Hold me heavy

Good morning sisters. I found this poem that I wrote in a notebook from last year. Reading it, I realized just how much more "light" I'm feeling in my new home. But it was a process and I hope this poem on heaviness is a blessing to someone today. Lord,

Today is tomorrow

“Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.” Today is tomorrow. You likely sang that song yesterday, or sometime over the weekend. I did. Today is the next day after He rose. When everything is done. When they likely looked at each other, elated, confused, and asked, “What’s next?” He’

Persistent Prayer

I used to think that persistent prayer was basically holy nagging. “If God knows my needs,” I thought, “why do I need to ask again?” Until I asked God for good things and got silence. We needed a job. Then a home. Then a school. And still, we needed a

I needed a no

I needed a “no” To temper my go, To give me a space, To slow down the pace. I needed a “no” To protect all the yeses And prevent a few messes. You see A “yes” is a “no,” Somewhere unspoken And unseen. A “yes” is a “no” To my

Getting softer

Don’t tell me to run harder Than I ever have before, Just remind me that He’s sweeter Than I’ve ever known before.  Don’t tell me life’s just hard As if this is all there is, Urge me to go deeper Into Love prepared for this.

Look at the birds

Dear momma so scared, look at the birds. Do they worry for their seeds? Do they ask for the forecast or wonder if they will have fuzz and twigs for their nests that hold their babies?  Look at the lilies. See their gusty brilliance. They grow and they don’t

Love one another?

My littles aren’t so little anymore. My biggest “little” is taller than me now. And preteen moods and childish swings interrupt her budding, wise, and lovely persona. And it’s hard to keep up. Hard to keep up with someone changing and regressing so fast it makes my head

Common Grace

“I missed it,” I thought as the first winter snow filtered around buildings and onto the cracked sidewalk. I was hurrying to class and the presence of snow surprised me. I had missed the fall entirely. From the almost imperceptible sag of dark green leaves before they begin their change

Let me tell you about children

Let me tell you about children. They are loud noises from small bodies. “Sooo big” but still so small. They are busy and clumsy and silly and serious. They are working and trying and growing and failing and struggling and falling and getting up again. They are exploring and questioning

An easy yoke

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is

By the river

By the River - A Prayer for the New Year Plant me like a tree by the River. May the life I live in the day to day - the morning tea and the evening hush, the daily grind and the hourly strain, the day’s lists and the evening

motherhood

I've got time

I’ve got time. I’m a mom. I wipe noses and soothe owies and break up fights. I lose my cool and lack my rest and never show up at my best. Who has time for beauty? I’m a mom. I feel the burden of tomorrow and wait

motherhood

I get to

This new place. The new and orderly and thrumming organized chaos of a big city. Everything is tucked carefully into somewhere else. We spent several hours in a Service Ontario — in a Staples store. I walked through a mall to get to an outdoor concert. The constant construction, up and

It was for me

For you too

Dear Momma, Do you know that Christmas is for you too? As you plan the things and string the lights and wipe the noses and kiss the owies? Do you know that He came for you too? As you arrange their advent activities — the ones that remind them daily that

motherhood

In and out to find pasture

Devotional time? When does this happen? What is “quiet time” to moms of young children? Quiet anything is long forgotten! First: This is hard. Might as well say it. And it's not because moms don’t want to. We do. And worse, Satan doesn’t want us to. He really

motherhood

These Counters

They’ve seen light of days And the dark of night. They’ve seen messy sprays, Sure, they’re quite the sight. They’ve heard laughter passing, Even our anger lasting. Held up weight of the seasons, Holding up without reason. Sand and sun and snacks And mud and little

motherhood

Just normal

Never have I been so deeply grateful for “normal.” Normal breakfast. Normal go-to-work. A normal walk in the woods. Normal go-to-school. Normal homework. Just…normal.  This year has been anything but normal. But gradually, with school in full swing and Joel starting a new job, things are settling into normal

So much blessing

“You need a friend, Rachel. Someone your age.” My aunt candidly told me this during a 2am visit at her kitchen table several years ago. And it was exactly what I needed to hear.  Mama, do you long for deep friendship? Like a flower for water or a diver for

Daily

Silence in Heaven

“When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1). Imagine that half hour. Do the creatures and the elders look around at each other bewildered? Are they surprised that God would pause in silence before the seventh seal and the

Laughs

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come (Proverbs 31:25). Laughs? I’m not laughing. Not when I think of all the burdens of life. Not when I see how the world is going and the insecurity I find in my own heart.

They confessed

They confessed And they did not deny  To the ones that  Cocked a brow: Strangers and wanderers.  People on the move.  Always journeying,  Always following,  Always longing  For home.  “But just take it! It’s here.” It’s not.  Not the home He has.  This street, these trees,  That breakfast

Christian Living

Just one day

Dear sister, praying, waiting, for days, months, years.  Did you know that God is faithful even when you don’t believe Him? Even when the press of grief or trial or suffering is so heavy you have long since given up hope? When all you can hear is the condemnation

motherhood

We'll make it home

To my dear girl, who’s been uprooted and transplanted in an empty place you didn’t choose: we’ll make it home. It doesn’t matter how big or small or pretty or ugly. Home is not in a building. It’s in people. In us. In you and