I breathe in God's graceI breathe out God's loveSit for a sec to remember thatYou love me becauseYou love me Me, who chooses 'perfection' over freedomWho changes her color like a chameleonMe, who alternately struts and hidesfumes and criesnumbs and chases highs I try so hardI'm so tired of trying(I even try to stop trying)But …
Stranger Things Holidays: Like Home Alone, But Without the Feel-Good Ending
When my firstborn daughter was one, we moved approximately 8,000 lonely miles from all our friends and family. After 32 hours of travel, we arrived to our new country, on her first birthday (we did celebrate that occasion with loved ones before we left). Her birthday falls on Halloween, so we left our home country …
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A Prayer for Tired, Weary Parents
I don't know about you, but I've been feeling pretty worn down recently. Pandemic, politics and parenting have my baseline anxiety a bit higher than normal -- I've been catching my jaw clenched, my breath shallow, my back sore with tension. When anxiety is high, my threshold for other stimuli becomes lower. So when my …
All or Nothing
There have been a few seasons of my life where it became clear: if Jesus isn't who He says he is, then I am to be pitied among all the world, as Paul said to the Corinthians. In other words, I'm wasting my life, wasting this pain, hardship, struggle, loss. The kind of moment where …
4 Ways to Stop Toxic Thoughts During the Holidays (for FamilyLife.com)
The holidays are stressful. Schedules and to-do lists are packed, we see people we don’t often see (like your cousin’s father-in-law’s nephew), and there’s pressure to make everything magical for everyone. And while there are plenty of things vying for our mental and emotional attention, toxic thoughts don’t need to be one of them. What …
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Anger Issues: How I’m Helping My Kids … and Myself (for FamilyLife)
I was walking through a friend’s house when immediately, a frog leapt to my throat. A painting hung there in her hall—and somehow, I felt more understood. I comprehended a nugget of that transcendent truth art can mine in the soul. The title? Jesus and the Angry Babies. Anger issues—angry babies (and angry children and angry mom)—is …
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What Kingdom am I anxious for?
Here in the U.S., folks are gearing up for a presidential election. Neither side is underplaying what they think is at stake in this one: the soul of our Nation. It’s all too easy to get swept up in it all, especially since both sides are using fear to pull you toward them. Especially with …
Day 35: Electricity
But what does waiting well really mean? When I stop to think about it, it can’t mean stuffing your desires and needs so that they don’t ‘bother’ you much. Waiting, surely, is meant to be disruptive.
My Beloved Charter (Day 34: Hand)
Last fall, I participated in a women's retreat at which Judy Nelson Lewis was the speaker. She led us through an exercise in writing a Beloved Charter -- a handful of sentences, adapted from Scripture, that remind you of your own belovedness in God's eyes. Since that time, I have read that charter over myself …
A Prayer for Mother’s Day
God, I praise You today for Your fierce, momma-bear love and protection. Thank You for Father-Mothering me with grace and truth and SO MUCH patience and perseverance. May we all draw comfort and strength from Your unshakable love and commitment to us, Your dear children. Thank You for so many women around me in whom …
hope for the sojourn 