Follow the Light
My girls and I had spent most of the day cooped up in the house. Attitudes were fraying around the edges—including mine. Then I had an epiphany: a pajama hike! I told the girls to put on their pajamas, since it
Let Your Light Shine
This spring, at a conference in Ontario, I prayed for a woman who was entering a new, challenging phase of her ministry. Afterward, she held my shoulders—her short, dark brown curls bobbing—and looked into my eyes. “You are a firefly,”
All Who Are Thirsty
The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. ~Isaiah 58:11 Ten years ago, on our
The Force of Waterfalls
“Aslan is a lion - the Lion, the great Lion." "Oh," said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion." "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Who said anything about safe? 'Course
Getting What I Want
My baby girl, fourteen months, had roseola the other week. Her fever hovered around 103 for days, and she was lethargic with very little appetite. Therefore, whenever she would rouse herself long enough to point at something she thought looked
Keep Taking Steps
My husband happened upon a Craigslist listing for 300 pieces of Advantech sheathing for sale in Nashville for cheap, which was used to build the set for the TV show Nashville, so he borrowed my father-in-law’s 1992 Dodge Ram diesel
“I’m Not Leaving You”
I should’ve known it wasn’t a good idea to give God an ultimatum, but I wanted clarity regarding my husband’s medical journey, so I asked for an answer by midnight. I didn’t know what form that answer would take: a
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
The chipper Vanderbilt receptionist couldn’t find my husband’s information. After a few minutes, I apologized to the senior couple, standing beside us, who were next in line. They wore comfortable, ironed clothes in various shades of tan that complemented their
Mud Pits & Walls
Nursing my baby like clockwork at four a.m., I rested my head back against the glider and groggily thought how wonderful it would be to have a child born at two years old, so she could sleep twelve hours and
Laughing in Life’s Storms
They released my six-year-old early from school because the forecast predicted a storm. My daughter mentioned it as soon as she came home, but then she forgot. She went outside to play in the sandbox. Five minutes later, she tore across