Christian Living

A collection of 21 posts

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

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

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

Christian Living

That blackberry

A Blackberry My friend sent me a picture of the life cycle of a blackberry. It starts with a bud and around the circle it goes until it ends with huge juicy fruit. My eyes were immediately drawn to the part of the cycle right after the lovely petals have

Christian Living

What we need

A job. A home. A spouse. A family. Relief. Things we might feel we need. “Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts” (Acts 3:2)

Christian Living

Lacking

I’m not privy to statements  Of Heaven’s accounts  But I have Father’s promise  That He’ll not renounce,  That He knows our need And He plans our steps,  That He will supply  And we need not strive.  Could it be that we miss  A journey He’s

Christian Living

The Death of a Seed

Imagine being a seed. What kind of seed would you be? Would you sway above a sea of green? Would you grow on emerald boughs? Would you be held firm and secure or be trapped and demure? Or would the cottony chaos be what you call home? One thing is

motherhood

I do

I did so much, for me. I did so much, for them. I did so much, I burnt out. I did so much, I learned - The constant doing was a lie. All the doing - It’s been done. Now I’m undoing To become. Now I do so

motherhood

Real

My kids have a classic children’s book called the Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams Bianco. And that story only seems to get better and better for me. You know those books that are not really written for the children but to the worn-out parents? This is one of them.

Christian Living

I've been there

The stately houses whisper on the wind. A porch had fallen in on the corner home. With a crash, all the hopes of all the years and memories crumbled down the face of the graffitied red brick building. Long forgotten, long unloved. “We’ve been there,” echoes long and low

poetry

Munching

Like a moth He consumes  All that harms and pulls,  All that tempts us down  And tender tugs our souls. Like a moth He is munching  All that dross, rot, and sin.  Can you hear tiny crunching?  A purging munch by Him.  He crumbles and cracks,  All the wood, hay,

poetry

Joy

Joy. It comes in the morning.  How I dreaded those boxes.  Filing, piling, leaving.  But there they go, And yet, I feel so full.  Full of the future, full of His purpose, full of hope.  There’s a turn in the tunnel. The one we use so much  To get

Christian Living

That boat

Where’s your faith?  In the boat?  Yeah.  He was sleeping. I was screaming.  He was resting. I was testing.  He was controlling. I was rolling.  Where’s my faith? In the boat?  Yeah.  The boat can fill, but He cannot.  The boat will crack, but He will not.  The

motherhood

Little Home Love

You know who taught me to love my home? I have a friend who got married right after I had my second baby. You know, when you realize that as difficult as toddlers are, adding a newborn to the mix makes them harder? And that bodies don’t just bounce

poetry

Doorkeepers

A doorkeeper To swing the home open wide.  To usher us in  with soft smile inside. A doorkeeper Is exactly our need.  To welcome the weary  and close out the dreary.  A doorkeeper For the great house of God  A tender refrain,  Come in, for you're spent.  Come into His

Devotional

Bitter waters

Remember when the Israelites were walking in the desert complaining because they needed water? They had just crossed the Red Sea three days before and watched their enemies drown behind them. They knew God could take care of them. Was it wrong to need water? No. Was it wrong to

Christian Living

490 times

My daughter recently asked me if that means she only has to forgive her little sister 490 times. "Jesus said seventy times seven, mom!" I smiled. “Have you been counting?” She hadn’t. But she understood. And it's a tough pill to swallow - for grown ups too. Have you

motherhood

What would abundance wear?

Sometimes I stand in front of my closet and feel paralyzed about what to wear. That patch of carpet in front of my closet? It’s a battle ground. It's the stage for the expectations, limitations, judgments, and disappointments of all it means to be a woman, let alone a

motherhood

Fresh Bread

Want to read and pray, but there’s no time or energy? 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 doesn’t. Second: This is possible. And the

Christian Living

Heart Keeping

"Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flow the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). Heart-keeping is hard and holy work, but the work is in the tending, not in the hiding. A hidden heart is like my grandma's watch in my nightside table. Mostly, a treasure

Christian Living

On Hallways and Excellence

My neighborhood is a bit of an oddity. It’s somewhat old and dignified and there are lots of famous Detroiters who grew up here. There are parks, houses, eccentric people, and old trees like any other neighborhood. But unlike so much of the rest of the city, some people