When I needed something but felt guilty asking for it, dad loved to pull out his wallet and let the hundreds fan in front of my eyes for a second. “Oh man, I’m almost out of money,” he would say. Then we would exchange smiles. His smile would say, “What’re you worried about, kid?” My smile would say, “Shoot, I… Read More
How Will I Know When God Is Talking to Me?
Yesterday I pulled out a manila file labeled “colors.” That’s the theme of the week in my Spanish class, so I have plans to bring colors to my students through various mediums. Skittles are on the docket, because if a student tastes the rainbow, he might be more motivated to remember its colors. I also have a color by number,… Read More
When Your People Need You But You Got Nothin’
It was my very first summer to mow the lawn, about a decade ago. When I was growing up that was a boy job, so I had never even been asked to mow. But the grass was kicking up Matt’s allergies and asthma so bad that I suggested I give it a go. Come to find out, I loved mowing…. Read More
Do This Before You Perform Your Normal Worry Sequence
I remember one night when my dad and brother were gone, and mom and I wanted to set the VCR to record a TV show. I can imagine my children shaking their heads at that archaic technology, but at the time it was super cool that we could do such a thing. So we got out the instruction booklet. I… Read More
Here’s What to Do with Your Frustration
I was sitting in the center of the long room, at one of the fancy new electric typewriters. It was a timed typing test, in my first semester of typing class. She said go, and I could not keep up. In one of my finest moments, I ripped the paper out of the machine, crumpled it in a ball, and… Read More
What to Pray When Things Aren’t Looking Good
Twenty-eight hours into a 30-hour road trip –that’s when my son’s 2000 Dodge Neon lost its lights. We were five minutes north of Fort Worth, Texas when my husband decided we were going to have to find a mechanic. There was no way we could get through Fort Worth with no brake lights. Bums were tired. Hearts were discouraged. We… Read More
Permission Granted to Pray about Small Stuff
You’ll know for sure how nerdy I am, when I tell you I’ve been praying about a grammar concern all summer. Maybe you’ve been hiking and boating and roasting marshmallows, but I just do words in all four seasons. So you know I’m a Spanish teacher, and I entered the summer determined to understand this one grammar detail that I… Read More
You Want to Make The Most of Your Life
I have been performing the same ritual every weekend for a few decades now. Old towels come down and get tossed into the hamper. New towels, still with a hint of bleach smell, get hung nice and fresh on the bathroom rods. On Friday night, I went through the routine. Once more I lamented the need for bleach and wistfully… Read More
The Kindness of A God Who Will Nix Your Request
Exactly this time two years ago I was in a bad way. I had lost my medical transcription job earlier in the year, due to the incoming of electronics into the medical field. I had dreams of being a plain-ol’ housewife, but we were having a hard time meeting budget without me working. I was begging God, Please don’t make… Read More
When Stress Takes You to The Edge of Losing It
Sometimes all of these things happen in 24 hours: You wig out about money and then go into a deep depression because you think you can’t afford for you and your husband to take your son to college. You say you will stay home. You completely despair and think all of life is nothing but pain and sorrow. You don’t… Read More