I so clearly remember how I wanted to be a mother. I watched new moms with their babies, and dreamed of holding a new baby of my own. Holding and bathing. Feeding and changing–a life of meeting my baby’s needs. And then, I became a mother. Four children in six years. Months and months of […]
When a Fallen Tree Takes Time to Grow Again
Because of my story, I receive emails every single week from women who are desperate for answers. Desperate for someone, anyone, to tell them what to do to fix the mess and pain of the life they’re living. And if there’s one thing I know for sure, sin brings pain–deep, gouging, life-altering pain, the likes […]
When Pain Blinds Us to the Truth
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Freedom Comes When We Reveal the Truth
The day my gown glides across the carpet, I believe I’ll be married forever. But reality turns out so much differently than I’d planned. In so many ways. Bad ways. And very good ways. Good ways only because of Him. But in those years amidst the guilt and shame, my heart longed for freedom. The freedom to […]
