Do you remember those days when you were a new mom? When you had no idea what you were doing and every expectation was bursting with excitement and fear all at the same time. And you dreamed of being the perfect parent. I'm preparing to pick up one of my kids at the airport, all the way from Australia, and I'm about to bust with expectation and excitement. He proposed, and we held his secret safe for a few months now so the anticipation of the precious season we're entering into fills me in new ways I've not yet experienced in motherhood. Times like these usher in memories that wash over our hearts with such sweetness as we think about where time has gone and how much life has been lived...in the blink of an eye. Lately, my mind travels to one of the last times I enjoyed all of Continue Reading
The Best Remedy for Your Worst Pity Party
I've lost count of how many pity parties I've thrown for myself through the years. It seems on any given day, I can easily create a mental list of things that didn't go right, problems I didn't deserve and blessings someone else received instead of me. It doesn't take much. When I'm vulnerable, emotional or tired. When I've been so busy spinning my wheels that I forget to slow down and breathe. Or when I'm stuck in the muck of comparison. My thoughts carry me to dark places before I even realize they're in control - instead of me. During these times, I'm not a good judge of all the good in my life. Because I've spent too much time focusing on all the "less than" in my life. And I have a feeling I'm not alone in this. Sometimes those "less than's" take up so much space in our Continue Reading
Can We Really Trust in God’s Protection?
It’s so easy to race through life totally unaware of God’s perfect and timely protection. And then we experience a moment where the wake-up call is so loud and resonates so deeply that we fall to our knees and life must stop to allow gratitude to flow and God’s mercy to wash over our life anew. Because the glimpse of even one moment outside of God’s watchful eye is too devastating to consider. My life stopped last week. In the blink of an eye...a call that my son was in an accident on the highway, and it involved two semi-trucks. Immediately, fear and dread gripped my heart. A parent is never prepared for these calls, and I knew from my husband’s tone, it was serious. But, as the events unfolded, it became evident that God’s profound protection was at work. Pictures always Continue Reading
How to Stand Brave When the Battle Threatens
Sometimes life throws us a battle or a fork-in-the-road. The kind that comes unexpectedly banging and clanging into our life with such intensity, we find ourselves losing balance and perspective. The kind that threatens to throw our mind and heart into a tailspin and gives us no choice but to follow. And sometimes it's the kind that echoes muffled questions in the back of our mind. Questions that make us doubt our value and our purpose...and our future. At a time when we need to be thinking and planning for so many other important things, we find ourselves caught up in a battle we would have never chosen for ourselves. Because we don't like to be bothered by forks in the road. We don't like to be burdened with battles. And really, who does? But still, they come. Forks in Continue Reading