In 1980, I was born in a little town in the South. It happened in Spring, while the earth turned green and the bees droned and the forsythias bloomed. My birth parents were two very broken people. We ran away a lot, from the police, and I got dropped off at stranger's houses and there were foster homes, and I felt lost. But, this is not the story of that. This story is not so much about being lost, as it is about being found. When I was about three or four, it thundered and rained and I stood in a living room, somewhere scared and asked my birth mom why it was so loud. She told me that God and the devil were up in heaven fighting. The thunder was because one of them was mad. That was my first introduction to God. He is up there. Somewhere. And He's in charge, kind of. When[...]

The reason (I believe) that there are so many Christians who do not act or look at all like Jesus, in this world, is because they have misunderstood the gospel. Many Christians think like this: "I believe Jesus is the Savior of the world. That means I'm saved. My eternal destination is set. Okay. Great. That's all I have to do from here on out. The rest is business as usual. Moving right along." The gospel is reduced to "heaven when I die." That's it. There's no actually following Jesus in the dailiness of life. This is not Christianity as Jesus defines it. True, authentic Christianity is following, trusting in, relying on Jesus so fully that we would actually do the things that Jesus would do, if He were in our shoes. There was nothing evil or self-centered, o[...]

The other day, I slid open the glass door, stared out into the backyard and cried a little. I cried because the winter had felt long and cold and bleak but it was clearly over now and I was overcome by all the green and growing things. I was overcome by a God who could wake sleeping things back up again. And make seemingly dead things burst back to life. I'm daily moved by a Kingdom that is full of light. And love. And vibrant life. Our days here can be awfully hard. We've got these pestering fears. Our hearts fracture. Our hopes get trampled on. There are difficult relationships to work through. Questions that we don't have answers for. And sometimes we're moving along just fine, and then someone else interjects their fears and we feel like we should just go ahead and be sc[...]

Some days start out pretty hard. Well, not hard compared to the friend who is battling cancer, or the neighbor who just lost their job. And not hard compared to the folks who don’t have enough to eat or the ones on the other side of the world who are being kidnapped and murdered by that terrorist group. Not that kind of hard. But hard to you, because there are just things that are difficult in the day to day where you are actually living. You know, with the kids who keep fighting and that one room you had resolved you would for sure finally clean today but for the life of you, you can’t seem to make any progress…on anything. Because soon as you get to work, someone gets whacked with a toy truck and another gets into the treats in the pantry and someone just made a big ol[...]

When my book first came out, I had lots of questions and ambitions swirling around in my head. Would it be successful? Would my blog readership skyrocket? Would I become a speaker? Honestly, I struggled along with bouts of both insecurity and of pride, because my writing had never been published and I wasn't sure how that would change my life. On the one hand, I wanted to become famous. But, on the other hand, I didn't. Suddenly, I felt pressure to build a platform and to do great things. Meanwhile I was embarrassed if anyone took notice of my work, and I mostly just wanted it to go out quietly into the world and do the thing God had intended it to do, while I stirred mac-n-cheese over the stove and rocked my babes. The thing is, it did go out quietly into the world and my life r[...]

All of us here, we’re looking for joy. I don’t mean the temporary bliss we feel when we eat a warm piece of punkin’ pie. I’m talking about that deep abiding sense of gladness and well-being that we all ache for. The stuff that keeps us fulfilled and stable when the world around us attempts to topple us over. I want to speak into that. Now, as a Jesus follower, I’m confident that joy has a Source. And that source is the Maker Himself. My heart echoes with the heart of this guy, who found joy as he got close to God: You make known to me the path of life; in Your Presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11) So, yes, joy comes from God, through relationship to Him, but He’s provided one sure fire way to tap into that joy and here’s [...]

This morning, Jesus stood at the door of my heart and knocked quiet. When I opened up to Him, there He was, with a kind and gentle grin and one curious question. He simply asked, How do you want to live today, Maggs? And this is what I said, Jesus, I want to live in proximity to You. I want to tuck these kids of mine under my momma wings and huddle close in this nest with them. I want to keep them safe, since they're still so little, from everything wicked and wild and I'd like to tell them more about You. I want to teach them how to love each other. Would you tuck some love into their hearts? And Jesus, I want to pay attention to my life. To go slow enough to actually see. I don't want to live so fast-paced that all I see is blur. I want to put my ear down to these mome[...]

I love October warmth. Wearing a sweatshirt and raking leaves in bare feet. I know, it’s ridiculous. But, have you tried it? Just watch your toes. The rake can do a number on your toes if you’re not careful. And I love the way the sun tingles your skin. How when you sit just so, with your face turned up toward all the light, the sunshine starts warming you right there in the middle of your chest and then overtakes the rest of your happily contented self. One could almost doze off to sleep if it weren’t for that cool breeze that nips around the edges of you, reminding you that you’re quite alive. I love those Autumn breezes. My friend tells me that this time of year, the wind seems to whip everything together into winter ready shape. The grass is still a vivid green but the purple[...]