Dear Me, I’ve been wondering—if I really could send a letter back in time to you, what is it you most need to hear? I could tell you about the adorable curly-haired children you’d have, but you could probably guess what they’d look like (hint: just look at your baby pictures). I could tell you…
Some days, it feels as if I’m living on borrowed time. When the images of September 11 fill my Facebook feed like they filled our television screen eleven years ago. But my loved ones weren’t there in those pictures. When I remember that yesterday was the eleventh anniversary of when my sister-in-law pulled out in…
“There are hundreds of ways that heartache can rip through our lives. The kind of pain doesn’t change the truth. God is the same no matter what type of agony we face.” -Natasha Metzler in Pain Redeemed Natasha’s story is one of infertility. Maybe yours is of a broken relationship. Or of a sick child….
Sundays are just plain hard when there are little ones in the house. Either your plans of sleeping in fell to naught and everyone was grumpy and tired the entire time you were getting ready for church. Or you actually did sleep in and therefore everything was rushed and you were finally getting into the…
I stuffed my purse full of Kleenex because I knew Angie Smith would be speaking. God knew I’d catch a cold and be carrying around an entire box of Kleenex before the conference was over. I was looking forward to the weekend as a time of refreshment and renewal. God had already given Angie the…
That second I realize I’m going to have to stretch to reach it and every muscle tightens in anticipation rather than relaxing to bend and extend. That moment I realize I’m going to be stretched beyond my comfortable status quo and everything within me is taut with fear. That is when I realize I can…
If we could see beyond today as God can see… I could hear the tune in my head the moment I thought about the word “beyond.” I pulled out the old brown hymnal to find it. I don’t remember if we sang it in our church growing up. But it only had one sharp, so…
We have so much more than enough. I sort the outgrown clothes into overflowing bins. I stack the boxes of books for upcoming school years. We can the extra tomatoes so we’ll still have enough this winter. We are blessed in abundance. We have oh so much more than enough for the five of us….
I need something to grab on to, something to steady me.
A goal to focus on, a plan to live by.
I want just the right parenting philosophy that will help me have perfect children.
I need the right schedule to help me organize my day and make me productive.
I long for perfect fellowship with like-minded families living nearby.
I look around so desperately for something to cling to.
But I already know the truth.
I have to admit: I didn’t like Nancy Leigh DeMoss when she first started Revive Our Hearts. I had my “reasons”, but the truth was that she just was not Elisabeth Elliot. No one could replace my beloved “E.E.”, and Revive Our Hearts was most definitely not Gateway to Joy. My husband would come home…
I’ve decided there are two—no three—things that make my day go better. The one is—or at least, should be—a “given”: spending time in God’s Word. But unfortunately, it often becomes only an item to be hurried through so I can get to my to-do list (which is the second). Yet if I do really focus…
“Do you have old people at your church?” It was kind of a strange question to ask as I called through the churches in the phone directory, but after I had asked about their theology and church government, it was my next question. Growing up in a little church in a little town with people…
The End.
The End.