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Advent Devotional 2023

It has been several years since I wrote my last Advent devotional. I remember writing that Bible plan as a challenge to myself. Could I keep the focus on Christ and manage to write 25 devotionals for Christmas? It was one of those God-sized goals—but it wasn't to show the world that I had "nailed" ...

Don’t Give Thanks For Everything

I don’t know about you, but I may need to get off social media for a few days. This time around my social media “fast” is not to help grow my spiritual life a bit more, but to grow my waistline a bit less.  My Instagram feed is dangerously tempting with pictures of turkeys and pumpkin ...

What Are You Wearing?

In the late 19th century, two nuns from Belgium set sail for India. They landed on the shores of the coastal hamlet of Mulagumoodu in the south of the country. The two Catholic missionaries had traveled across the world to care for the orphan girls in the little town. But they also taught the girls at ...

When You Feel Like Crawling Into A Hole

The other day, I was invited to share from the Word with a small group. They were an unassuming, unthreatening bunch of folk. My material was prepped and ready to go. In fact, I had presented the same content twice before to other groups. Plus, I was speaking from Scripture to a group of Christians, ...

Hey, What Happened To Your Joy?

There was a little song we would belt out at Sunday School back in the 90’s. It went, “I’ve got joy that is down in my heart, Deep, deep down in my heart; J-O-Y that is down in my heart, Deep, deep, down in my heart.” Our decrepit classroom would reverberate with the enthusiasm that only ...

Here’s What To “Do” Instead Of Striving

As I walk past my kitchen, it calls my name. The “it” in question is an inconspicuous plastic container which, frustratingly enough, seems to know me pretty well. As I draw closer, it senses that my knees grow weaker and my self-control gets punier. This spookily intuitive container holds multiple pieces of candy. It is the ...

Pray For The Hurting Mothers

We cry with the mom whose 26-year-old daughter was gunned down at the music festival. Her daughter’s last text simply read: “Mom, I love you so much.” Our hearts are heavy as we watch a Palestinian mom kiss her child for the last time, her guttural cries reverberating as they carry her son’s lifeless body ...

Look Back. But Then Do This.

There’s a popular idea that has been making the rounds on Instagram. It has been recycled and reshared in many formats from reels with heartfelt voiceovers to posts with compelling color schemes. The viral sentiment behind these posts goes like this: The only time you should look back is to see how far you’ve come. I’ve ...

3 Things To Do When You’re Overwhelmed

Okay, I get it. The absolute last thing you need when you’re overwhelmed is another list telling you what to do. You’re already drowning in an ocean of relentless demands. You would rather not have Christianese slammed at you when all you want to do is curl under the comforter and hibernate for an embarrassingly ...
MEET SUSAN

I love words. But you probably figured that out by now, considering this website essentially collates my words on the web. Read More…