When You Feel Like You Just Keep Blowing It
When I’m still brushing my teeth on a Sunday and the kids, all ironed and parted and combed and waiting, scuffle loud at the door, he pokes his head in near the mirror, and he says it quiet. That we...
View ArticleWho Will Defend Me?
I stumbled down the stairs, willing myself to the downstairs bathroom. I’ve never understood the draw of the early morning hours and at seventeen years old, those hours were tortuous. Mornings...
View ArticleWhat To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do…
I felt so fragile sitting in the parking lot of Target, too sad to stop crying. And though my hand held a list of things that really couldn’t be put off another day, I was now entirely too tired to...
View ArticleGod Filled the Gap with Himself
When it comes to the subject of my father, unfortunately there isn’t much to tell. His name was Robert. He and my mother weren’t married. He gave me a purple and white 10-speed bike with purple and...
View ArticleWhen Loving God’s People Hurts
I paused for a moment at the end of the driveway. I was supposed to head south. South was our church, where I was supposed to sit with my children in my usual place and listen attentively as my...
View ArticleThe Samaritan Woman In Me
Under the heat of noon sun, the woman made her way to the well to draw the water she would need for the day. She resented the fact that she had to wait until the hottest part of the day to take this...
View ArticleForgiveness Saves Friendships
I took a bite, paused, and then said it out loud. One of my dearest friends left me behind and our present relationship hangs on by social media threads. She is one of my deepest hurts. After years of...
View ArticleWhat He’s Longing to Show Us
This last week we had our first incident of an accidental, inappropriate Internet click with one of our girls. Accidental, but then, of course, as all humankind is, she was curious. I was in my...
View ArticleFreedom in Forgiveness
When I was in Kindergarten, I was determined to be the best. The best student. The best friend. The best reader. Sometime in the fall, my class was outside for recess and I was reading near the...
View ArticleWhat You Never Need to Lose When You Have to Let Go
Ginny and I were an unlikely pair — the elementary-school version of Laverne and Shirley. I was quiet, guarded, and careful not to scuff my shoes or put a hole in my white tights. Ginny laughed...
View ArticleWhen You Feel Left Out
The Lord will be your everlasting light. Isaiah 60:20 I drove down the highway holding my breath. My mind was racing. Did they say they spent the entire weekend together – without me? Yes, I think...
View ArticleWhen Chaos Jolts Us from Our Sleep
The world is loud, right now. Shouting. Shouting. Shouting. “Give me space!” “A little elbow room, please!” “Hear me! Hear me! Hear me!” Have we split our collective brain down the center? How else...
View ArticleA Revolutionary Thought for the New Year
My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others? {James 2:1 NLT} I don’t think she realized the profundity of her...
View ArticleSix Ways to Banish FOMO
It’s happened to all of us. FOMO. We are nine years old and we know all of our friends are at an after school roller skating party that we are not, and it hurts hurts hurts to have to miss it to go to...
View ArticleBelieving in Purity When You Don’t Feel Pure
There she stood. Her skirt was a little too short. Her heels were a little too high. Her composure a little too confident. Before the door could close behind her, she struck a match, and lit a flame...
View ArticleThe Importance of Knowing Your Credentials
About 15 years ago I earned a suffix. A comma rests between my last name and the letters “APR” in my professional signature. APR stands for “Accredited in Public Relations.” The process of achieving...
View ArticleWhen People Pleasers Turn Nasty
The desire to behave in a way that pleases other people instills itself into a person before she can walk or talk. When a baby holds her own bottle, enjoys solid food for the first time, learns to...
View ArticleParking Lots and Popeye and Who I Am
As I pulled into the parking space, I noticed my husband tilting his head toward the window. I knew what he was doing. He was looking at my parking job — and judging it. Silently. So I asked him,...
View Article6 Helpful Ways to Respond to Hard Conversations
I’ve been the community manager here at (in)courage now for five years. That means five years of working with and for and alongside women. Writing about women, reading about women, talking to women,...
View ArticleA Year for Forgiveness
Have you ever been so hurt or offended by a friend or family member that you’ve found it difficult to forgive them? Is there someone who is no longer part of your life because one of you carries a...
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