Welcome to Blest Be the Tie! I’m Joann White, a writer, pastor, spiritual director, and enthusiast of wild places.
I’ve been writing for most of my life. My fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Carter read my first efforts at poetry and accused me of copying. In the sixth grade, I won a Young Author award for my mystery The Churchyard Phantom, the story of a girl detective who cracks a diamond smuggling ring run out of the local church. I have kept a journal for most of my adult life as a tool for reflection, prayer, and spiritual growth. For the past two decades, much of my writing has been for the church: sermons, newsletter articles, prayers, reports, and the weekly Blast. At some point, I figured out that writing is one of the things that God put me on earth to do, and I’ve tried to use my gift to honor and serve the Lord ever since.
Perhaps this little introduction about how I am using my gifts to grow as a public theologian, author, and servant of the Kingdom of God has got you thinking about your gifts. How is Jesus calling you to use your abilities to reach out and bless the world?
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.”
—Habakuk 2:2-3
Jesus Wept
Sabbath Day Thoughts — “Jesus Wept” John 11:1-45 We all know grief. It finds us as children when our best friend forever moves far away, or when our first pet crosses the rainbow bridge, or when that grandparent who always made us feel so special dies. Grief also finds us in adulthood. We grieve the…
The Call to Serve
Throughout Lent, I’ll be sharing weekly devotions based upon my travels to the Middle East. Today’s meditation is the fifth in the series. “Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands, that He had come from God, and that He was going back to God. So, He got up from supper, laid…
Passage
Poem for a Tuesday — “Passage” by Denise Levertov The spirit that walked upon the face of the waterswalks the meadow of long grass;green shines to silver where the spirit passes. Wind from the compass points, sun at meridian,these are forms the spirit enters,breath, ruach, light that is witness and by which we witness. The grasses…
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Joann White 