I’m an encourager. I say that without pomp or pretense and with no need for recognition. I simply like finding the potential good and reminding folks of it on the hard days. It’s part of my wiring. I used to think I had to be qualified somehow before I offered up encouraging words. That I […]
“I thought I’d let you know I’m not doing Christmas presents this year so please don’t get me anything.” For years now, I’d exchanged gifts with my dear friend. But not this time. Something in me had dried up. There was no excitement. No joy. Gift-buying was becoming more and more a responsibility, an expectation to […]
. There are some folks you simply want to un-busy your life long enough to sit with, to make memories with, and my dear friend, Dr. Michelle Bengtson has long been one of those people for me. I love her enthusiasm for life and her desire to make a difference in the lives of hurting […]
The smell of the buttered-rum candle floats through the air. On my couch, the oversized pillows prop me sideways while the light tan throw and a plethora of books cover me. Gnarled leaves hold tight to the proud branches of the heroic oak tree standing outside my living room window. The stark winter landscape had […]
“Nana, can we do that The Ology book again tonight?” Lacey scrambles up on my super-sized bed, her freshly showered hair dripping slow right down her pajamas onto the edge of my comforter. “Here, I’ll get it,” she says, reaching across me to the night stand. “What happens next?” she asks. A couple months back […]
When I met Linda Kuhar a couple years back, I knew she was the type of person I could and would call friend. Today I’m honored to celebrate with this beautiful girl the release of her powerful story, Worthy of a Miracle. Although doctors predicted Linda would never walk or breathe again on her own, she […]
Guest post By Jill Lynn Buteyn Everyone knows someone with cancer. Or depression. Or a debilitating illness. Often we’re not sure what to do or say around people who are sick or suffering. When my friend Kara Tippetts was diagnosed with breast cancer in her mid-thirties, we hadn’t known each other for very long. I […]
Her hair pulled back into mermaid style waves and her green eyes pooling with tears, this girl of mine stands uncertain and anxious, reaching deep for courage. She trusts when I say she’s going to be okay, but those first steps still feel so hard. I imagine it’s that way for most of us–hard to let go of […]
Guest post by Emily T. Wierenga “Are you scared, Mom?” Auntie Susan is gone now, the hair all swept up and Trent’s sisters laying their boys down for a nap. I am in the kitchen with Marge, and we’ve been visiting a lot these days because her chemo will start soon, and she’ll be living in […]
Guest post: Joanna Weaver Of all the weapons the Enemy likes to use against us, I’m convinced that nothing is as deadly as the unconscious patterns we tend to develop in our lives. Though we’ve been born-again in our spirits, our soulish natures—consisting of our minds, wills, and emotions—tend to run in ruts created by repetition. Self-defeating grooves […]