It’s embarrassing –when you are the pastor’s wife and the mature Christian. Like you should have your emotional act together and tend lovingly to the needs of others. And if you blog on Monday about having a sense of humor, should you blog on Wednesday about being sad? Something triggered my heart to ricochet back to where I was this… Read More
Who Can Show Us Any Good?
If a blog post could somehow be a steaming latte in your favorite flavor (coconut milk for my friend who can’t have dairy), I would surprise you at work with 16 ounces today, along with a high-calorie glazed doughnut and a long hug. Because it seems like most everybody in my little circle is having a hard, hard time. There… Read More
For What Your Heart Needs
I woke up at 5:00 a.m. yesterday and got out of bed, but I was having a hard morning. A few words the night before had stirred up sorrow, and I couldn’t seem to shake my sadness. So I plugged in the Christmas tree (a real tree that my guys cut down in a real forest), crawled under a quilt,… Read More
Enter Your Future with a Secure Heart
I suggested to both moms that perhaps going in on an E-reader would be the perfect gift for Matt’s birthday this November. So I could have my Kindle back, for Pete’s sake. They gave in, and I was able to buy a novel for my Kindle this Thanksgiving break, with the lofty goal of reading for pleasure. And God used… Read More
Who Do You Lean On?
He was looking good dressed for church. Jokingly he used the word Adonis and struck a pose. Actually, 23 years into marriage and he’s getting more handsome to me all the time. So I’m afraid that’s what I thought of Saturday night when we sang words from an old hymn, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean… Read More
If We Can Just Make it through Friday
The last time I saw her she was trying to keep up with friends in the hallway. Wait! I can’t run in these shoes, she said. She was beautiful, and then she was in a fatal car crash on Monday night. So this week has brought me once again into the land of the grieving, except this time I walked… Read More
Comfort for You (with Enough for Leftovers)
I left the writer’s retreat so that I could teach Spanish on Friday afternoon. With a few minutes to spare, I decided to swing into the church and get a hug from my husband. The parking lot was full, which was weird for a Friday when usually only my husband is there working on his sermon. I wonder what’s going… Read More
As Bad as Everything Is, Imagine this Hope
I fell apart over a gift bag yesterday. But let me back up… First there was the switchback drive up Big Mountain Road, looking out over Whitefish, Montana, which apparently is listed as one of the most beautiful cities in which to enjoy fall colors. Then I arrived at a mansion with the car load of writers I had picked… Read More
When the Perfectionist Tries To Know God
For a few years now, I’ve been teaching a class at church called PLACE, which helps people discover how God has shaped them to be of service in the body of Christ. Last night we started a new, four-week class, and I taught the first session on personality. While everyone took a personality inventory I flipped through the workbook, which… Read More
When the Happy Days Seem To Be Behind You
I will beg my tech-smart brother not to mock me here when I say that I finally got the hang of how to upload pictures from CD to my computer. My kids have been all like, Mom, why haven’t you put your pictures on your computer? And I’m all like, Guys. It wasn’t that long ago that I put actual… Read More