I was in one aisle of JoAnn’s Fabrics looking for magnets, and I could hear a mom with her toddler in the next aisle. He was making barely intelligible comments about everything, and she was sweetly responding to whatever he said, as if he were an adult engaging her in rich conversation. It made me…
I say it to my coffee in the morning, Do something. A small idolatry –hoping to get all strength for living out of 12 ounces of caffeine. God says to his people, “Bring in your idols.” And he demands of these idols, these 12 ounces of god, “Do something.” (Isaiah 41:22, 23 NIV) Except idols don’t…
About a half an hour from my mom’s house I thought I was going to be ill. Stomach knotted, I wondered how I could walk my own grief to the front door and face the mirrored grief of my mother. The next several days presented some of the most difficult challenges I have ever faced….
Number one is when that boy of mine stumbles down the stairs in the morning, to eat a bowl of cereal in his sleep –my first encounter with another human being for this day. I say, Good Morning, nice and easy, because I always remember Solomon’s advice, “He who blesses his friend with a loud…
I have his name written on a 3 x 5 card, slipped into one of the pockets in my $2 photo album that serves as an economical prayer journal. I don’t know for sure, seein’s how as I can’t see into the soul of a man, but I’m pretty convinced, by all outward signs, that…
This is a formal apology to my father: We sat at Mr. D’s Grocery Store in Lander, Wyoming, waiting for the barista to finish a big espresso order before we could place ours. Dad sat in between me and my 19-year-old daughter. I had offered to make Daylight Donuts Coffee at home, but he insisted…
They asked. They received. Pity the fool who asked too little. Jesus says, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22 NIV) Ask big. Ask for healing of your soul’s greatest pain. Ask for strength. Ask for direction. Ask for deeper experience of God’s love. Ask big. Be specific. …
A few decades ago, dad and I were shopping together for a gift for mom just a few days before Christmas. We went into one of those stores that has a little jewelry, some perfume, and a lot of pretty, breakable stuff. As we browsed for a gift for mom, dad said, So what do…
I walked into school anxious. I’m still pretty new at this teacher thing and often feel like a kid whose a bit wobbly on brand new ice skates. I was breathing deeply, trying to think courageous thoughts. My first stop is always the teachers’ work room where the mailboxes are. My box is usually empty,…
I recently tried to pray for someone and experienced an unusual feeling of hopelessness, which made me panic. I had this feeling like even if I prayed nothing would change. This was a strange faithlessness for me. My prayers continued but always with an undercurrent of, Lord, will my prayer to you really change anything…
She came home crying, the little bitty blonde thing of mine. Her feet hurt, and she was exhausted from the field trip and the day’s hike. That’s when she told me she had carried the full CamelBak of water all the way up the mountain, and it wore her out. But she is an unassuming…
I wrote this blog post about how I had terrible insomnia the night before chaperoning a high school retreat and how I trusted God was going to be the power to help me rise successful. Yeah. That sentiment lasted, um, five minutes. I posted those words of wisdom and then promptly went upstairs and bit off my husband’s head….
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