Gideon tells me, as he’s smacking on his fruit snacks at the kitchen table, that God wants us to talk to Him all the time, even when we’re tired.

We went to Arkansas to see our family, but we timed it just right so we could go to my friend’s wedding.

Today was the first day "on my own" with the three kids. And I shouldn't really say I'm on my own. Because God is always right here, helping me, even when my Mama leaves and Brent goes back to work. I must say, it's been going rather well. And can you believe I haven't even had coffee or chocolate? I didn't know this sort of living was possible. I haven't even perished!There's something about having a new baby that makes me feel like I have this chance to start all over again. Like, it's a new year or something. When my mama was here, I asked her for some advice on how to keep up with the house and how to raise the kids, because it's slowly dawned on me that some things I've been doing haven't exactly been working. Bed time and meal times have been the most stressful moments of our lives.[...]

The other night, Brent and I got to go on a date, since the kiddos where happily spending the night at "Grandma and Grandpa's house." By the way,  I'm so thankful for parents who really do love and enjoy spending time with their grandkids. I heard some parents prefer their own quiet, busy lives. I'm so glad ours don't.Anyways, as we sat there at the restaurant, and got to know the waitress in between her bringing us heaping warm plates of food and refilling our drinks, I couldn't help but love her and want to know her story. So, I asked her questions and she told me bits and pieces in spurts. Then, when Brent got up to go to the restroom, I asked her if there was anything I could pray for her about, because Jesus lives inside me and I could feel Him loving her and I wanted her to know[...]

See these two little twirps? I love them with everything that's in me. I love them so much, it actually pains me. When they're fast asleep and I go in to peek at them, with their soft skin, and that little peach fuzz still on their cheeks, and their little beating hearts and their sweet hands and those cute toes, I sometimes just cry because of how much I love them. Every bit.  And golley, how I want to protect them. There's not a doubt in my mind that at any sign of trouble, I'd scoop them up and run to keep them safe, or I'd lay down my life right then and there just to keep theirs going. I'd suffer anything for them. And if they ever got lost, I'd spend my life searching the world for them. I just love them so deep.And I think they need that kind of love. We all do. We need someone[...]

This morning I read about the day Jesus was beaten to a bloody pulp and nailed to a splintery cross. He had all this power available to Him. I mean, He could have called for thousands of angels and they would have come and protected Him from all the bad guys. But He didn't. He didn't do that because Jesus didn't come to live a safe life. He actually came to die--that's why He let the bad guys win.And as His enemies were all crying out, "Crucify Him!", they said a very interesting thing. They said, "May His blood be upon us and on our children." (Matthew 27) And little did they know, but that is exactly what they needed. And that's precisely why Jesus let the bad guys win. This is what the cross is all about. Because the way that God would take sin-ravaged and sin-imprisoned souls and make [...]

We Americans have so much. Just so much. But, it doesn't fix the ache. That insatiable longing for something more, something better, something soul-satisfying. Perhaps all our wealth and success only magnify the ache. Because no matter how high we're able to climb the corporate ladder, or no matter how much stuff we accumulate, it's never quite good enough. A hundred folks could sing our praises and a thousand friends could load us up with accolades, but at the end of the day, we're still searching for that one more. That one more Facebook like. That one more Twitter follower. No matter how big the platform we stand on, it just doesn't remedy the deepest longing. That longing to be filled with something that satiates all the dry and empty places.And I think there are people who are terribl[...]

Every morning when I wake up, when  my eyelids are just fluttering open, I whisper to God that I need Him. Well, first I usually tell Him good morning, and then I tell Him how much I need Him. And this morning I told Him that I needed Him to the gleaming moon and back, like infinity times. Because I do. And I thanked Him for all these new mercies this morning because I seriously need those too. And I love waking up to the awareness of the One who made me. Who knit me together when I was in my mama's tummy and fashioned all my parts. And the One who breathed His life into my lungs and who wakes me up every morning to stars singing and a brand new day. Then I came downstairs and made my coffee and sat in my usual spot to read His Words. Because although I live in my body, I also have a[...]

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[...]