Jesus is a friend to sinners. And who hasn't sinned? I mean, really, no one has ever gotten it all right. No one, that is, except for Jesus. And that's why He could be the perfect sacrifice. That's why He could bear the thorns and take the nails and bleed out on the cross. Because only His blood was good enough to pay the ransom for my life. To bring me back to God.And this God who made everything--He's not some impersonal deity up by the stars who can't be felt or known. He's a God who is there. A God who makes Himself known. A God who stepped into the world through the Person of His Son, so that He could be seen and touched and heard. And so that He could make things right again. Because sin, it marred this whole place. It broke us and we've all been reeling ever since. So, we all needed[...]

It's the very, very end of the day, and I really should be tucked in bed, but I just wanted to show you a few things.Today there was all this sunshine in the yard. And I had a lot of things to do but the kids were resting and I couldn't stand to think that all the sunshine was filling up the yard and I was inside washing dishes. Because around here, I have this saying. It goes like this, "Winter is coming! So, I should go outside." So, I did. I put the dish towel down and I went out barefoot and I just enjoyed sitting in the grass and petting my cat and gazing at the blue patch of sky and felt the breeze all blowy. It was so blowy that I was going to capture this one little dandelion seed still clinging, but right before I clicked the shudder, it blew away. And that little fleeti[...]

I've got this little girl and she's an awful lot like me. Now, I'm not about to call her Maggie Jr. I wouldn't do that to her. But, I have called her "Silly Goose," just like my mama called me.  For one thing, she laughs when it’s totally inappropriate. And it’s not just this little giggle, but this loud guffaw and she’s so unashamed to release all her joy, right out of the bottom of her belly. And she’s got this wild streak. Like, when I tell her for the umpteenth time not to crawl on the back of the couch and she does it anyway and then turns to see if I’m looking and there’s that gleam in her eye.  Then, off she runs, covering her tail and screaming like a school-kid being chased on the playground. I don’t know how to get her to see that I really do MEAN it! She's only two an[...]

Because some days you just need a song. Today it's The David Crowder Band's, Let Me Feel You Shine. You know the drill. Push play...scroll down.This place is trying to break my belief But my faith is bigger than all I can see What I need is redemption What I need is for You for to put me back on my feetI swear I'm trying to give everything But I feel I'm falling, oh make me believe What I need is resurrection What I need is for You to put me back on my feet If I could feel You shine Your perpetual light Then maybe I could crawl out of this tonight If I could feel You feel You shine Oh let me feel You shine So beautiful and warm So beautiful and bright Like a sun comin' out of a rainy sky Oh let me feel You shineOh, let me feel You shine I lift the knife to the thing I love most P[...]

In the early hours of the morning, while all was still silent and quite dark, I jolted wide awake with this sharp pain in my abdomen. Now, I realize that it was just some gas perhaps, (as embarrassing as that is to admit) but at the moment I prepared myself for a trip to the ER for a ruptured appendix. The pain itself didn’t actually last long, but something about it got me to thinking why it is that I really want to live. I think about how I want to especially be here for Gideon and Hope. Those little people who follow me around everywhere I go and yell, “MOMMY” a jillion times a day and wreck the house I try to keep clean and ask so many questions that my brain goes numb. I want to be here for them. Because in spite of all the ruckus and all the chaos and all the need they have, I really[...]

Next month is mine and Brent's 5th wedding anniversary. (In which we celebrate the best five years of our whole entire lives!!!) But Brent found this awesome deal on Groupon, so he grabbed it up and we took off early for a few days while his parents watched our kids. (Thank You, Lord, for parents. Parents who really, really like our kids.) We decided to be a little crazy and go to this theme park together. The two of us had never ridden a roller coaster side-by-side, so we decided it was high time to get our scream on.Oh my goodness. I cannot express to you the amount of intense jubilee we experienced while riding roller coasters and bumper cars and go carts. And the amount of pain. When we weren't laughing, we were yelling for the ride to STOP because it hurt so much. At one point, Brent [...]

Some days, fear has this grip on me. Anxiety and worry take its toll and I find it hard to breathe. I can feel it in my skin, literally. Every once in a while, I get the shingles. Shingles isn’t just for old folks, apparently. Shingles can happen to worry warts, too. But, I’m a child of God. A little girl who belongs to a Great King. A Great King who never worries about a thing because He’s the biggest and the strongest. And I’ve got these promises. “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” (Deut. 33:27) “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” (Psalm 46:1,7)So, I run to my Refuge and I hide in my Strong Tower and I just sit still and remember what I’ve got in Him. I[...]

I sat in this quiet cafe' over a grilled  ham and cheese while my friend told me her story. How all her growing up years, she knew God was real but she just couldn't get why He was so intangible. Because, she just wanted to feel Him. To reach out and take a hold of Him somehow. But, she never could. And as I looked in her eyes, I could feel her ache. I had wondered it too, remembering how I'd laid in my bed on quiet nights, tears streaming with the deepest pain in my chest. And on those nights, I'd reached up, arms open wide, just wanting God to embrace me. Aching to be held. So many times, I'd wished I could crawl up in His lap, closing that cosmic gap between us. It had sent my heart pounding for heaven, in the wildest way.And as she poured out bits and pieces of her soul, I sat the[...]

If you give a girl a cupcake, she'll probably just stand there, all polite, and him-haw around, as if she's actually going to refuse the thing. But, then she'll catch a whiff of chocolate and somehow she'll hear this angelic singing and she'll forget that just minutes earlier, she had warded off sugar for the rest of her life. She'll say something like, "Oh, well, um...okay. Okay, I'll take it. I mean, if you really want me to." Then she'll kindly accept your gracious offer of delightful goodness. And she'll carefully unwrap it...Or if she's trying really hard to be a lady, she might even let you unwrap it for her. You know, so she doesn't get sprinkles in her hair or icing on her shirt. And then if you're still looking, she'll gingerly pick it up and nibble just a smidgen a[...]