How to Stop Your World from Spinning out of Control
Sabbatical. It sounded so holy . . . but it was beyond essential. This past winter, more than a few folks “strongly suggested” I take some time off work to rest, refresh . . . and breathe. I have been at my current job for 10 years but can count on one hand the number […]
Strategic Warfare: How to Thrive on the Battleground
Okay, it’s not a secret in my house, so I might as well share it with you: I hate almost all bugs. God has a purpose for all living things . . . I know that. However, I find it quite rude when vermin sneak around my house, bite or sting at will, and then […]
An Agent of Change in a Suffering World
Ten minutes and her life was forever changed. It was a beautiful morning as my friend headed out the door for work. She called her husband to wish him a good day as she walked to her car. During the phone call, she heard a sound behind her and looked to see what it was. […]
Learning to Wait in the Waiting Room
There is a place I used to call my second home: the waiting room. I’ll never forget the hours I spent with my special-needs son in waiting rooms—rooms with tattered magazines, crying children, and tired-looking people who were staring at smudged, blandly painted walls. If there were windows, I watched the outside world whirl by—beautiful […]
Does Anyone See Me?
Jesus Understands
So, there we were—my mother, my sister, my three children, and I—walking through the airport to get to the gate for our flight home. There should be awards for mothers who travel with teenagers—the heaps of luggage . . . The stops for sodas and snacks . . . the children deaf to anything other […]
Beauty Unimagined: Mending and Marriage
I nearly incinerated my finger with a hot glue gun a while back. I was working on a project for my daughter’s wedding and almost welded my finger to the table. While I soaked one hand in ice, with the other I dusted off the pages of her baby books and began thumbing through them. […]
What Does “Trusting God” Mean?
Trust is not one of my strong suits. I could try to blame my struggle on not knowing enough trustworthy people, but I know the problem is rooted in me . . . in my desire to protect myself and in my fear of getting hurt or let down. I know that not trusting others […]
Captive Audience
If you could travel anywhere in the world, with anyone you love, without any financial worry, where would you go? Perhaps a cozy cabin in Canada’s Banff National Park or a reprieve in one of England’s rustic cottages? Or imagine roving around Rome’s ancient ruins, adventuring on an African safari, or traveling through Brazil’s rainforests […]
How to End Your Tortured Life
Hope from His Word and Healing in His Presence
I hadn’t been to church in weeks. Illness, traveling, family needs, life. You get it. Last Sunday, we actually got to church. I’m always amazed at how no one at church looks like they are facing something impossible. Everyone looks so pretty and polished; fresh and clean. However, how we look on the outside does […]
I Am Renewed
[guestpost]We all struggle (or have struggled) with suffering, and when it comes to real suffering, my friend Michele Cushatt, guest-posting today, understands the struggle firsthand. Without giving away her story (which you can read in her books and watch on my interviews), Michele knows what it’s like to lose her footing and to wonder if […]
Exquisite Agony: Becoming a Masterpiece
The Way God Shapes You from the Rough Places
Without question, he defined what it meant to be a “Renaissance Man.” Michelangelo—born Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni—is remembered as one of the most gifted Italian sculptors, painters, architects, and poets of all time. In fact, some say his approach to art was almost mystical. It’s been said he would study the blank canvas or […]
Nineteen (and a Half) Reasons Why Being Broken Is Beautiful
He clung to his phone like a threadbare lifeline. Hearing his laugh is a symphony of joy . . . it’s not the norm for him in life. My son Jon is now 19 and a HALF—that half is desperately important to him. For his whole life, he’s been in pain: Physically Emotionally Relationally Spiritually […]