MSI Press Blog

  People often imagine God’s voice as thunder—commanding, unmistakable, impossible to ignore. Scripture gives us those moments, yes: mountains shaking, skies splitting, prophets falling to their knees. But most encounters with the divine do not arrive like that. They come in ways so quiet, so interior, that a person may not recognize them until long after the moment has passed. God’s voice appears to man in forms that match the soul’s readiness. 1. The Voice That Sounds Like Your Own Thoughts Many people expect God to speak in a tone utterly unlike anything human. Yet the divine often chooses the familiar. The voice may rise from within, sounding like your own mind but carrying a clarity, authority, or compassion that does not originate from you. It is not imagination. It is not wishful thinking. It is a message that feels given —something you receive rather than invent. This is the voice that arrives in the afternoon stillness, when the mind is quiet enough to hear what has been w...

  This month's featured author is Bertha Cooper. Her book, Women, We're Only Old Once , won the Phoenix award for best new voice in health and fitness,  She also contributed a book to our pandemic series, Old and On Hold . Bravo, Bertha!  Want to know more about Bertha? Check out her biography: Bertha Cooper earned a BSN degree in nursing (University of WA) and entered the profession the same year as Medicare, a coincidence destined to define her career in non-traditional ways. She began her career in public health and moved into a management position early in her career–the beginning of a long career in management and administration in an expanding array of health care delivery innovations. She worked in public health, home health, long-term care, hospice and acute care. Every one of those positions involved quality, safety, and effective health care for the elderly. She became a reasonable voice and passionate advocate for patient-centered services across the continuum ...

  When a woman loses her spouse, she often steps into a chapter that is both tender and formidable — a stretch of years that can span a decade or more. Statistically, women live 10–15 years longer than their husbands. But those years are not simply an epilogue; they are a distinct season of life, rich with its own rhythms of grief, adaptation, and rediscovery. 💔 The First Quiet The early months after loss are marked by disorientation — the sudden absence of shared routines, the silence where conversation used to live. Even simple acts — making coffee, folding laundry, locking the door at night — become reminders of a vanished partnership. This is the threshold , where memory and reality begin to negotiate their coexistence. 🌿 The Middle Years As time passes, many widowed women find themselves rebuilding around new anchors: Community: Friendships deepen, and new ones form through volunteering, faith circles, or shared interests. Purpose: Some return to long-set-aside passions —...