I went to bed, pulled the covers over my head, and had a big ole pity party. Once again, I had been rejected…come in second place…told I wasn’t quite what “they” were looking for. The scarlet letter loomed large. It wasn’t an A like Hester Prynne’s in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book I had read in high school, but a big fat R that I chose to wear when life turned ugly. Read more…
I hopped up on the counter at the soda fountain and placed my five-year-old feet on the spinning stool in front of me. Dad sipped on a Coke and talked to the lady behind the counter with the red-and-white-striped apron tied around her waist.
“This is my little girl,” Daddy said with a smile. “She’s a little monkey.”
“Why, Read more…
Hi there. I’m back from a month of reflection and rest. I’ve been praying for you and I’ve missed you! I’m glad to be back. Here’s today’s devotion:
There have been times when my heart ached because of a difficult or disappointing situation: a bad decision that led to painful season, an unexpected happenstance that created an unresolved circumstance, Read more…
I sat across the table from a broken friend. Her life was scattered on the coffee shop floor like spilled grounds from the bean machine. Melissa (not her real name) had had an affair, and she finally mustered up the courage to tell me the truth. I knew about some of it, but not all of it.
While listening to her through tears, Read more…
I hugged my pink stuffed poodle to my chest. We were about to have a serious conversation, even though I would be the only one talking. My ten-year-old self looked into his black button eyes and confided the empty ache that I dare not admit to anyone. I didn’t say the words out loud. I didn’t need to. We were close like that. Read more…
When my brother was a teenager, my mother used to threaten him when he hunched over at the dinner table. “If you don’t sit up,” she would say, “I’m going to buy you a back brace from Sears.” I don’t even know if Sears made back braces then, but it sounded like a pretty good threat to me.
Then I had a son who seemingly grew to six feet overnight. Read more…
Some people just seem happy and positive all the time. They appear to never worry and fret. These people act like they eat rainbows for breakfast and ride a unicorn to work. But life isn’t all lucky charms. Sometimes it is just plain hard.
We should anticipate trials. Jesus promised trouble. “In this world you will have trouble,” He warned (John 16:33). Read more…
What do you do when heartbreak slams into joy? When your soul cracks open and there just aren’t enough tears? When hurt steals your hope and you want to give up on life? When deep soul lesions make a mockery of your faith? I’ve been there. I wonder if you have too.
I remember the day when my son, Read more…
Grief is a funny thing. I can’t think of many who haven’t experienced grief in some form or another. So let’s talk about it today.
Grief is a natural response to a loss. It could be the loss of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, or the loss of a dream. Grief is a complex weaving of emotions that accompany the loss of what was or sometimes the emptiness of what wasn’t. Read more…
Have you ever felt God nudging you to do a specific work for Him and thought, I’m just not qualified! Oh girl, I’ve felt that way just about every time I’ve said “yes” when my knocking knees said “run.” And you know what what? Sometimes those feelings of being unqualified don’t go away once we start moving in the obedience direction. Read more…