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…
Have you ever thought, this isn’t how I thought my story would go? I certainly have, and I bet I’m not the only one.
After years of negative pregnancy tests, I mourned because life wasn’t turning out like I thought it would. There would be no gaggle of laughing children filling my home, no crowded kitchen table at mealtimes, Read more…
I wonder if you’ve ever had hurt that just wouldn’t heal. I know I have. In today’s post, I’m talking to both of us. Maybe, just maybe, there is something we can do, or rather stop doing, to help the process.
Five-year-old Brooke was sitting in the backseat of a minivan while her mom and I ran errands. Read more…
If you’ve ever felt like a failure, you’re not alone.
We all struggle with feeling like a failure at one time or another—maybe as a mom, as a wife, as a friend, in ministry, at work, at holding our tongues, at loving the unlovable. Life brings us lots of opportunities to fail.
How often have I made a simple mistake, Read more…
When is the last time you messed up? I mean really messed up? Mine was last week.
When I trip and fall, I have a decision to make: stay in the dirt and grovel in defeat or get back up and keep moving forward.
Many women are living in silent defeat, comparing themselves to other women who likewise are living in silent defeat. Read more…
What do you do when life just falls apart?
I wish I could tell you each time life throws me a curveball, I strike up a chorus of “It Is Well with My Soul.” I wish I could tell you that when my baby died, I hummed “Jesus Loves Me.” Or that when the pregnancy test came back negative for the thirty-sixth time, Read more…