When my husband and I first settled into rural church ministry twelve years ago, I was a little unprepared for the pace of life offered by the farming community where we had made our new home. We had left a much larger college town buzzing with traffic and commutes, a life where I’d had a…
Bible study
Future Discipleship: Perseverance Now Means Perseverance Later
A few hot summers ago, the first week of August found me in the early stages of marathon training. For accountability’s sake, I had already signed up for the St. Jude Marathon in Memphis, Tennessee, and paid my registration fee. My financial investment was the impetus for faithful training. I’d spent the previous year working…
Catch and Release: Taking Personal Criticism to the Word
I could feel the blood draining from my face. The plastic fork in my hand nearly snapped in two under the pressure of my clenched fist. Trying not to reply too hastily, I bit my lip so hard it bled. I thought it was a dinner invitation, but it felt like an ambush. As my…
The Goodness of God in a Closed Womb
Her words were a sledge hammer to my future. “It is unlikely that you will ever conceive.” The doctor patted me on the shoulder awkwardly. Just like that, the future I had assumed and imagined ended in an explosion of grief. Raining down on me for the next decade were shards of dreams, double-edged fissures…
No Stoic Tears
It was an aneurysm that sent my strong, active grandfather to death’s door. In a matter of hours after the angry vessel in his brain burst, he died with his family around him. Minutes before he left us, I sang“It is Well” into the antiseptic hospital air, bolstering—I hoped—my grandfather’s willingness to step into real life….
This is Your Reminder.
It was nearly 8 o’clock–that part of the morning when you’re scrambling to find shoes and fill lunchboxes. My husband was pouring an extra cup of coffee before driving our third grader to school. “How was the gym this morning?” I asked him while I cleaned the baby from a breakfast he decided was beneath him. “It’s mid-March,”…
Secure in His Love
Sometimes I want to believe lies. “Fake news” is tantalizing and volatile, emitting knee-jerk reactions from even the most diplomatic of observers. We react, we make plans, we form opinions and theories around what might be true. We hold on to those things even when the facts are shown to be false. We struggle to…
Let January be a catalyst for Bible study.
January 1st dawns cold and bright, heavy with the weight of restriction for many of us. We use the birth of a new year as an opportunity to scale back our indulgences, tighten up our budgets, and pledge our allegiance to structure and discipline after a season of feasting and unrestrained consumerism. Many Christians will…
the harbor we are longing for
What is it about Jesus that makes you love Him? Is it what He’s done for you? Or is it aspects of His character? Maybe a little bit of both? When you have felt the most drawn to Him, what was it that pulled you toward Him? One of the things that’s really drawing me…
{Leaving the Room}
It’s nearly 7 a.m. when I close my Bible, put the notebook aside, drop the pen in the coffee mug that holds its mates on my desk. I could use fifteen more minutes, but my time is up. My kids are stirring across the hall, and the serenity of this pale blue room, dimly lit…