I am a sword-slinger. My weapon of choice is sarcasm. I like to swagger into a tense situation and slash through my opponent’s heart with a sharp word. After all, I am a writer. For years, I considered it my responsibility to fight for the tender-hearted underdog in my family. I was called to defend the helpless by bickering with a bully at our dinner table. Every conversation was an epic battle. I wanted to right a wrong, but my verbal sparring techniques only created more conflict and confusion. I wasn’t winning any wars or changing a thing. My superpowers were sorely lacking. I thought my relative needed to reform, but God wanted to refine me. The apocalyptic arguments at our family gatherings finally ended when I cried out to Christ and begged Him to fight this battle on Continue Reading
When Saying No Makes You the Mean Mom – #MadeForBrave Sisterhood
Are you brave enough, not to please? Even when it comes to motherhood? Will you stand firm and look like the "Mean Mom" when your hurting child begs for help, and others question your methods? Don’t misunderstand, I believed in discipline and had no trouble setting rules and following through. However, when it came to withholding my presence from a child visibly in pain, I struggled to muster up the strength to go against her wishes even when I knew it was best. So when the abrupt counselor suggested we quit taking our college-age daughter to the ER for her many ailments, I quivered in my seat. "What?" "You mean the next time she calls from her dorm room and says the pain is intense I am to tell her I will talk to you tomorrow?" With a firm answer, he replied, "Yes!" It seemed - Continue Reading
God’s Longing is to BE our Soul-Deep Motherhood Legacy
It’s a story I’ve spent many years creating, and the reminder is collaged along my office cabinets as a memory marker each morning of all that is good and precious in motherhood. A legacy I once believed could never be mine. A story I was convinced would not be able to withstand the chains of a broken past. It’s not a perfect story by any means. But it is a beautiful story. One steeped in redemption and lavished with the truth of God’s everlasting love. Legacies written in grace and mercy are always beautiful. ←Tweet This! Perhaps like me, you know what it’s like to grow up in a home filled with anger and abuse…to breathe in worthless and exhale shame. Perhaps you remember the blows and searing pain of rejection… to be cast out by a parent who should have loved you deeply. Continue Reading