Trust His Heart. We have these words etched into our living room wall. {Okay, so they’re stuck up there in vinyl. But let’s pretend they’re etched. It sounds considerably more dramatic…} It became our mantra during an intense year of hurdle-jumping. Between the loss of my hubby’s dream job, the loss of a living space of our own, thousands of… Read More
The Tale of Three Trees
One of my favorite stories of all time is “The Tale of Three Trees”. We read it every Christmas, and often act it out in our Christmas Eve service. It so beautifully depicts – in a teeny, tiny nutshell – the story of Christ’s life, through the “eyes” of three trees. I have yet to close the book with dry… Read More
The Mystery of Christmas
{hit full screen, turn your volume up…and soak in this truth}
A Human Mosaic
It is true. I used to want to look like a clear, crisp glass vase. Pretty. Striking. Uncomplicated. Untainted by the chips and dents of a messy life. But I’m realizing that isn’t the image God is calling me to portray. He gets no glory in my apparent perfection, in my finely-tuned charade…. Read the rest of this post over… Read More
Hope for the Holidays
I asked my mom what she wanted for Christmas. Her response wrecked me. She wanted hope for the holidays. Fuel for the fight against the human trafficking that rages full-force around the world today. Freedom for the staggering number of women and children, some as young as 6, bound up in the sex-trafficking industry. She handed me a magazine and… Read More
The Birds and The Bees…and Some Little Apple Seeds
While my hubby and I love talking to couples about the {regrettably under-talked about, within-the-context-of-the-Christian-community} topic of sex, and the undeniably crucial role it plays within a healthy marriage…we really didn’t know how – or when – to broach the subject with our kids. We actually look forward to having “the talk” with them when they’re older, to… Read More
Looking Ahead: The {not so} Nutshell Version
I interrupt your regularly scheduled post to bring you this scintillating collection of “what’s on the horizon” blips from my oh-so-exciting life: * I have discovered 2 interesting things about myself over the past 86 days. 1. I function well under strict food “law”… Some sugar = never works. After all, “some” is relative. No sugar whatsoever =… Read More
Make Love, Amidst War
Marriage is a divine conspiracy. God takes two outrageously different people – from gender, background & upbringing, strengths & weaknesses, to likes & dislikes, personality & temperament – and throws them together in a magnificently wild adventure; a “love story set in the midst of war”. “Our mutual brokenness plays off each other so perfectly that it is frightening. It’s… Read More
Paint Love
It astounds me how easily we become inward focused. Comfortable. Yet discontented. We forget, amidst the whirlwind of our daily commitments and selfish ambition, the needs of the hurting world around us. Blind to the little lives fighting for life, hungry for love, all around us. The lovely {in}courage, a branch of Dayspring {a community of women blessing women, and… Read More
Say It in Style
Here are some spiffy shirts I designed a while back, for a sweet friend I’ve never met {isn’t it amazing how you can feel so connected to someone you’ve never met?!?}, inspired by the passage in Mark {10:7-9} where Jesus explains, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,and the two… Read More
I’m Sorta, Kinda Like A Pumpkin
Why? Because God, in His relentless pursuit of my heart, plucked me up from the dry, dusty ground, took me in, and washed {okay, scrubbed} all the superficial junk off me. I should note, however, that He is far from finished with this tedious crap-removal process. He then carefully cut my top off {sort of like spiritual open heart surgery}… Read More
The Man {before My Man}
I’ll just put it out there: my husband had some pretty big shoes to fill. Before he came along, I wasn’t sure I’d ever meet anyone quite like the man my mom had met 35+ years ago {who promptly asked her to marry him 4 days later}. Sure, there are plenty of great guys out there {I’m related to a… Read More
