Life can be so hard, can’t it? I recently lost someone very dear to me.  Navigating the grief that has accompanied that loss has been difficult, to say the least. I have found myself seesawing between periods of quiet reflection and bouts of tears.  The emotional ups and downs have left me feeling physically numb…

It was a warm summer day.  My children and I lived close enough to a small grocery store for my oldest daughter (then 12-years old) to hop on her bike and run a quick errand for me. Half an hour after she left the house, my phone rang.  I answered it and heard a man’s…

Clean your room, please.  Put your clothes away.  Don’t bring dirt in the house.  These (and many others) were statements readily heard by my children as they were growing up.  I repeated them hoping they would stick and my children would learn to appreciate order and cleanliness the same way I did.  (It’s okay –…

Shortly after coming to Christ, I had a knock-down, drag out, face to face battle with fear.  It bubbled up from a place of complete desperation.  I was nearly 20 years old and afraid of pretty much everything – the dark, staying at home alone, stray dogs as I walked around my neighborhood, and so…

When my children were small, one of our all-time favorite book series that we read out loud together was John Bibee’s “Spirit Flyer” novels.  This allegorical adventure series kept my children on the edge of their seats as they wondered what would become of its characters who found themselves in a constant battle of good…

The day began like every other day recently.  I got out of bed, threw on my sweats and t-shirt, and headed for the coffee pot with my Bible and notebook in hand. My trip from my bedroom to the kitchen, however, felt like a pilgrimage through a miry bog – my mind felt clouded, every…