“If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.” (Rom. 12:18 HCSB) I grew up believing that this verse, paired with talk of dying to self, meant my opinions and preferences were of little to no consideration. By giving in, I would demonstrate the love of Jesus to others. My job as a Christian,…
The moving van pulled up to our house for the third time in twenty-one months. Without any job prospects in sight, we were moving out of the house we had been renting in Kentucky and back into the home we had been unable to sell in Virginia. The past few months had been hard. We…
One of the very first verses we taught our kids to memorize was Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a sharp word stirs up anger” (NIV). You can immediately see the benefits of siblings hiding these words in their hearts. It has always been convicting to me, too. Very few of us…
We all know that 2020 has been a dumpster fire so far. One thing has become clear to me during all of the upheaval: it is exceedingly difficult for people to exit their echo chambers and try out empathy for a change. I get it. Empathy comes unnaturally to me. I favor the sweet logic…
“The basis of world peace is the teaching which runs through almost all the great religions of the world. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Christ, some of the other great Jewish teachers, Buddha, all preached it. Their followers forgot it. What is the trouble between capital and labor, what is the trouble in many of…
He wasn’t ready for it, my sweet husband. We’d just had a check-in with our counselor the day before, and all seemed well. All was well, really. I hadn’t knowingly concealed anything, but crashing in. The weight of weeks and months of comparison and feeling inadequate had literally brought me to my knees on the…