I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, squinting from the lights above while also trying to open my eyelids so I could put mascara on my lashes. My mouth opened, too, almost instinctively. And I wondered why opening my mouth helped open my eyes. It didn’t make sense, and neither did the way I was feeling. I had been struggling with self-doubt and ...
He was an ordinary guy, as ordinary as they come, but he had an extraordinary name. Joe was an instant standout when he wheeled into the cafeteria of the senior home where I volunteered because he was four decades younger than the average resident. While the government-run retirement facility doubled as a rehabilitation center, not many ...
The moment I found my seat on the Boeing 757, the weight of my mission overwhelmed me. After twenty-five hours of flight time, I would land in a city in West Africa known for its political volatility and poverty. It was a place of unknowns, insecurity, and suffering. My task was to deliver a message of encouragement to the women living there. The ...
This is a story that begins on a high school softball field nearly sixty years ago. But make no mistake. This isn’t some old story about some old game. It’s a story about anyone who’s ever felt like she was too broken, too battered, too weak, or too tired to go on. So maybe, then, this is a story about all of us. It was June of 1960. A big ...
We keep the tiny dinosaurs in a plastic bag, tucked inside the pocket of my backpack to keep the kiddos happy at restaurants. These little dinos have endured many ketchup plunges, galloped across many drink lids, and enacted countless imaginative scenarios. Adelaide likes to name them, and the names reveal the hilarious inner-workings of the ...
Tears stream down his face as he reaches his arms out to me. Mommyyyy! Huuuggg! Huuuggg! My jaw, my arms, my heart are clenched. Anger pulsates through my body, and I refuse to oblige. He’s a kid, and I should know better, but in the moment I want him to bear the consequences of his disobedience. I want him to know things can’t be fixed so ...
Our house sits in the middle of some fairly dense woods. We call it “The Homestead” and with five children, it’s offered up a haven for every kind of fort building activities you can imagine over the years. One afternoon, our son called to me, “Mom, we can’t find Emma. She was just here.” She’s my baby, our fifth child, so I didn’t bat an eye. ...
I wonder how many times we miss out on something special because we don’t listen to that nudge in our spirits urging us to do something that seems crazy or awkward. Do you know what I'm talking about? An inner prompting that feels like the Holy Spirit is calling you to action in a way that may make you uncomfortable but could bless ...
One of my favorite things is connecting women. The other day I was having coffee with a friend and as she told me about a ministry dream, I immediately thought of two other friends who share a like-hearted passion and whose paths are going in a similar direction. I wanted my coffee shop friend to meet my other friends, stat! The same thing happens ...
I go to a convent once a month, if you can call it that. In reality, the ‘House of Prayer’ is a little Spanish style home tucked into a residential area near my kids’ school. Sister Mary and Sister Margaret, both in their late eighties, minister by letting non-Catholic strangers like me rent a room from them for $15 a day. The first time I went, ...
