Dear Self, Yes, you, my love. You, who just carried a baby for nine months and grunted and groaned a lot and tried to be thankful that there was this new little life growing inside. I want to tell you some things. I know how hard it was for you, there at the end. Because you were sick of those pants with the wide, elastic-y middle, that had to be stretched out over your big ol belly, just so they would stay up. I know how much they itched, but aren't you glad for pants? I know your friends are glad that you had them.   : ) And I know how much you worried along the way, even though you tried to trust Jesus as much as you could. How much you wondered if you would make it to the end and if your baby would make it into the world and if she'd be okay once she got here. I saw[...]

There's this one love story I know. It has some tragedy in it. Well, a lot of tragedy. The kind that makes you feel cold inside and has you wondering if there's any point going on. But, thankfully, there's a whole heap of triumph in the story, too. It ends in triumph, which is where each of us aches for all the love stories to end. It's the sort of love story that helps you when you're in the middle of your hard things, be able to whisper to yourself, "All will be well." Even if you have to repeat that a few times to yourself and practice believing it when you mostly want to doubt. This particular story starts way back in the beginning. Like, back in the Garden-beginning. Back when everything was pure and good and as it ought to be. There were people involved. And a Maker. And t[...]

I told Jesus a while back that I wanted to help the world. I want to be like a shepherdess for souls. Someone who could come alongside some hurting, struggling-along people and take their hand and help them get to God's heart, where the healing and love is. I told Him this when I was feeling very loving and sentimental. When I wasn't drowning in the all the mundane duties of life. And then someone came knocking at my door. (Not my real actual door to my house, but at my email door. And someone came knocking at my facebook door. And someone came knocking on the telephone.) They were asking for help. That's when I remembered my prayer, "Send me Your broken, Lord, and I'll take them in! I'll be a safe place. I'll get them to the haven of Your heart." But, when God did send me Hi[...]

I entered into this year of homeschooling, knowing that I wanted to enjoy every ounce that I could. (I've got a second grader and a first grader and a rascally three year old and one more kiddo on the way, come this winter.) I want to enjoy my life and my children and grow and learn and explore and thrive along with them. I knew this would mean that I would need a plan. I consider myself a writer and an artist, so making plans is new to me. But, these days, if I'm going to have any time to create, then I have to make plans so I don't squander all my energy on all the other harder, more mundane things in life, that are necessary, but don't exactly fill me up. This semester, I knew that I would need to be thoughtful about the whole process. I also knew that it would mean I would fl[...]

The week is new again. There's clothes strewn all over our bedroom floor, clean ones at least, because we were too tired to unpack from our "vacation." Brent and I took the kids to family camp for a week and so we camped in an RV. A really nice one, so there was no suffering involved. Running water. Soft covers. Comfy beds. Three square meals a day. I'm a wimp, I admit it. This is my kind of camping. Then we stayed an extra week, because we had meetings every morning out at the camp and Brent and I were the emcee's. We figured there was no way we could emcee the event and arrive there punctually with three kids and my pregnant self,  so when Brent offered to sign us up for another week of lodging and meals, I thought that sounded pretty nice. But, now we're back. We're bac[...]

Matt Maher sings this song, “Love will hold us together, build us a shelter to weather the storm. And I'll be my brother's keeper, so the whole world will see that we're not alone.” So, what does this mean, that love has the ability to hold us together? Do we really believe that love can keep us reaching out and finding one another’s hand in the dark? Can love hold keep us in proximity to each other, even through storms? Storms like uncertainty and loss, disappointment, frustration, and just the everyday plodding along that we have to do, to get through the grueling and mundane parts of life? How is that kind of love possible? This week, a friend called me. She’s got a daughter who’s only been married a few months and turns out, this newly married couple doesn't get along al[...]

Each of us walks around each day, with quite a bit going on inside our chests. We relentlessly criticize ourselves for the things we haven't managed well. (Our home, our marriage, our kids, our relationships, our work, our spiritual life, our finances....it's exhausting.) We have these pestering fears that go everywhere with us, and these regrets that linger long after the lights are out. We feel the daily demands of life pressing in, and the steady expectations of others. We wake up with maybe a smidgen of hope and open up the blinds to let the light in, but before we've gotten too far along in the day, we're already worn out. Somewhere, we have to find some peace and rest. We go looking for this in food and sports and sex and tv shows, in beverages and the beach--there [...]

I have to tell you something about Jesus and marriage. There will be nights when you will go to bed and you will think that your spouse is your enemy. They'll do something stupid (or you'll do something stupid) and man, it'll be hard and one of you will want to scratch the other's eyes out. You'll feel your heart callous up and fortify itself in some kind of concrete barricade. You will think that change is not even possible. Even if you're a Christian, you'll start to question if there's enough power in Jesus to really help you, or them, overcome this particular sin and selfishness. Listen, my loves. Jesus is a very present Help in time of trouble. It's true. I know because I felt Him last night and this morning after Brent and I had a massively hard time working through some[...]

I'm gonna say something to us, because it's sort of important. And it doesn't get said often enough, especially in Christian circles. If you're a human being, then at some point, you're most likely gonna need some counseling. Some of you have been fed this notion and you've believed it. (I used to believe it, too.) Goes like this: "You have Jesus. He's enough. You don't need counseling. You don't need meds, ever. Pretty much, you can't possibly need anything because HELLO. You've got JESUS! Now, just be a good enough Christian and it'll all work out." My friends. This just isn't at all good or true. Life is ridiculously hard. Sometimes we get these sore hearts that don't seem to heal. That's why God made people. Lots of people. We need each other. It doesn't mean you're[...]