One thing I love about coming home is the chance to talk long and deep with my folks and siblings. Our lives usually move so fast, that we don’t get as many long phone conversations as we should. As a result, I CHERISH those times that I can ask what they’re learning, what God is teaching them. I want to …
Do You Trust God with Your Secret Dreams
Today I’m going to direct you to an article I wrote for MTL(More to Life), an online magazine. It’ll give you a glimpse into my family’s summer adventure…one that ends as we board the plane for home in the morning. And as you read, consider your secret desires. Is God big enough? Involved enough in your life to make them …
Have I Disappeared?
What a question to ask, right? Have I disappeared? Am I living my life in a way that when people look at me they don’t really see me? Instead, they see fruit in my life that points them straight to my Savior? That what they do see of me is offered as a sacrifice to for my King’s glory? I’m …
What I Didn’t Know by Rhonda Shrock
I always knew I wanted to be a mother. As a girl, I played house with my dollies, shushing them when they cried and kissing their plastic heads. Looking back at that girl, I realize now that there was a lot she didn’t know. This morning over my fresh-ground coffee, this mother of 22-1/2 years scratched out a list of …
He Will Walk With You by Carey Bailey
As a little girl, I loved baby dolls. Loved them! I played school, adoption agency, daycare operator and babysitter all day. I felt like I was born to be a mama. Therefore, I was a bit anxious when the ages, 22, 25, 28 and 32 came and went and there were no babies. Have you ever desired something so much …
What I Am Not by Tricia Goyer
Becoming a mother is a complicated thing. Not only am I trying to negotiate a relationship with my child, I am trying to negotiate a relationship with myself as I attempt to determine how I mother, how I feel about mothering, how I want to mother and how I wish I was mothered. —?Andrea J. Buchanan, in Mother Shock3 Sometimes …
She’s…My Everything by Suzanne Woods Fisher
“A mother is one who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take.” –Cardinal Mermillod Just a few more months. My mother was hoping Dad would hang on long enough so they could celebrate their sixtieth wedding anniversary in April. But on January 1st, as the sun rose on the new year, my …
Joy Comes from Perseverance by Sheila Walsh
One of the most important lessons I have learned in my own life is the joy that comes from perseverance. Eugene Peterson, borrowing a phrase from Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote his book “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction …Discipleship in an Instant Society.” He points to the Psalms as the way believers have always learned to pray what they live …
Do you let God use your pain? Wildflowers from Winter Giveaway
My friend Katie Ganshert is celebrating the release of her novel Wildflowers from Winter. The premise is that God can take our pain and turn it into beauty — sometimes unexpected. And I’m thrilled to add that her publisher will send a copy of her debut novel to one of the commenters, so be sure to let me know how …
Monday Meditation: God’s Training Ground
This morning I have a simple thought. One that could revolutionize how I look at God’s assignments. The pastor taught on David yesterday. He taught out of I Samuel 17. As he started talking about David listing why he could take on Goliath in verses 34-37, something hit me — it was in the job that nobody wanted, that God …