It's official! I did something. I did it with a bit of apprehension and a good deal of hope. Basically, I joined a new church. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but for me, it's huge. A while back, I touched on experiencing some church hurt that completely caught me off guard and how that was a catalyst in possibly leaving a church I had ...
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ. For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his ...
My journey to a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease started early in 2017. I have not felt well since then. It's been nearly three years. Tough doesn’t seem a strong enough word to describe this time. It’s not just the physical pain and symptoms that made it so hard. It was the waiting, the unanswered questions, the unending testing, the multiple ...
In an eatery tucked away in the corner of town, David and I sat at a table for two. It was a noisy, crowded restaurant, one composed of several small rooms with tables and chairs squeezed in like some kind of furniture Tetris. Old photos and mementos covered every square inch of the walls. I looked around from our tiny table and began to feel ...
Before the presents were wrapped to later be unwrapped, before candles flickered during Christmas Eve services, before we all returned to work and the calendar flipped from December to January, I heard it. In Instagram captions and my Facebook newsfeed, during conversations with friends and while listening to podcast episodes, a message rang ...
With a heart about to burst, I walked down the aisle to Pachabel’s Canon in D toward the one who was choosing me and I, him. I felt Brendan’s gaze on my face, and his steady love caused me to feel grounded in a way that was still new to me. The air was thick with anticipation, joy, and a touch of grief. I had just finished my first year of graduate ...
The hospital room is dark, but the lights from the machines are as brightly lit as nightlights. My son is asleep in his hospital bed, tethered to the equipment that drips liquid into his veins and monitors his heart. Down the hall, nurses work at computers. They tread softly past doors. A gloomy sadness falls over me like dark clouds coming ...
Stowed away in our attic, I dusted off my high school diary. Paging through memories of old, I am instantly transported to a time in my life when school, friends, boys, and parents triggered to-do lists and declarations, resolutions, and remorse. A time when affirmation was currency and attention was the payment. Years have passed since those ...
I recently got an email at 3:30 a.m. from a subscriber to my blog. It was the second email I’d gotten from her, and it was filled with such harshness and contempt that it made me literally gasp out loud. Her email was a stark reminder of a culture of meanness that has cropped up around us. It’s a meanness that is fueled by narcissism, by a wave ...
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be ...
