Nighttime Prayers

Nighttime Prayers: Irene

Today’s guest blogger is my beloved brother, Dr. Ed Nelson. He is a research chemist by profession, but has the soul of a poet and the heart of a servant. He and his wife Janis demonstrate what it means to live a life of love as they selflessly care for their aging parents.

The piece featured below is especially meaningful to me. Many years ago, Irene prayed for the salvation of her daughter’s boyfriend, and then later, his wild -child sister. I am eternally grateful for the role she has played in my life as a spiritual mentor.


Nighttime Prayers

by Ed Nelson

My wife Janis desperately needed a night off, and so I encouraged her to take our daughter Corrie out to a movie. This left me with the job of putting my mother-in-law Irene, afflicted with Alzheimer’s, to bed. I pointed her toward the bathroom where she dutifully went in and brushed her teeth. It was sort of a messy business— I had to help her turn on the electric toothbrush and clean it and turn it off when done. Old age was taking its toll on her mind, and she was becoming less able, less aware, more confused with each passing day. I reminded her to put on her pajamas, and I went to repair her toothbrush.

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Stitching a Work of Art

Stitching a Work of Art

When I say I’ve been a quilter, I mean I’ve enjoyed the social aspects of meeting together with other women in the church basement, learning how to turn old scraps into something warm and useful. During the years when I was home with small children, I enthusiastically churned out a succession of amateurish patchwork quilts­ for friends and relatives.  I loved doing it—I just never got good at it.

My husband and I still cuddle up under a now-ragged patchwork quilt I made nearly 20 years ago. It was never flawless enough to be mounted and displayed, but its blunt and unmatched points never prevented it from keeping us warm and cozy. They say Amish women would deliberately sew a mistake into their quilts as a reminder that God alone is perfect. I never had to be that intentional about it.

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The Letter P

The ribbon in my Bible directed me to the place where I had left off yesterday: 1 Samuel 16:14. Lately, I have been in a bit of a dry place spiritually, with no new Bible teachers on the horizon to bring me exciting news from the front lines. This is evidently a season when I have to renew and embrace with confidence the notion that God can and will speak to me directly, purposefully, and personally. Over the years I have amassed a shelf full of Beth Moore workbooks, and most of the blanks are actually filled in. I have Experienced God, Bible Study Fellowshipped, and spent years marking my second-best Bible with colored pencils and symbols inspired by

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The Six Pillars of Character in 21st Century Newbery Fiction

The Six Pillars of Character in 21st Century Newbery Award Books

I have just finished my Doctorate in Education (Ed D) and have a link to my dissertation. I loved my research on 21st century Newbery fiction and character education. You can read it for free at the Liberty University Digital Commons. Let me know what you think!

Read Gail’s Dissertation Online

Welcome Back!

New gailbones.com (2010)

I have let this blog go by the wayside for quite some time. I have been writing my dissertation on children’s literature and character education. Between that and FB status updates, my writing energy has been exhausted.

But I have just launched a website to support my growing music ministry and this space will be the forum for me to make updates, announcements or to respond to comments from you.

I invite you to scroll back through some of my postings from the past, when I had more time to think deep thoughts and to write about them creatively rather than academically, which is my current lot in life 🙂

For those to whom I promised the lyrics to the second verse of More and More:

God, O Great God you are proud of the meek,
And your strength flows to those who admit they are weak.
Spirit, Holy Spirit, you set my soul on fire
But then the peace that you bring is my heart’s true desire.

I will be posting the video of the song from Daniel 2:20-22 as soon as I can. Keep checking back.

Blessings,

Gail