“What do you need to surrender?” Her question echoed through the microphone and searched my heart.
I sat while my mind invited the Spirit to search my heart. Before getting on a plane and entering back into real life, what was God asking me to surrender to increase my agility and joy along this faithful race?
While several areas came to mind, one clearly stood out.
Read MoreWhat is it in us that is so desperate for something new? Don’t get me wrong. I love a clean slate, a blank canvas, and wide open spaces. But if we are honest, the changing of the calendar doesn’t actually bring anything new with it except the hope of better. So, how can we experience newness in the middle of our story? Read and be encouraged.
Read MoreThere is no better time to begin shaping your child’s heart for generosity than now. The holiday season ushers us into the spirit of giving like none other, yet it’s threatened by our desires to get. We all feel the tension.
So, as parents, how can we model generosity as a family at this time of year and beyond? Here are three helpful ways I’ve found to do just that, along with some resources to get you started.
Read MoreIn my prayers, I began presenting God my platters of good deeds, sacrifices, and accomplishments, and expected Him to return my offering with earthly blessing, favor, and gain. As time passed, life grew arduous. Soon I discovered the only variable increasing in my life was bitterness.
Did God even see all that I was doing? Did He even care?
Read MoreMy eyelids open. The sky is dark. My mind is awake.
Sometimes I pull out my phone and write down spiraling thoughts, pressing to-do’s and creative ideas. Most of the time I eventually feel the tension release, but for the times it continues to clasp tightly I use these prayers to return me to rest.
Read MoreAfter a recent loss, there were no spiritual platitudes or verses that could immediately numb the mind-blowing pain of a life taken too early, but I knew that I needed to be reminded of a God whose ways are different than mine. So, where do you turn in those moments when you feel lost, alone, and desperate for direction?
Join me as I process through three critical questions. Perhaps in my processing you, too, can find healing for a way forward through your own grief or disappointment.
Read MoreThis sweet conversation between my husband and seven year old gifted clarity for me this week, and reminded me that where I place my greatest affections in this life will not only determine the path I follow, but determine the size of my God.
Are you feeling weary at the start of another month, a new season, or another day? Read this, remember who your God is, and find strength and joy again for your next step.
Read MoreI am confident we are all in desperate need for a summer sabbath, so I’m reflecting on these questions today:
How can I finish the school year strong?
How can I enter into a restful summer that allows for an exhale of restoration and adventure?
How can I better prepare for the fall without wanting to give up right now?
This week, as we journey toward remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus, I’m mindful of who is at the center of my worship. I’m reminded that worship is costly. I’m reminded that we are constantly given the option of who to place at the center of our heart’s deepest affections.
Read MoreIf you are like me, we have entered the mad dash to the finish line of the school year. Spring activities are in full swing and the calendar is stacked. The new post this week is reminding us all the secret to persevering through this journey of parenting.
Read MoreThe Lord builds. He gathers. He heals. He binds.
I whisper in exhale, “Thank you, Jesus.” This is what my heart needs.
The beat in my chest rests, and I continue navigating the next seventeen verses of Psalm 147. Along the way, I discover five P’s of God that create a healing balm for areas that feel most broken in my life and in the world.
As if a healing balm, these attributes of God cover and calm.
Read MoreEvery day is a battle. Our hearts wage war to find joy. Our minds fight to discern truth. Our hands wrestle to value work.
Do you feel it too?
Here I’m sharing three questions to ask as we prepare our hearts, minds, and hands for battle. The weapons might be different than you think.
Read MoreI’m not a huge fan of resolutions. To me it feels like they are made to be broken, but I do love reflection questions and growth goals to work towards each year. So, this year, I’m evaluating my appetite:
How can I acquire an appetite for the new?
How can I enhance my appetite for that which is truly valuable?
How can I regulate my appetite so that it is sustainable?
“I have always wondered if I could put up a tree, and just use blue and silver decorations instead,” she explained, wanting to honor both her Jewish heritage and her husband’s Catholic background.
“Of course!” I exclaimed. “The tree has little to do with Jesus,” I told her confidently at the time. “It’s just a secular expression of the season.”
But, what I didn’t understand until the last few years is just how much our trees actually do set the stage for the redemptive story of Christ and put in perspective our greatest longings. Allow me to share more.
Over the years, however, I’ve been reminded how little I understood the tree those fifteen years ago.
Read MoreReady or not the holidays are upon us. Opportunities to serve, host, cook, and clean will become plentiful. After an exhausting year, how can we make it through “the most wonderful time of the year”, and have even an ounce of joy left? Here are a three reminders to get you through the coming months with your joy in tact even as you serve those around you.
Read MoreWe have all been there, the moment when the gift we thought was going to be there forever was instead lost forever: a relationship, a child, a spouse, a raise, a job, a house, you name it. We like the part of God that gives, but not the part that takes away.
How can a loving God give and take? If you have ever had that question, this post may be of encouragement to you.
Read MoreGod’s timing and our timing are rarely in perfect cadence. After some reading the past few months, I’ve been more mindful of whether I tend to inquire of God’s direction in all areas of my life or whether I simply proceed.
Here’s what i’ve learned.
Read MoreIt has always existed and it will always be apart of our life on earth: conflict. The past few weeks have been peppered with more incidents of sibling rivalry in my home and it’s drawn us more deeply into a conversation of creation than I would have expected.
Here I share the one truth that has helped provide perspective and wisdom in this area of rivalry.
Read MoreWith so much collective pain and tragedy of late, it’s difficult to give ourselves the permission to simply celebrate. Yet here we sit on the dawn of holidays with its myriad of traditions, and I wonder if it’s possible for the grieving to lead us into a place of celebrating.
Here’s now.
Read MoreWhen you feel depleted, do you default to a mindset of abundance or scarcity?
After a challenging few weeks, I’m sharing a few thoughts and helpful reminders so that you can live the abundant life you were called to live.
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