Finding Joy on the Journey in Faith, Family, and all Things in Between.
Favorite Posts from Around the Web A Theology of Hair Curlers (Call to Creativity) by Tanya Marlow Introverts explained- Why we love you but need to get away from you by Brenna Gee For the Weary by Tonya Salomons #Tell His Story: How to Get the Most of of Your Summer Vacation by Jennifer Dukes Lee On Coming Home … [Read more...]
We're parked in my minivan staring out at the river. I am one of the truly talented people who can sprain their ankle at a BBQ walking bare footed on flat grass, only to topple, legs flailing in midair. I recovered by rolling to my side and ending up on my stomach, grass sprouting from my head like a Seuss character, when my four-year old thought it would be great fun to try to ride … [Read more...]
I wrote the following post on January 8th of this year. When I wrote this post it was the first step in claiming what I knew God had purposed in my heart. And he's gently reminded me that He is the giver of every good and perfect thing and there is no striving in Him. Some really amazing things have happened and I'll be sharing about them more over the next few months but I'll give you a little … [Read more...]
"Do you ever feel bad about yourself?" she asks, lashes swooping over her eyes. I turn from my mirror, mascara wand suspended mid-air. I am looking in the mirror at her, a reflection so beautiful and precious to me, my heart falls fathoms deep when I see those eyes well, wet with pain. Her face is flushed red with summer heat, and her braid has come loose leaving sweat kissed wisps of … [Read more...]
I tell my son to be careful not to paint the table. I’ve laid out plastic and my four and eight year old have the watercolors and a collection of rocks to recreate into swirling florals and all manner of messiness. My daughter has a paint by numbers that is sectioned into tiny slivers awaiting their chosen colors, the end result being a Panda. I’ve unleashed their brushes and their … [Read more...]
I knew I was a writer in high school because I couldn't go anywhere without a pocket-sized spiral notebook and a Bic pen with the chewed up cap. I never knew when words would seize me and I would frantically scribble them out for fear that in a moment they would be lost forever. But there is a difference between believing you are a writer and admitting it to anyone else. Those words carry … [Read more...]
I hope to God in 10 years I disagree with some of my blog. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don't love being wrong. So why would I want to be wrong now? Simple. If in 10 years I agree with everything I've said at 34 years of age, that will mean I've learned nothing, grown little, and have closed my mind and heart to being pliable. If I had a blog in my twenties, and thank God I didn't because … [Read more...]
It's been quiet around here lately. My mind full but my heart empty. I write close and soul deep and sometimes my bone marrow dries, the stuff where words settle in and gush onto the page with each pump of my heart. So I went to Jumping Tandem with weariness in my bones. With the ache of the overtired. A bit frustrated at the grace I'm trying to walk around in and sometimes find myself … [Read more...]
Writing lends itself to a process. There are stages and maturation of story that mimic the seasons of pregnancy and birth An idea implanting, as it germinates somewhere deep inside you. Hardly even aware of its presence and the role it will have in the rest of your life but it's forming and coming together. The rocky sway of sickness as it takes hold. The clutching of your sides and the tilt … [Read more...]
I went to a writers conference this past weekend and found my people. The people who love words and story. The people who feel creativity and imagination are divinely inspired. Within the diversified lineup of speakers, were a few I wouldn't have purposely chosen to see. For instance, William P. Young, who was a brilliant speaker and by all accounts a lovely, humble man, wrote The Shack, a book … [Read more...]
I am so thrilled to introduce an e-book by my friend Denise Hughes! As one of the first writers I connected with when I started blogging, I've grown to love both her tremendous heart and her ability to take apart the craft of writing and put it back together in doable steps that inspire, encourage, and facilitate meaningful words on a page. She teaches writing for a living but she also lives to … [Read more...]
For the rest of her life she will be my little girl. My only girl. In a week, she will be 8 years old. Today, she clung to me in a moment of high strung emotion uncommon for her. As her sleepy eyes welled with tears and she pushed her face into the curve just above my hip, into the fleshy part of my side, the spot where she curls herself into when we snuggle for story time or she bruises her … [Read more...]
It's day 13 since I met my goal for my Dress for Change Project and as promised, I'm doing my first ever dress for the day link up. It's an interesting social experiment. My daily routine now includes picking out clothes, putting on makeup, and fixing my hair before we start school, run errands, or make breakfast. I guess pretty much what normal people do. I've been blown away by … [Read more...]
So I wrote the post. The hard one. The one that had sat in my soul for years but never put into words. But this was my chance. Somehow it felt easier to post it on a friend's blog. God and suffering. She had asked me to contribute a post. She loved the way I wrote about the pain and the beauty. I said yes. I would be honored. And then I thought of the suffering in my life. I paused over … [Read more...]
If church should look like family, and family connects over bonds made, blood shared, vows taken, and years lived together, how do we become family as a church? How do we find the home where our hearts settle into community? In most churches, we sit in rows or pews, or folding chairs facing forward. We may engage the message and punch out notes on our YouVersion app or in the torn off section … [Read more...]
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