Finding Joy on the Journey in Faith, Family, and all Things in Between.
I might have been the one that hurt you. I might have turned away a bit as you were sharing your story. I may have broken eye contact and glanced beyond you when you were talking, making you feel small and invisible. You might have flushed red as I excused myself with an empty smile and moved on. I might have used you when I thought I'd stand a little taller on your shoulders and ignored you … [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...]
My foot always landed with part of my heel over the line or my toe inching into the next box. I blame the fact that my feet outgrew my body and while I jumped and landed solidly, my sturdy little frame balancing in the boxes, I always seemed to be not quite in the right spot when my feet touched the ground. We'd dump the carton of chalk, always white never the rainbow hues, and scratch out our … [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...]
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...]
She curls her body into mine, as tightly pressed as she can get. She is all flannel nighty and honey shampoo and girl. And my words get softer as the story grows. I can never tell her stories and expect sleep. Once there were words spoken over her and her eyelids would flutter and weigh with slumber closing softly to the world but now she waits for each sentence and grasps holds, fighting back … [Read more...]
I was five when they told her I might die. My delicate spine bruised like a blooming flower in yellows and violets and then the dull brown of dying blood. It was this blood that was no good. The very thing we had in common. I lay in sterile pallor on the thin bed, crinkling under the sheet with the plastic covering, ready to be stripped down and reused again, should the bed be vacated by … [Read more...]
I can't scroll through my Facebook feed without several posts about a charity or a good cause popping up amidst details of silly things my friend's kids did, comical Pinterest pictures with sarcastic one liners, and high scores on Farmville. Each call to justice link beckoning me to like, and share, and join in the collective chorus of voices who should care about that specific need. … [Read more...]
In honor of Valentines Day and our epic love affair, here's a post from last year that still captures it all. I love you, Josh. Dear Josh, It's May and someone is in love. The sun is hot and glistening on my naked shoulders. I am fresh, with a face like clean linen, shining eyes and dark lashes low and inspired. You smell like romance. Red roses without the … [Read more...]
Five Minutes on: Bare We loved in that bare shouldered way of a man and woman. Of shared breath and space and warmth. I was a girl, really. Only nineteen, not even old enough to drink champagne on our honeymoon. He was twenty, broad-shouldered and ready to carry me into our life. The weight of it all still light as he carried me across the threshold and we laughed and tried to maneuver … [Read more...]
I fear the tipping point when dreams placed within me become less about Him and more about me. Because I've seen it happen. I know it's ugly. I fear that the very makeup and fibers of my being are wrung tight and prone to catapult and tip lopsided and I sway under the searching of my heart. I want it clean but know the pain of having it scoured by Him. I fear the times when I shrink back from … [Read more...]
First a word on where my heart is. This was a post I wrote when I started blogging. I want to grow roots deep into the foundation of justice. It’s not enough to be aware of the things that should not be so. The things that cause moments of silence, and downcast eyes, and the “Oh, that’s such a shame, that’s so sad,” as we continue with our hearts blind to our … [Read more...]
"We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior." — John R.W. Stott These are the times when mascara would never cling long enough to endure the movie's viewing. When tears come and sadness droops and caves and then joy breaks in and emotions are dragged along looping wildly. And yet … [Read more...]
Something always proceeds greatness and I was trying to think of a time when I achieved something worthy of the name progress. There is only one thing. The thing that has always gone before me. The thing that has strengthened my spine tall to face challenges. The thing that has set my eyes on a clear path. The thing that whispered to me in the quiet hiss of doubt and shouted deep into … [Read more...]
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