faith
A Letter to My Daughter: What I Want You to See in the Mirror
May 17th
Dear Faith,
Today the last of the single digits find you: Happy 9th birthday, Faith.
You know I usually spend the weeks leading up to your birthday making jokes about skipping it, how you will not turn the next number. No way no how. You may or may not know I haven’t always relished you growing up.
But this year changed all that. This year, I am not mourning your birthday.
I still marvel at how the days pass slowly but the years fly by. Every mama knows all about that. But if this last year has taught me anything, it’s that nothing’s gained from More >
When You Want Others to Really Like You
May 15th
“I’m learning to care less about what people think and more about people, period.” Emily P. Freeman
My man is technically an engineer in the United States Air Force, although for this assignment he teaches at the United States Air Force Academy. He also has a PhD in something I can’t really pronounce. And just like that, y’all probably make assumptions about him. Because that’s just our nature. When you mix our nature with stereotypes about different occupations and the personalities of those doing them, you make assumptions. While you might guess he is a tech wizard, you might be surprised More >
When You Need Your Heart Put Back Together
May 3rd
They say time heals all wounds, but I don’t believe it.
Our Faith walked around with a broken neck for six years, something we were blind to until a gymnastics fall brought it to light. I still cry when I think of all the ways God’s hands protected her spinal cord when her broken vertebrae did not. How God brought us an amazing pediatric neurosurgeon {in our very own town!} who worked His miracles on her neck. And today, the vertebrae are fully fused and healed. She can do more activities than we thought possible, including riding her bike.
But sometimes, broken More >
How You Can Surely Bloom Today
Apr 23rd
So if you’ve felt afraid to put yourself out there because you feel less than perfect, because you’re afraid what others might say, then reach out your hands and open your heart, sweet sister. You are already perfectly loved, and you only have to please the One who has already declared you are a delight to his heart. Holley Gerth, You’re Already Amazing
She runs into the kitchen and looks up at me with silver dollar eyes. Her words tumble out:
“Mama! Did you see what’s on the side of the house by where the garden stuff is? Did you see what’s blooming??”
I More >
What Is Waiting in Your Rescue
Mar 25th
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Colossians 1:13-14
I don’t like to think I need rescuing. Even just writing the word ‘rescue’ makes me feel needy, weak, and out-of-control. But the fact remains we all need a Rescuer, and in the rescue is rest for you. And me. Few things strengthen like a healthy dose of rest.
In this fresh new week, may you know He rescues so you can rest in the Light, at home in and More >
While Waiting on Friends :: at (in)courage
Mar 3rd
God is in no hurry. Compared to the works of mankind, He is extremely deliberate. God is not a slave to the human clock.
Charles Swindoll
You tell me your desert stretches for miles, and how you lived in it for weeks, months, or years. And I know exactly what you’re talking about because I’ve seen the same friend-making landscape. True, sometimes friendships form quickly, but usually I’ve had to wait on them.
And really, how many of us like to wait on anything? I want what I want and I want it now, thankyouverymuch.
I can do all the right things in hopes of finding More >
How You Know There Is a Light at the End of the Tunnel
Jan 24th
When creating the world, God’s first order of business saw darkness turn to light. He said, “Let there be light.” And lickedy split, light emerges from dark. Light was the first thing He called good.
So this first act of creation replays every morning when darkness finds dawn’s early light breaking slowly, surely into blue sky. It’s not immediate, but it’s definite. It’s the first sign of a new day, and the first reminder of God’s good nature.
When darkness comes close, I remember how God’s chief desire is to bring light from it. I may see it immediately or gradually, but I’ll More >
Your New Christmas Miracle Waiting to Be Found
Dec 20th
The nurse named Allie just shakes her head.
“Someone will write a book about her one day.”
Over our 3 day stay in the hospital, we recount Faith’s story a dozen times. Yes, she’s most likely had this injury since age 2. Yes, she’s survived all kinds of crazy activities, including years in gymnastics and boogie boarding in Hawaii. And who can count all the other swing-jumping, stair-sliding revels? But when you’re this active while missing the bone that keeps the first vertebrae from sliding into the spinal cord, making it through unscathed means God’s hand obviously covers and protects before it brings More >
