“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 of "booster." Well, though phone books are quite endangered these days, books can always be a booster, a stepping stone or a staircase to new heights. ... Read More about 6 Books to Grow Your Faith
Inspirational
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 waterfall-swimming and wave-jumping ended with a jolt. A jarring sense of violation. The locked car had been forced open and the locked glove-box was ripped ... Read More about When Life Goes Sour
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 fundamental to accomplishing goals. I know projects don’t accomplish themselves. I’m a self-starter who enjoys checking things off a list and I don’t mind ... Read More about how to catch your breath when you can’t stop running
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 throat, for though I had seen it before, I had never realized how applicable it was to myself. "Do not make me rich, but give me each day what I need; for ... Read More about Silver Spoons and Grains of Sand
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 off, I looked around bewildered, trying to grasp what in the world he was talking about. Later that night, sitting in the ER, waiting for the doctor ... Read More about How to Persevere When Things Get Hard
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 English abroad to housekeeping for wealthy summer neighbors in the rural United States doesn't have to rock my sense of calling: I just choose ... Read More about How to Find Your Vocation
Before Epic, Be Kind
I am watching my husband play basketball, sitting on metal bleachers in the YMCA gymnasium when I hear her calling my name; old enough in body to be my mother, young enough in mind to be my child. She looks up at me earnestly and we half-shout at each other to be heard above the noise of the annual Fire Department vs. Special Olympics basketball game. (In all the years of playing, the firefighters have been mysteriously unable pull off a ... Read More about Before Epic, Be Kind
“You are loved with an everlasting love…”
“‘You are loved with an everlasting love,’ that’s what the Bible says, ‘and underneath are the everlasting arms.'” If you, like me, grew up listening to “Gateway to Joy” on the radio every morning, you knew the next line was going to be, “This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot.” That soft, deep voice would proceed to tell you what she would be talking about with you today. And it was always biblical, profound, and pertinent. My mom, grandma, ... Read More about “You are loved with an everlasting love…”
How to Find the Fountain of Youth
When I was an awkward, anxious twenty-something who felt hopelessly crippled by shyness, it dawned on me one day that even a stick-in-the-mud might actually be transformed into the kind of person who joyfully welcomes new people, new adventures, and new growth in my heart. It might be possible to be born “old” and steadily grow younger. As Exhibit A, I had my maternal grandmother, the most young-at-heart person I knew. Despite the ... Read More about How to Find the Fountain of Youth
The Lens of Freedom
She was basically invisible. And, when people did notice, she was looked at with disdain. Society shunned her. They only saw her mistakes and it was their own constructs that kept her ostracized and unwanted. She was imprisoned by shame and guilt and fear and old habits that followed her around like a five o'clock shadow. She was the woman at the well. By the time she encounters Jesus, she is used to being slighted and cast off. She has ... Read More about The Lens of Freedom
Choosing Joy in the Rain
I looked at blue skies and knew the clouds were coming soon. I marveled at a shadow cast across my floor and wondered how long it would last. I saw an autumn scene and saw only gray, ignoring the greens and browns and reds of the trees. I saw the world half empty, the glass barely even watered. Moving from the deep south into the Canadian Raincouver created in me a loathing of the rain, a tendency to see the negative without acknowledging ... Read More about Choosing Joy in the Rain
riding out the “storms of guilt”
I’m really good at keeping the commandments. You know the ones: you shall not murder, shall not covet, shall not misspell someone’s name, shall not miscommunicate, shall not go more than two days without washing your hair, shall not take a wrong turn, shall not eat junk food, shall not sleep in, shall not wear white after Labor Day, shall not forget a friend’s birthday. These are the laws our religion was founded on and I take them very, very ... Read More about riding out the “storms of guilt”
