Welcome to episode 006 of Mud Stories! Mud Stories is a podcast dedicated to bringing you inspiration in your muddiest moments, hope to make it through your mud, and encouragement for you to know, you are not alone. In today’s episode I’m talking to Emily Wierenga, an award-winning journalist, columnist, artist, author and blogger at emilywierenga.com. […]
MS 004: Holley Gerth on Infertility, Redemption, and How to Hold On to Hope
Welcome to episode 004 of Mud Stories! Mud Stories is a podcast dedicated to bringing you inspiration in your muddiest moments, hope to make it through your mud, and encouragement for you to know, you are not alone. In today’s episode I’m talking to Holley Gerth, co-founder of the beautiful online community (in)courage.me, the best-selling author of […]
When Graduation Changes Your View
I’d known it was coming for months—how they’d pass their own milestones this year and graduate. Him, the oldest of the five, towering tall. And her, the youngest, vibrant and sweet. He graduated from high school with all the pomp and circumstance—the tassel-shifting, hat-tossing, and cheering with streamers flying high into the sky. And she […]
When You’re Spun by Change and Weighed Down by Grief
This past month my friend’s mother dies suddenly, the Sauer family says goodbye to Ben, their brave four-year old cancer-fighter, and another friend cares for her husband in hospice, in what are sure to be his last days here on this earth. And they cling to the hope he’ll make it through Father’s day before […]
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 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 […]
