Not long ago I had dinner with a woman I admire. We’re remarkably similar in many ways—age, personality, upbringing, and even our hopes and dreams. She, however, is realizing her goals in much bigger ways than I am. She has become a bit of a role model for me, and I relished the time to…
Several years ago our family traveled from Georgia to Colorado for a skiing vacation. We had a black Labrador named Tessa at the time. As anyone with pets knows, vacations present the conundrum of what to do with them while you’re away. Fortunately, friends offered to take Tessa for the week. They had lost their…
You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of the dust You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of us. ~Gungor The most popular show on HGTV is Fixer Upper. The show highlights how Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate outdated and sometimes dilapidated houses into beautiful showcase homes. While Chip works…
On my way to a counseling appointment recently, I was thinking about what I wanted to discuss with my therapist. All at once the inadequacies I felt as a woman, a wife, a mother, a friend, a missionary, and a writer smacked me in the face, and I began to make a mental list of…
We met in the living room. Two couples. Older and younger. Married and about-to-be. My husband and I, the older and married pair, sat on stuffed tweed chairs across the coffee table from them. Side by side, facing us on our brown leather couch, hands intertwined, their love spoke like electricity through long glances and…
I know the catch in your lungs that tells you you’re not enough, that today’s needs outstrip the strength in your bones and the fight in your gut. You heard God call, but you feel deep inside that it’s beyond you. Your heart and mind begin to wrestle. What if God asks something of me…