“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 […]
Jo Ann Fore
Worthy of a Miracle Book Giveaway
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 […]
When the Blues Just Won’t Go Away
My husband pulled me into his chest, my arms and heart resisting. He persisted, shifted his hold a little tighter, leaning down, whispering into the nape of my neck how he wanted to help but didn’t know how. But he sure wanted to. The tears fell like acid as I surrendered exhausted to his safety. Funny […]
Walking with the Hurting Woman
The wind whispers light across the windshield; my thoughts wander to the expansive fields outside my window. Beautiful country estates line the quiet highway, handsome horses grazing content on fine blades of Kentucky bluegrass. The scene arrests my heart, settles my mind into this quietly comfortable place. She drives me to a lake in eastern […]
When Your Small Group Isn’t Going Well
Our time together started out strong: these beautiful women who came enthusiastic for hope and eager for practical resources. We were a healthy mixture of mamas and nanas and career folks, all excited about gathering in community with women who “get us,” connecting as only women can. A few were making fairly quick changes in their […]
Time Management Tips for the Encourager
A couple months ago I opened my DayTimer and found myself laughing aloud at the ridiculousness of the number of things I’d crammed into one thirty-day period. All the work I had to do, the causes I’m passionate about, and the personal commitments I try to daily live into, they sat there mocking me. There […]
When the Real and Raw Brings Hope
“It was when you shared your story with me that I found the courage to face mine.” She spoke it soft, the unconventional twenty-something I’d befriended months earlier. For a few moments longer, we chatted about the fresh hope God was stirring in her heart as she confronted some tough issues. And we ended the […]
The Beauty of Debris
Legs crossed Indian-style, palms facing upward and resting on each knee, I sat in the middle of my living room floor meditating. Not meditating as in yoga-meditating but rather a collapsing-in-the-floor-exhausted-with-too-much-on-my-mind posture. {Although, the palms landing upward may well have been some subliminal sign of the surrender that was to come.} Tears stroked the long […]
When Intimacy with God Becomes More than a Catch-Phrase
My thumbs flew across the screen of my iPhone, “So, if he who abides in God and God abides in him bears much fruit—where’s the fruit? Am I not abiding?” I was texting my husband Matt, my sounding board and theology coach for times like these. Times when some pretty powerful hurts were leaking right […]
The Seeing is the Story
Guest post by Abigail (Abby) Alleman I sit, head bowed low and back arched forward and down, on the slate gray IKEA patio chair. I stare at the overgrown brush of our garden and hear one word: failure. My legs feel the rub, a back and forth itch. The fabric–a spectrum splayed amid tiny-tulip-smattering-over-midnight—is that […]