Our son came home on a rainy November day. Instead of a hospital room, we gathered him to us from an airport waiting area. We knelt and talked to him by the luggage carousel and bonded over dinner at Cracker Barrel. My heart cracked with the glory of the Lord’s redemption in my life. While my body ... read more
6 Books to Grow Your Faith
“That is a good book it seems to me, which is opened with expectation and closed with profit.” (Louisa May Alcott) Did you ever sit on a phone book as a kid? Maybe you were too short to reach the table at grandma's house and the latest, hefty edition of The Yellow Pages was commissioned as a sort ... read more
When Life Goes Sour
Despite doing everything right and following best practice, even thrown in some extra precautions for good measure, our day turned sour. Fast.In a foreign country, halfway through our long anticipated vacation-for-the-memory-books, the bliss turned bad. Our practically perfect day of ... read more
how to catch your breath when you can’t stop running
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” (1 Corinthians 9:24) I’m no stranger to hard work. As the oldest, Type-A child growing up on a farm with seven siblings, I learned early that self-discipline and diligence are ... read more
Silver Spoons and Grains of Sand
A friend and mentor once told me that when you're trying to get going again with Bible reading, you can always start by just reading the Proverb that coincides with the day of the month. That is precisely how I wound up reading Proverbs 30 one dreary morning before work. My breath caught in my ... read more
How to Persevere When Things Get Hard
Right before Christmas my husband was injured.We were just upstairs in the barn, cleaning up a few building scraps from when we built the house last year. It wasn’t hard work, nor was it particularly dangerous work.When my husband took a deep breath and told me his finger had just been cut ... read more
How to Find Your Vocation
Your vocation: what is it?It isn’t exactly the same as your career or job, says Jeff Goins, though it may include them. Its scope is life-long: it is the theme you will return to again and again, however many times your specific job description might change. The fact that I've gone from teaching ... read more
