Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. (Psalm 139:23–24 NLT) My goal for the winter is to clean out the basement. In this house, our mutual pack-rat-ish tendencies have produced a lower…
My family left the hustle and bustle of American civilization in 2010. We didn’t move back to the States until 2014. When we left for the Middle East, I owned a Razr flip phone. (Smartphones weren’t yet a required appendage.) It was incredibly eerie when we stepped back on American soil in 2014. Everyone had…
The month of December can be very busy. There’s so much to be done before Christmas Day arrives in many Christian households, that a frenetic tone takes the place of Mary’s long-ago anticipation of her first child’s birth. We can read articles about taking the stress out of Christmas and try. We can set up…
One frigid March day, my husband and I sat in our canoe in the middle of a lake in Missouri. Our lines had been in the water for well over an hour, and we’d had only one bite. The bite belonged to my husband, of course. An avid fisherman, Joe is used to pulling in…
The memory is still so vivid. Fresh out of the house after a week of the flu, with two toddlers straggling along, I made my way through a parking lot toward a playgroup on our new army post. I hadn’t met anyone, my husband was training, and I was a complete disaster. A complete disaster…
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 NIV) A few weeks ago, I talked with my daughter in her bedroom as bedtime drew near. Many children like to read stories as part of a nightly routine, but Josie likes to draw and…