Author Archives: JoAnn Alo

It was a breath of pure energy. You know that feeling? The first crank of a sealed window. Fresh air pushed its way in, opened lungs, and brushes ever so softly, delicately against thirsty skin. I got comfortable there like I’d died and gone to heaven. The magnolia eagerly opens. White petals thrust off theirContinueContinue reading “Satisfying Drink”

I am not worthy of all the unfailing love and faithfulness You have shown to me. Genesis 32:10 Jacob arrived at the end of himself. It had been a long, dark road. Favoritism overshadowed, manipulation mounted, lies were told. Yet…God’s unfailing love and enduring faithfulness redeems every evil thing. To a fool, dishonesty isn’t internalizedContinueContinue reading “Sleeplessness, Wrestlings, & the Hard-Wire of Salvation”

Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.Genesis 19:30 Seconds before Sodom and Gomorrah goes up in flames, Lot argues with the angel about God’s instructions to flee to the mountains. “Oh no, my Lord!” LotContinueContinue reading “Arguing with God & The Skill of Listening”

I lay down and slept; yet I woke in safety, for the Lord was watching over me.Psalm 3:5 Can you imagine hate so thick between you and your grown child that they plot your death in order to get what’s yours? Absalom’s rebellion would have made sleep impossible, the pressure unbearable. Yet… David lay downContinueContinue reading “God Given Sleep”

Always depend on Him.Hosea 12:6 In the last couple years, since opening My Church, three individuals have stood on its doorstep claiming the walls would fall down if they were to enter the building. Each man in search of one thing or another. One gentleman was in need of shelter, the other perhaps someone toContinueContinue reading “Come Back”

Then Israel will no longer be tempted to trust in Egypt for help.Ezekiel 29:16 The Lord is serious about His kids. He’s not a Father who trusts His children in the hands of any other. In a culture where wealth and prosperity are thought to fix everything, we can easily be swayed away from theContinueContinue reading “The Father Who Loves You”

You hear its sound.John 3:8 I heard it in the distance. The sound of rain’s arrival. A gentle rumble. I imagined green lawn and soft leaves gulping up blessing from heaven. Below the surface, growth moving. Those daisies are on their way. They usually sprout up on the berm near the walking path in May.ContinueContinue reading “Love’s Sound”

That your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment.Philippians 1:9 Did you know that godly love grows? We’re not born with a capacity to love unconditionally or sacrificially. Love doesn’t grow with time or experience. Love grows through the knowledge of God and the discernment of His Spirit. The moreContinueContinue reading “Love Grows”

Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.Job 41:11 When God speaks, our most dangerous predators—even demons obey. Camp there with me for just a second. The unseen world is no match for the Designer of it. Wait, God has all the power? Sorry, it’s just that sometimes scripture illuminates a heavenly place I hadn’tContinueContinue reading “His Favorite”

From whose womb did the ice come forth?Job 38:29 I’ve always thought Job a book of suffering, but today the Holy Spirit reveals something different. Something terrifying. The deceitfulness of pride. The devil is always gunning for it because he knows our deep affection for it.  I’m going way out on my theological limb this morningContinueContinue reading “Keeping Your Heart In Check”