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in joy
Hey Mama
Hey Mama,
Bent over the kitchen counter,
Distractedly eating leftovers.
Yes you,
With the ragged PJs
The greasy hair and yesterday's eyeliner.
Here’s something you should know:
God sees you.
He sees you,
Even when no one else does;
He sees you,
When you feel overlooked.
Hey mama,
Dark circles under your eyes,
Sleepwalking and suppressing yawns.
Yes you,
Up all last night
Checking if she was still coughing,
Or if he was ...
You Have Permission For This
There’s a distinct point of time when I snap.
I don’t mean that I snap my fingers to a happy chorus. Nope.
I mean I snap like a dry twig. You can almost hear the cartoon-like crraaack.
My patience runs out. My face contorts. My tone hovers somewhere between irritable and infuriated. My words range from snarky to ...
Vacations and Worship: Can They Actually Go Together?
Is it just me or do you find it harder to connect with God while on holiday?
As someone who thrives on schedules, I enjoy time in the Word during my regular routine. But you know what happens on vacations? Or, more to the point, what doesn’t happen on vacations? Routine. That’s what.
Schedules and calendars melt ...
God Didn’t Wait—And Neither Should We
The doorbell does its thing just as I’m sitting down for lunch.
My daughter proclaims she “needs” a snack just as I’m starting work.
Okay, let’s get real here, nature calls with urgency just as I’m about to write that profound life-changing sentence.
We’re all familiar with pauses and interruptions in our daily routines. We know what it ...
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" ...
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 ...
When Your Best-Laid Plans Crumble
The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. The kind of whirlwind that yanks plans out of your hands and rips it into a 3000-piece jigsaw puzzle.
My mom had been scheduled for a knee-replacement surgery. The timing of the procedure had been planned precisely: it would be a week after my husband returned from ...
When Your Life Feels “Too Small”
Have you ever been encouraged to “dream big?” Have you been told that you “have what it takes” to make an impact? Have you been cheered on with the message that you can “be anything” you want to be?
Maybe there was some Christianese attached to those statements. Perhaps you were spurred on to dream “God-sized ...
When Making Oatmeal Is A Moment Of Worship
Almost every morning I do this absolutely insane thing.
I make oatmeal.
(I know, radical stuff there, right?)
The thing is, I don’t like oatmeal. I don’t eat oatmeal (Is that sacrilegious for a mom to say? Shouldn’t we stoically eat our way through all things deemed “healthy”?)
But I make it for my husband’s breakfast.
It’s not complicated. I ...
MEET SUSAN
