven Be Like?

Every time this snapshot appears on the computer’s slideshow, I can’t help but think of Heaven. My daughter and I were running in a 5K in my hometown, Marathon, Iowa. And in this shot, we are only a few steps away from the finish line. We are weary, but smiling, because we are ...

Friday 20th January 2012

When You See a Bit of Heaven

My one-way ticket tells me where I’m going, and I’ve got an internal GPS to help me get there. But it all looks so fuzzy up ahead. And where is Heaven anyway? Maybe the Good Lord knows my heart couldn’t handle it if He showed it all at once. So he gives us enchanting ...

Wednesday 4th January 2012

These Boots Are Made For …

I sit alone in my car, in a parking stall outside the farm-supply store. I will find out the doctor’s answer in 30 minutes. I lean my head back, close my eyes and ask the question out loud: “Lord, what am I supposed to learn from this? What’s the take-away here?” I ...

Friday 30th December 2011

When You Realize Heaven is Here

We had our seatbelts securely fastened, and tray tables in their upright and locked positions when we left. It was before dawn’s first light. We winged our way east — all four of us. I opened the shade of my window to pre-dawn darkness and a thick fog. I thumbed through a Delta Sky ...

Friday 2nd September 2011

Why I Don’t Want to “Rest in Peace”

Can you do me a favor, my friend? If I die before you, can you make sure they don’t put the letters RIP on my gravestone? Can you ask the preacher not to say the words: “May she rest in peace?” Yes, I plan to go to Heaven, and no, I don’t want to... Read More

Friday 15th July 2011

Through A Glass, Darkly

She’s looking out the car window, up at a sky drifting all gray and fuzzy. She sees right through to the holy. She’s seeking, always seeking, past the clouds, when I’m frozen in the fog. I wonder what it will be like, my daughter says. What? I ask. “Heaven.” I ...

Tuesday 8th June 2010

So Long, Self

I know when it’s going to be one of those days, even before bare toes touch carpet in the blue of dawn. I can’t explain the why of those days. I can’t explain why those days start all wrong, before feet even hit the floor. But sometimes they do. And on those days, it ...

Friday 28th August 2009

A Thousand Hallelujahs

Scott saw Heaven come down, as the sun dropped over the western shore of a Minnesota lake. He discovered a porthole to the place where angels dwell — a cathedral of God neither hidden nor disguised but there for the viewing for those with eyes to see. “God made us in His ...

Monday 24th August 2009

The Green Bucket

I sit at dock’s end, dipping bare toes into a rippling cathedral of nature. Wailing loons, woodpeckers and screeching eagles are my unseen church choir. My girls press in close clutching Mickey Mouse fishing poles. They dip worm-tipped hooks into a holy place. And we worship without ...