I sat at the red light and stared at the bumper sticker in front of me. It was only one word, but it captivated me. Aspire. That’s all -- not aspire to greatness or aspire to your dreams or aspire to achieve. Simply, aspire. Inexplicably, it lifted my heart. For the remainder of the ride, my mind played with the word. Aspire. An aspiration is ...
My palms were a little bit sweaty as I sat at the coffee shop just down the street from my house. I had walked there, just a few minutes from where I live, but it felt much longer than usual. I counted every step as I headed over, which is something I don't usually do. I think it was mostly just to have my mind on anything except the conversation I ...
I have been pregnant three times. I have given birth twice. Fragmented memories remain of the day I lost my first baby -- the child whose heart thumped in my womb for only eight short weeks. I remember the horror I felt when I discovered the first scarlet spots alerting me that my baby was gone. I remember the weight of my husband’s hand resting ...
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; think about Him in all your ways, and He will guide you on the right paths." {Proverbs 3:4-5} Leaning Hard and Stepping Forward The staircase is dark and tall, looming to my two-year-old. Her little feet pushed upward, but her pudgy hand couldn't quite reach ...
We never know how God will weave the threads of today. Three years ago, my son began his freshman year at our state university, moving into an off-campus scholarship house with 15 others boys. His roommate turned out to be my friend’s son who had just transferred to the university. “Let’s cook dinner for the boys,” she suggested. This ...
The commute to my college is only thirty-five minutes, unless, of course, you’re going for class at 8:00 in the morning. Then the drive turns out to be more like an hour and a bit. I’m convinced traffic could be used as a form of torture. There's just something about knowing that you're sandwiched between an endless amount of cars -- you're ...
Read Chapter 15 Oh, friends, what a journey this has been! Thank you for bravely choosing to join us for The Happiness Dare. Our prayer is that Jennifer's words, the stories on this blog, and the community you've discovered along the way have helped you discover the happiness God wants for each of us. Jennifer put it perfectly when she ...
We’re sitting in the glow of neon, the golden arches casting pale yellow and red on the wet asphalt where we’re parked. I’m sipping iced tea even thought it’s cold and we’re clutched by winter's deep spell, flurries scattering around outside haphazardly lacking the stamina to collect themselves on the ground. The windshield wiper swipes at them ...
Read Chapters 13 & 14 I’m a child of the 80s, and I grew up in the pop-saturated concrete jungle of Manila, Philippines. No one could escape the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Hanson, Take That, Five, and all manner of one-hit-wonders. This was the soundtrack of my youth. Fast forward 15 years and the Backstreet Boys’ reunion tour through ...
Life lesson #412 while living the past year on our small family farm: When there's poo, most people avoid the situation, missing the goodness. I've shared about our chickens before. And I feel like God reveals so much about how we behave through them. They're kind of spellbinding and fascinating. When chickens lay eggs . . . those eggs may be ...
