** This post is dedicated to Valentinne Rudolphy (Val) ** You know what I’d really love? I’d love to offer this in Spanish too. I can get by but my bilingual days are a bit rusty and I don’t trust myself to translate this correctly. I typed these words to my publisher last fall after listening to their encouragement to …
Pave BOLDly
There’s a stirring welling up in some of us. A stirring to do life different, a stirring for deep space and contemplation and for real life and faith to intersect. A stirring for brazen boldness. I say this because just last week, while coaching two writers, we spoke of this very stirring. They mentioned not finding a group they fit …
Focusing on the Fringe
See that sweet birdy perched on the highest branch? That’s me years ago thinking that to have it all together meant that I had to have a place in church, community, life. That if I was going along with the status quo I’d arrived. Friends, I HAD IT ALL WRONG. I never felt at home there because, what I’m learning, …
Being a Safe Space
I just need a safe space to _______________. I hear this phrase on a weekly – if not daily- basis. I just need a safe space to talk. Listen. Cry. Find compassion. Be welcome Be unconditionally loved. Three days before my birthday my sweet hubby was laid off. Organizational restructuring. You’ve got two weeks. As it is, we are in …
Wow, God must REALLY Care
Last month my sweet friend Maria prayed that God would show up as Provider in tangible out-of-the-box ways. What’s your rent? she asked. I’m going to pray He brings that money in somehow. I smiled over the phone and stifled a laugh. We’re fine. Does God really care about paying our rent through random acts of kindness? We’re praying for …
You are not Broken
You are not broken; you are human You are on a faith journey. This faith is one of fierce love, authentic depth and extravagant grace. Grace for you and grace for myself. Grace for us who carry more than God intended. Grace as we journey the beauty of caring without carrying. Grace to not expect perfection or fix with solutions. …
Dear Friend, What’s on your Heart?
Hi friend, It’s chilly out and the sky is waving her autumn leaves; those that have yet to drop. My oldest is on the couch, his lap practically in mine, a 3 day fever breaking my heart. I find my thoughts drifting to you. What does your day look like? What are you carrying on your plate? In your heart? …
I Shall Not Want
I’m gobbling up Psalm 23 with a newfound appreciation for these old school verses. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” The first line stills me and I find myself whispering this phrase under my breath a dozen times a day; thinking of the simple significance of David’s words when I wish for life to go different. “The …
How to Experience Hope in Hopelessness
I didn’t get out of bed until 11am. Yesterday I took a mid-day nap and fell asleep reading shoulder to shoulder with our oldest at 8pm. Motivation has withered. Purpose is foggy. I applied at the library- the library, friends. The very one which holds my book on its shelf, and I couldn’t even get an interview. Bryan has applied …
Reminders in the Sky
To date there is no other place I experience God so right-here-present-and-close-I-could-taste-Him near as when I sit among the expanse of green meadow behind David Arm’s Gallery in historic Leiper’s Fork. The ways the trees sway, conducting classical music coming from inside. The adirondack chairs, the open fields, the yellow leaf bursts against a sapphire sky. Up, up, up a …