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Dana Rongione 08/06/2026 Dana Rongione 08/06/2026

Is Someone in Your Spot?

I have a confession to make: I am a pushover for dogs...even when one isn't technically mine.

Last week, our friends' dog, Copper, stayed with us while his people were on vacation. Tess, my sweet, generous, ridiculously good-natured pup, handled this like a champ. Her food? "Sure, help yourself." Her blankets? "Knock yourself out." My attention? "There's plenty of me to go around." Tess is practically a saint in a fur coat.

But then there's her special bed.

This is the doggie bed situated in front of the glass doors and close to the heater in my office. Friends, let me tell you, all saintliness goes right out the window when that prime piece of real estate is up for grabs.

Here's how it went: One dog settled into the warm spot with a blissful sigh. The other dog began to hover.

Dana Rongione 03/06/2026 Dana Rongione 03/06/2026

Faithful From Right Where You Are

I've never been much of a crowd person.

Give me my cozy office, a cup of tea, and a book to read or write, and I am in my happy place. The moment someone suggests a big event, a bustling gathering, or, heaven forbid, a party where I don't know most of the people, something inside me quietly dies.

So you can imagine how relieved I was when Jason recently preached a sermon about a woman named Anna.

She appears in Scripture for only three verses, just a little flash of light in the nativity story, but what those three verses reveal about her is nothing short of breathtaking. Here's how the Bible describes her:

"And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Dana Rongione 29/05/2026 Dana Rongione 29/05/2026

How Do I Keep Going When the Bullies Won’t Quit?

Have you ever committed to serving the Lord, only to feel as though all the trouble in the world suddenly found your address? You commit to reading your Bible, and your phone is inundated with distractions. You step out to serve, and somebody criticizes. You finally feel like you're making progress, and suddenly, discouragement, drama, or "bullies" pop up out of nowhere.

Nehemiah could relate. As the walls of Jerusalem started going up, the enemies started speaking up. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem used mockery, threats, rumors, and trickery to stop the work. They mocked the Jews as weak. They suggested the wall was so flimsy that even a fox could knock it down. They plotted sneak attacks. They tried to lure Nehemiah away for a "meeting" that was really a trap.

On top of that, the people themselves grew weary. The rubble seemed endless. Their strength was failing. The enemies looked bigger by the day.

Dana Rongione 27/05/2026 Dana Rongione 27/05/2026

Do I Really Need To Do My Part?

When you hear the word "construction crew," what do you picture? Big burly builders in hard hats? Perhaps a guy with a clipboard who seems to know what he's doing, and everyone else just getting in the way?

That's not what we see in Nehemiah. When the rebuilding of Jerusalem's wall began, the "crew" was... everyone. Goldsmiths. Perfume makers. Priests. Merchants. Dads. Daughters. People probably more familiar with frying pans than hammers. Chapter 3 reads like a holy roll call of ordinary folks doing an extraordinary thing: obeying God and working side by side.

And right in the middle of all that enthusiasm, we bump into one sad little line:

"And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord." - Nehemiah 3:5

Everyone else is shoulder-to-shoulder, sweating in the sun, stacking stones for the glory of God. But the nobles of Tekoa are standing off to the side.

Dana Rongione 25/05/2026 Dana Rongione 25/05/2026

Is Your Life Built on the Right Foundation?

To be honest, my brain feels like it's been through a blender. Over the past couple of months, in addition to my regular workload, I've been putting the finishing touches on my Christian historical fiction/fantasy novel, planning for our four-day Holiday Bible Club ministry event, and organizing a new curriculum for our ladies' Bible study group. Plans and ideas have bumped into each other so many times that I'm not sure where one starts and the other stops. So, the thought of coming up with three fresh blog ideas this week nearly sent me into a complete panic. So, if you don't mind, this week I'll be sharing with you the same devotions I'll be sharing with the kids who attend our Holiday Bible Club. (Sorry, though, you don't get the object lessons, crafts, games, snacks, etc.)

When I first decided on the theme "Under Construction" for our Holiday Bible Club, I thought, That's perfect because that's exactly how my life feels most days, perpetually half-finished, a bit messy, and surrounded by rubble.