Greetings from Seattle, where I live with my husband, Tom, and my dog, Bonnie. I am a passionate organic gardener; in the spring my front porch sprouts an assortment of tomatoes, peppers, squash, and other vegetables awaiting the warmer weather.
I am also passionate about helping Christians to connect their faith and spiritual disciplines to their everyday life. I believe that Christianity is is not meant to be a Sunday only faith. It is meant to impact everything we do and are.
I see myself as a contemplative activist and believe that our spiritual formation should interweave through all of life and should equip us to engage in the challenges and struggles of our broken and needy world.
My husband Tom and I work together to assist churches and Christian organizations around the world to look at the challenges facing them in the 21st century. We also founded “Mustard Seed Associates,” a network of followers of Jesus that seeks to unleash the creative potential of individuals who want to put God’s purposes first in their lives. I conduct seminars and workshops on faith and spirituality, Celtic Christian spirituality and Gardening and Spirituality, encouraging participants to recognize the encounters with God and the gospel story that occur in every aspect of life.
While I’m not currently practicing medicine, my background includes working as a physician in Australia, New Zealand, and for a number of years around the world on one of YWAM’s “mercy ships.” I loved shipboard life in spite of the fact that I am one of those lucky people who can get seasick sitting on the wharf looking at the sea. I still work as a consultant for a variety of mission organizations on issues of international health care and travel medicine. I also conduct seminars to help prepare folks for overseas mission service.
For Fuller Theological Seminary I teach a course on mission to the urban poor–based in part on life-changing experiences I had some years ago in refugee camps in Thailand. I also like to speak to various groups on issues related to changing our lifestyle and time-style in order to develop a more spiritual rhythm for our lives. I have written three books, Tales of a Seasick Doctor (Zondervan, 1996), Survival of the Fittest: Keeping Healthy in Overseas Travel and Service (MARC, 1995), and Sacred Rhythms: Finding a Peaceful Pace in a Hectic World (Baker Books, 2003). An updated version of Sacred Rhythms—now titled GodSpace: Time for Peace in the Rhythms of Life was published in 2006 by Barclay Press.
Tom and I have written another book together entitled Living on Purpose: Finding God’s Best for Your Life (Baker Books, 2002) and we are still friends!
These books are all available for sale through the Mustard Seed store
Also over the last couple of years I have produced a number of other resources aimed at encouraging followers of Jesus to connect their faith to their everyday life. These include
Study Guides
To Garden With God: Reflections on Faith and Gardening,
A Journey Into God’s Resurrection Created world: An Easter Celebration Guide
A Journey Into Wholeness: Lenten Reflection Guide
