The Bible Is Worth Your Sweat
“I don’t understand the Bible.” The exhausted thought of anyone who's read it. And fair enough. It’s long. 66 books. Written at different times to different people. But it tells one story. The true...
The Lifegiving Home
I guess it’s part of growing up. The feeling that you’ve lost your home.
Mine was a hard one to lose. Full of play, freshly baked bread, read-alouds and sacred memories. Best, you knew the people you loved would be there.
I had the only upstairs room. At night the wind whipped through the valley and shook our home, targeting my bedroom. I learned to trust those walls. I’d wake…
On Motherhood: A Journey of Surrender & Joy
Dear me in the midst of it, you’re wondering how to move forward. Stuck trying to keep up everything you think you should. Unclear what’s ahead. Called to the same things, yet tired of paying...
Ambassadors Unleashed: How to Be an Ambassador for Christ in a Changing Culture
Do you feel on the outside? Increasingly, Christianity is moving from the center of society to the outskirts. I talk to people all the time that feel like they went to sleep and America...
In the Still, Small Spaces
“What are you doing in here?” It was early and cold. I’d been up for hours with Rylee and Cheyne. I took advantage of everyone eating breakfast and stole away to check on our meeting space. Mom mode...
Of Violence & Volume: Why Truth Matters for Justice and Peace
Violence and volume is all that’s left when truth isn’t an option. I don’t follow the news enough to make educated statements. This is on purpose. I’m overwhelmed by the sin and sadness in my heart...
Embracing My Physical Limits
I said I wanted to relearn some of the lessons God’s taught me the last few months. The most practical of those lessons, I tell myself again and again...
Desire and Contentment: Learning to Live Within Limits
I still don't know what "satisfied" means. But I know what it doesn't mean: having all your desires fulfilled. It doesn't even mean being able to fulfill them. In fact, the more I learn about desire...
Satisfied with Leftovers
“She ate until she was satisfied, and she had some left over.” - Ruth 2 I, on the other hand, was dissatisfied. I felt anxious and tired but most of all numb. There were too many things to process...
Thinking Carefully about God and Natural Evil: Why Christian Hope Must Make Room for Grief
I’ve been trying to get my thoughts about God and the coronavirus clear. This has been helpful for me. I hope it may be to you as well. Disease and death are evil. They are symptoms of a world broken...
On Ice-Cream & Math: Motherhood, Ministry, and the Generosity of God
It’s 9:09 at night. I’m eating ice cream and thinking. My math says “saying yes to God means giving up something you want.” That’s sometimes true. But it sure isn’t always true. And even when true, it’s not the full story.
A Year to Receive
Every year I pick a word. Year doesn’t always start in January. Year isn’t always a year. I pick one word that encapsulates what I think is God’s focus for me that year. Usually, I frame it as what...
4 Tough Questions Christians Face About Their Faith
When I speak on apologetics, there are four questions that come up over and over. They're major reasons people are afraid to share their faith. If God is who you say he is, why would he allow so much...
Why Christian Apologetics Still Matters
“It’s interesting a church of your size would do an apologetics conference.” Said one of the speakers at our Apologetics Conference. It is unusual. A few weeks back I received an email...
4 Questions to Establish a Nightly Routine
Google "nightly routine" and you'll see a theme to people's posts. "Nightly Routines and How to Sleep Hack Your Way To a Productive Morning."...
5 Questions for an Intentional Summer
We all have our favorite season. I admire you summer loving, beach going, relaxed peeps, but it's only recently that I've grown to appreciate summer. I thought summer was about flip-flops, suntans...
What You’ve Already Taught Me
We’re 21 days from your due date. People keep asking us if we’re ready. Nothing about our house is ready. Your nursery is being painted right now. The crib is in the garage. No clothes have been...
Peace This Morning: The Peace of Christ in an Imperfect Christmas
This morning I woke up with a cold. Restless, tossing and turning and thinking about all the potential things that could go wrong this family Christmas. The last few years have taught me...
My Kind of Freedom: The Unexpected Gift of Limits
It was a stressful game. I swear I'm a healthy person. But the world was at stake. Cheyne and Erica sat hunched over the game board. Viruses were spreading and the future was grim. They had been...
Choosing What Matters: Putting Essentialism into Practice
I've been on an essentialist journey this past year/life. It started when I was 15 and liked acting more than dancing, so I stopped dancing. It kicked into high gear when I was 16 and decided to go...