Once, a young girl named Martha Taft was asked to introduce herself to her elementary school classmates. She stood up with self-assurance and said, “My name is Martha Bowers Taft. My great-grandfather was president of the United States. My grandfather was a United States senator. My daddy is the ambassador to Ireland. And I am a Brownie.”
I love her confidence! Read more…
He did it again. The devil whispered a lie into my head, and I believed it. Of course, I didn’t know it was him. I thought it was just me. But it wasn’t.
Did you know the devil wants to sneak up on you? He prowls around like a lion just looking for the right opportunity.
If Satan came to you in a little red suit with a pitchfork and announced himself as the devil, Read more…
For years we were joined at the hip. Not a day went by when we didn’t talk on the phone at least once.
But sometimes friendships come unhinged. People change. Perspectives change. Purposes change. Passions change. While nothing went terribly wrong, and no hurtful words were exchanged, the void was vast beyond bridging. I felt tossed away. Discarded. Read more…
Sometimes I feel like such a mess, I wonder what God even wants with me. And then He reminds me that ALL His children are a mess in one way or another.
A common theme throughout Scripture is overcoming failure.
I’ll be honest, for most of my life I felt like I was in second place, an alternate, an also ran, not quite as good as everybody else.
I was a cheerleader my junior year in high school, but I was what they called an alternate. That meant I was on the squad and did everything that the other girls did, Read more…
I held Harper’s hand as we walked into the restaurant to place our name on the waiting list. Actually, I walked; my 7-year-old grandniece skipped.
I gave the hostess the number in our party, expressed the desire for an outside table, and told her yes, crayons, please. Then the hostess asked my name. I replied, “Sharon.”
Harper quickly corrected me: “No. Read more…
I was in college when I met my husband at a Bible study. He was sitting on the floor dressed in scruffy jeans, a red flannel shirt, and a strong face that needed a shave. The moment I saw him, I was smitten. But I didn’t want him to know that.
Steve finally asked me out on a date, Read more…
I was checking out my Facebook posts and feeling a little bit left out. It seemed everyone was having a big ole time with family and friends, and well, I wasn’t. It was the holiday season and it appeared all the family gatherings were picture perfect…and mine wasn’t.
Pinterest postings of perfect sausage pinwheels. Facebook pics of glittery table setting with Christmas China and matching napkins. Read more…
Do you remember the first Rocky movie? (I just looked it up and there have been eight.) In the very first film about the Italian Stallion, Rocky Balboa falls madly in love with the very demur Adrian who works at a Tropical Fish pet store.
Adrian is a very intelligent, shy, and cautious. Rocky is, well, none of those things. Read more…
One Spring, our family hosted a ten-year-old Russian foreign exchange student. I got to be his mamma for six weeks. He went to school with my son and got a taste of what the American Christian family is all about. Alex’s English was very limited, and we depended on hand signals and facial expressions to get by.
One day, Read more…