In a world packed with coaches and consultants and career gurus, I’m learning how there really is no better life coach than God. No safer place to land, no one better equipped to take the pain and disappointment of broken dreams and unmet expectations and recycle them into a life of purpose and meaning. Are we […]
Share Your Voice to Make a Difference
With a pounding heart, my shaking hand filled out the application for the When A Woman Finds Her Voice book launch team a few months back. I had been blogging only a month and all my insecurities rising to the surface reminded me of that as I explained my desire to participate. Will I be […]
When Weakness Prepares You to Be Brave
Warriors, knights, and soldiers—I see it in them all. A bravery to fight wars, battle madmen, and go to the front lines for freedom. Lives are sacrificed, families are broken, and countries are devastated. I’ve never seen myself as someone ready to face and endure danger or pain. Honestly I’ve tried to avoid pain in […]
No Narrow Mercies
Special Guest Post by Leslie Leyland Fields It was my first visit to my father in his new nursing home. It had taken two days and four flights to get there. I hadn’t seen him for 8 years. When the divorce was finalized decades ago, he had moved thousands of miles from his children. I […]
When God Uses Our Brokenness to Mend Another
Recently I sat in a conference packed with thirty-somethings, humbled by their meaningful lives. These beautiful women were allowing God to shape their hearts, pure, and intentional. It was a juncture I’d missed, my life much different–my thirties a haze of dysfunction. It’s hard for me to fathom I turn fifty in a couple months. […]
When Trusting God Takes Courage
I’ve never been naturally courageous. I used to think this courage was something I should be able to muster up, manufacture on my own. And I failed miserably. For years, I battled this intense panic, the sort of head-racing thing that sucks your minds will, overpowers your very breath. The thing the turns your sane, […]
Cultivating a Confident Heart
What would you do if Jesus was walking in your neighborhood preaching the gospel? Would you run toward him for healing or would you cower in a corner because you were ashamed? For a season I would have turned away from him, fleeing from the Son of God who would easily see what lined my […]
Real Helps for Finding Your Voice
Today my friend Holley Gerth offers a rich vein of encouragement with her new link-up, Coffee for Your Heart, reminding us how very loved we really are. I’m linking up with this existing post because I believe, like Holley does, that we can be free from continually having to prove ourselves, free from feeling we will […]
Unraveling the Lies We Tell Ourselves
An inner rawness (a barbaric unfeelingness) can tempt an unhealed heart, callousing our compassion until it runs cold. I read Jo Ann’s words this week and I couldn’t help but see myself. The way her thoughts described mine was unnerving. As she spoke about her numbness toward the events on 9/11, I thought of the […]
Breaking the Chains Which Hurt the Mind
Today my friend Holley Gerth offers a rich vein of encouragement with her new link-up, Coffee for Your Heart, asking us gals to share any encouraging words we are passionate about as we begin 2014. These are mine {well, technically they belong to a Roman poet named Ovid, but he says it so much better […]