“I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.” (Hosea 11:4 ESV) sometimes I feel I’m coming loose barely clinging to You a little too much distraction immaturity or plain exhaustion poor in spirit small of faith in courage, a mewling kitten beset by fears vulnerable to snake whispers are the ties...
I don’t know the season you’re facing today. When it’s not one thing, it’s another, right? Waiting. Despairing. Doubting. All the various kinds of suffering possible, and there are many. The gospel writers don’t skip around this reality: “For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Cor. 1:5 ESV). We may not be able to sort out all the intricacies of God’s plans in our suffering, but we do know...
A few days after Christmas, my daughter put a leftover cinnamon roll in the microwave, set the timer for four minutes, and walked away. A few minutes later, as the cinnamon roll began to char, I hurried down the stairs after smelling smoke, and was shocked to see grey smoke billowing from the microwave. My son started coughing and crying in the next room. My husband rushed the noxious plate outside, and on a frigid 30 degree day, we...
My son is three and half now, very verbal, and asking big questions: How did I get out of your belly when I was a baby? (“God made a way, buddy.”) Who’s your mom? (“Mamo.”) Why do I have to take a nap? (“Because Mommy needs a nap too.”) Where is God? He asks the last question strapped into his carseat behind me as I drive. I answer, “Well, God is in heaven.” “Where is heaven?” “Heaven is...
I was reading Psalm 109 this week and thought, “Wow, David sounds kind of dramatic here.” Most of the Psalm is David pleading for God to punish his enemies harshly, cut off their posterity, blot our their names and their memory from the earth, etc. The usual. He laments: “For I am poor and needy, and my heart is stricken within me. I am gone like a shadow of evening; I am shaken off like a locust.” Psalm 109:22-23...
Sometimes, I think it’s important to take a big step back out of the busyness of life, and ask the big picture questions. What is God doing here? What am I doing here? When we frame life in God’s big picture, then the day-to-day takes on a different color, a deeper joy, and a rediscovered purpose–without changing our actual circumstances one little bit. Here’s a big picture truth: God has a kingdom and he’s calling you and me to...
Happy July, friends! I am enjoying the summer with my kiddos, but wanted to pop onto the blog and share this screensaver and some thoughts with you. I’ve been reading through Matthew this summer and have come to Jesus’ sermon on the mount in chapters five and six. I have been struck by the term “in secret” that Jesus repeats. I have been thinking how the things that matter the most to God, that make us “salt of...
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and...
An author I follow on Instagram recently shared this experience: “When I tried to share about how I felt as a black female in a situation, they didn’t want to hear it. It is terrible not to want to listen to a sister’s heart, even when it could be hard. If we can’t take the first and simple step of talking, there’s little hope of racial harmony in the church. If we can’t listen, we can’t love. But there’s...
