Last month was a doozy.Plans imploded, life skidded out of control, and my last threads of stability were shredded apart. I was walking with a limp, talking with a stutter, and figuratively, in a state of mortal bleeding. I know that discouragement and anxiety have…

(2 minutes, 6 seconds) As a little kid, I hid my money in a jar under my bed. I wasn’t saving for anything in particular; I was storing up for a rainy day… whatever that meant in my seven-year-old brain!  No, I didn’t have much money….

(1 minute, 30 seconds to read)When our third was a curly-headed toddler, and before he transitioned from afternoon naps, Austin enjoyed staying up later in the evenings with his dad and me. After his older siblings had been tucked in for the night, Austin, who…

(2 minutes, 4 seconds to read) “He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth, the Lord God Almighty is his name.” Amos 4:13 Two…

Several weeks ago I was riding shotgun next to my youngest man-cub. Glancing down, I noticed that the cupholder between his car seats held multiple square post-it notes that had cursive writing on them. Intrigued but not wanting to appear nosy, I casually asked, “Are…

“Hold your plans loosely”, a beloved mentor once taught me. Leaning in eagerly at Naomi’s kitchen table on Saturday mornings, I would come like a thirsty young mother, trying to drink in every drop of wisdom and much needed encouragement that she offered. Naomi turned…

We moved last week.For the tenth time in our 29 years of married life, our address has changed again. My husband and I both grew up deep in the country, like 100 acres of country. We rode our bicycles on gravel roads, “went to town”…

October 9, 2020Exactly 40 years ago tonight, I became fatherless. God’s promises to the fatherless have always been especially precious to me because of what happened in my life at the tender age of 12.Though my own loss of my dad was especially traumatic because…

 My guess is that not many people cry when they read Ezra chapter 3. I did.  And then I kept crying right along with the old men who wept in verse 12. Ezra chapter 3 is about rebuilding. After living in captivity in Babylonia for…

Many moons ago, I was the majorette for our high school marching band. Truth be told, one of the reasons I tried out for this extra-curricular job was because of the adorable, white tasseled boots that were a perk of the position. Yes, the boots…