conversations between sisters in Christ
If I could drop by your house today, I’d bring you a bright bouquet of daffodils. Growing up, it was the irises that were in bloom on Mother’s Day. But here in the mountains, it’s the daffodils that are just showing their bright faces to us. But wherever this week finds us, I’d love to bring you [...]
It was my third year of facing infertility when I suddenly realized that Mother’s Day was coming and Oh, dear Lord, this might be an issue for me. I came upon the holiday with trepidation, wondering if this would be the year that I stopped being able to handle my lack of children. Yet, something in me [...]
This little book — this book with the title Pain Redeemed – it sat by my bed for a few weeks before I opened it. I wanted to read it. There is nothing so thrilling as holding a real, live book written by a friend in your hands. Mine is even autographed, much to my joy! The night I [...]
Angie Smith didn’t set out to become a writer. Her blog, Bring the Rain, was begun as a way to keep family and friends up-to-date with the arrival of her fourth daughter, who was diagnosed as “incompatible with life.” Audrey Caroline lived a lifetime of just a few hours, but her mama kept right on [...]
This will be our second Christmas without him. He never said much. The adjective “quiet” fit him to a T. Still, he was there for everything. Impromptu dinners, horse-riding competitions, graduations, and especially Christmas. There’s just something about sitting on the couch next to your grandpa while “Miracle on 34th Street” plays on the Hallmark [...]
The call comes. I’m standing in the barn and my muscles lose their strength. My heart, this mother-heart that beats within me, wants to find him and cuddle him close and whisper words of comfort. He’s the boy that made motherhood real for this child-less me. I had claimed children through the years, but this [...]
Her name was Sarah and she walked into the unknown with her husband, Abraham, when God called (Genesis 12:1). God promised them a baby and as many descendants as there were stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). And, finally, three men walked out of the desert and accepted the hospitality of Abraham and Sarah’s tent [...]
A miracle is the redemption of pain, not the absolution of it… The idea that if our dreams come true, we’ll be free from pain is a lie. The idea that if we give up our dreams, we’ll always be empty is also a lie. Only in emptiness can we be filled.
I dreamed it ever since I was just a girl — this dream of being called mommy.
It grew with me. It was a dream I tucked into the corner of my heart, waiting the time when life would change it from longing to reality, sometime ahead in the great unknown of my future.
1. Let yourself grieve. More than once. When I found out that my sister-in-law was pregnant with twins, I cried huge blistering tears over the ultrasound pictures. And I thought, “There. I mourned never seeing an ultrasound of my own baby.” Wrong. Every few months I mourn the babies that will never be. The months may [...]
