The truth is hard to see when we’re in pain. Doubt settles in like an opaque cloud clinging to a mountain and never letting go. Confusion rolls in as a fog, preventing us from seeing more than a few inches beyond our face. And we can’t see the sun that shines above the thickness. We […]
My Grace is Enough {Letters from God}
I want you to know I see your heart. I know your motives. I sense your effort in longing to please me. How you read my words, write your prayers, and memorize my ways. And I love how you see others I’ve made–how you seek to connect with them and love them too. But in […]
Life in His Laundry Room
I bend and sort the clothes, turn socks and flip shirts inside out, one piece at a time. And I’m always amazed how much laundry we have each week. Laundry stained with spills, smeared with soil, and marked with the activity of long days. Stains from running and jumping and playing. From kneeling in the […]
When You Wonder if There is Purpose in Pain
She loses her job this week and walks away with one less key on her ring and a feeling of loss in her heart. It happens so fast. Abrupt, sudden, and unexpected. Everything becomes ordinary all at once, and none of it is easy at all. After years of giving with grace and mentoring with […]
How to Give Grace With Your Words
I walk in the room and I immediately react. I hear his tone the wrong way, assume a meaning he never intended, and respond with words I eventually regret. This is the mistake I make countless times… Failing to use my words for good, Missing the opportunity to give grace to the one who’s listening, […]
When Compassion and Letters Change the World
It was supposed to be just a simple concert at Christmas time, with familiar friends and nostalgic songs–songs of the season but also songs from the past. But sometimes God has a different plan in mind. One we don’t see until we’re already there. And this Michael W. Smith concert did not disappoint. He sat […]
To Write is the Change the World
To write has become a way to live—a way for me to understand the world. A way for me to process my circumstances, to converse with God, and to learn lessons I may not otherwise have learned had I not taken the time to write about them. And this has surprised me. Because I never […]
When You Want to Run Away {Hope for the Weary Mom}
Dear Weary Mom, I see how you are dragging through your day, worried about tomorrow, and regretful of yesterday. How there’s an endless to-do list always waiting, one child complaining and another yelling. How shoes are strewn and puzzles mismatched all over the floor, with the fridge empty and tummies hungry, because there’s not been […]
What I Learned {September 2013}
At the end of every month, Emily Freeman shares what she’s learned, and she hosts a link-up on her blog where everyone can meet and share what they’ve learned too. And I’m joining her today! So here, in no particular order, are 10 things I learned in September… 1. God’s goodness and mercy hunts us down. As I […]
What Happens When Dominoes Fall {Allume}
Sometimes in life, we exist as one domino in a row of many, poised and positioned to fall in the most glorious ways … changing one another’s lives forever. I recently attended Women of Faith, and Rich Stearns, president of World Vision, U.S. presented some thought-provoking inspiration. He described how God has big plans for us […]
