This coming weekend will mark my 18th year celebrating Mother’s Day as a mom. And while there have been seasons that passed like molasses off a spoon, and others which flew by like a speeding train, in the midst of it all, all of us mamas need more contentment. We need each other. To be seen. To […]
Rhinestone Jesus: How Your Yes Can Change the World
Sometimes I think Satan gets way too much credit. Like he’s omnipresent or omniscient or something. I hear people say they’re “under attack”, especially when they try to do something for God. And I don’t completely buy it. The truth is, when God asks us to do something, saying yes is hard. Many times He’s asking […]
When You Dare to BE in Community :: (in)RL 2014
It’s a scary thing to drive an hour alone and knock on a complete stranger’s door. Because who knows what you’ll find, when you meet on the other side of a computer screen? Maybe there’ll be cat hair on the couch and toilets with rings all the way around? Or maybe an attitude of pretense, […]
When You Need Hope the Day After Easter
Fifteen years ago yesterday, I sat in my living room and confessed my 2-year affair to my husband. And when I did, I had no plan what I’d do next, and no idea what I even wanted. All I knew was my double-life was destroying me from inside. And no matter how hard it was […]
How God Uses our Messy Muddy Life
The more I read, the more I see how the Scriptures paint a portrait of a God who sees. A God who knows even me. Especially me. And who uses my life to paint His glory. He who is good and kind, just and righteous, divine and man. Acquainted with suffering and intimate with grief. […]
What I Learned {March 2014}
1. Some schedules require a larger-than-checkbook-size, color-coded calendar. Originally, only the boys were going to play baseball this spring. That is, until we arrived at the Starbucks by the bonfire to complete their registration. It was there we learned there was a softball program too. And so, at the last-minute, we signed the girls up to play. And while […]
For When You’re Surprised by Motherhood {A Giveaway}
I still remember the first time I saw him. How that nurse picked him up in that striped hospital flannel and handed him to me like he was the sturdiest thing made. I’ll never forget the feeling–that overwhelming weight. Knowing there’d be no turning back, blended with a depth of love I’d never known existed. I […]
In the Aftermath of a Mighty Storm, We are Changed
It was an ordinary Sunday afternoon. That is until the storm began. The storm that wasn’t in our Southern CA forecast–the spring flash storm we weren’t even expecting. The sun was shining with a brilliant blue sky. And then the clouds rolled in, announcing the beginning–blocking the sun, and darkening the sky. Then the wind […]
The Way to Get Joy {And a Reminder: You’re Not Guilty Anymore}
She stands on that gigantic stage and accentuates with her arms to punctuate her points. And you can hear a pin drop in the room because at the core of each one of us, we are aching for joy. And she explains how it is possible. No matter what you’re facing, as long as thanks […]
Grief: The Power of our Silent Presence
She arrived mid-morning on the first day of a new month, nineteen weeks pregnant and bleeding. And I volunteered to take care of her. She needed somebody to be willing. And I knew what to do because I’d done it so many times before. We sped her to ultrasound. And then, the radiologist called. He […]
