Around here, in this crazy chaotic house of mine, I’m teaching my children to pray. Now, you might be thinking that I mean I’m teaching them how to sit still and fold their hands and bow their heads and close their eyes. We do that occasionally, but not always. Sometimes we yell our prayers, really loud. With our eyes wide open. Like, a couple months ago, when our little friend had to go to the hospital because he was having seizures. Gideon, Hope and I sat in the living room floor and clasped each other’s hands and we yelled for God to please help our friend. We didn’t yell because we thought God was too far away and couldn’t hear. Or because we thought maybe He had gotten old and needed us to speak up. We yelled because we were desperate. Desperate people yell sometimes. And th[...]

A friend told me once that this moment, the one right here, is actually the most important moment of my life. He said it's because this is the only moment we've got. None of us knows if we'll have tomorrow's moment. Or another moment in the next hour. All we have is this one. This one right here.  And this moment is the the most significant moment of my life because it's the moment in which I can meet with God. John Ortberg wrote a whole book about that. A book called, "God is Closer Than You Think." I'd like to read that book someday. And when my friend told me that, I sat spell-bound. Because this sort of thinking can revolutionize a life. It can help a person with their fears. It can help them with their angst. It gives them cause for celebration and  joy, even in the midd[...]

Do you ever get lost in your day? If you happen to be in the same season of life as I am, you might find yourself standing a little bewildered in the middle of your kitchen, as your five year old and nearly four year old are on their hands and knees on the linoleum, simultaneously wailing at the top of their lungs because of the wretched disappointment in which their lives have turned out. You know, because your boy doesn’t like the toast with “nuts” in it and your girl seriously needs her chocky milk “warmed up.” All the while, your eight month old is pulling all the cook-books off the shelf for the umpteenth time. A momma can feel so lost before 10 a.m. And if you’re not careful, everything will ream out of control from there and you’ll only get more lost-er. (No, that’s not a [...]

Some days I walk around feeling inconsolably lonely. And I always think that it's strange. Because I have these people around me that love me well and love me deep and that I love immensely. Namely, my husband and kids. And I've got a fair amount of friends. And a cell phone and email and facebook to keep up with the ones I can't see face to face, much. But, still, I go through these phases of just feeling so lonesome. I can be smack dab in the middle of all the folks I love and yet, there's this sadness, this feeling that something isn't quite right. That somehow I'm not complete or that I'm not at home. And when I try to put my finger on it, I find that I'm ravishingly hungry for Someone else. Someone other. Like, I'm starved for God. I know. It's strange. And when I read the B[...]

Dear Jesus-follower, Remember the King. When you rise from your pillow and draw up the curtains and pour up the coffee and open your computer. Remember Him. Jesus has claim on you. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. You belong to God because He made you. And you belong to Jesus because He purchased you with His blood. So, you are doubly His. This doesn't mean that God will hijack your personality. He made your personality. He made you with a brain that reasons and an imagination that creates and a will that chooses. He will, however, bring you to your full potential and help you become the best version of yourself.  And as you follow Him, keeping company with Him, He'll make you fully alive. So, remember this. Remember the King. When you're setting t[...]

I sweep up tid bits of paper into piles. The paper Hopey cut up into scraps to stuff into her teacups and heap onto her plastic pink plates to feed her babes.