Faith

faith

/fāTH/

Belief in a personal and faithful God who loves us unconditionally; a source of hope and confidence when you feel there is none; the assurance that there is someone greater than you who not only cares but wants to be part of your life

My-Heart,-The-Liar

My Heart, The Liar

In the middle of this worship song at church, the part where my soul usually soars with passion and hope, I had to stop singing. Stop cold, as if my jaw locked up. Through every trial My soul will sing Christ is enough for me Everything I need is in You Everything I need It was Mother’s Day Sunday, and I was in the midst of a “trial” (like many moms on a “holiday” that’s supposed to honor them, but ends up wounding them in a multitude of ways). I had spent my church preparation time stewing over my trial, a knife that had been thrust into my heart with increasing frequency over the previous several weeks. Then this: Christ is enough for […]

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The Answer to Jealousy

The Answer to Jealousy

Yesterday I stumbled upon two really meaningful articles on Facebook, one on gratitude and the other on jealousy, written by authors that I, along with millions of others, follow and respect. As my eyes and mind took in their wise words, I knew it was no accident. I had been swimming in both emotions all week following the birth of my grandson, my only daughter’s firstborn baby. For most of every day, I have been overwhelmed with indescribable gratitude for this beautiful little boy and the way he has swollen my heart to bursting. For witnessing my daughter and son-in-law be the most amazing and tender parents. For getting to watch his face for hours on end, praying for him while I

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The Floods Are Gonna Come

When the Floods Come, Will Your Faith Keep You Anchored?

Have you ever heard the parable from the Bible about a house built on sand and another house built on a rock? I’ve heard it many times over the years, starting in Sunday school. As a teen, it was pitched my way whenever my mom wanted to make a point about what I was doing in life… it didn’t work well on a rebellious 18-year-old. Since that time I have literally lived out that analogy. I have owned a home in Florida and another one on a mountaintop in North Carolina. One house is built on a bunch of sand, while the other has a concrete foundation—poured and pinned into a rock bed. I have asked builders in Florida (more than once)

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Scared of the Dark

Scared of the Dark

I used to be scared of the dark. The kind of scared that—even as a sophomore in high school—I would carry my little sister (who was five years younger) into bed with me at night. Simply hearing the sound of her breathing helped me fall asleep. Some of us know what it’s like to be afraid of the dark. Not being able to see in front of your face can be a horrifying reality. Depression is like that. It’s a darkness of the soul, and it doesn’t play fair. In the midst of depression, it can feel like heavy smog that makes it impossible to see clearly, even in the light of day. It has the tendency to pollute every crevice of

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10 Navy Seal Mantras for Moms

10 Navy Seal Mantras for Moms

Somewhere between his graduation from Basic Training at Great Lakes, Michigan, and the Tuesday morning in Coronado, California—when one of our sons took off his numbered helmet, laid it down, and rang the bell signaling that he would not, in fact, become a Navy Seal—he showed us a book of mantras. Just a little book, with one page per original mantra, each written by one of his BUDS (Basic Underwater Demolition School) classmates. Our son was married and in his mid-twenties at the time, so his mantra was appropriately inspirational, grammatically correct, and it actually made sense. As I read the others—many written by mere teenagers—I thought, “No wonder in a few short weeks this class of 300+ men will diminish to

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Our Secret Marriage Code

Our Secret Marriage Code

Bill and I have this thing we sometimes say to each other. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it’s one of those habitual, intentional refrains we’ve chiseled into the foundation of our marriage. We don’t write it, we say it… but if we did write it down, and if archeologists were to stumble upon it someday in the ancient runes of our marriage, I’m not sure what they’d make of it. We say, “I need to express something.” Which is code for, “Listen up. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I have a feeling about something that won’t go away without verbal expression. I don’t need you to do anything about it, but I do need to say it

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Teen Suicide

Teen Suicide

Lately I’ve been thinking about a difficult subject…teen suicide. There are simply too many of them. Even one is too many. Too many kids who believe they have no hope, life is worthless, they are worthless. None of that is true. But how do we as adults convince them of that? I think part of the answer might lie in teaching teenagers to grieve and giving proper respect to the tough moments in their lives. I know we have the perspective of many more years of life, but for them, this moment is all they have. The problem is they dwell on these moments until they are consumed, and then they convince themselves nothing else matters. Just the thing… THE. ONE. THING.

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hiding-behind-spiritual-spanx

Spiritual Spanx

“Why is it a girl has to be so silly to catch a husband?” Scarlett O’Hara complains as she is being tightly laced into the barbaric contraption known as the corset. In order to catch the attention of a man, women of the Victorian Era believed that they must conceal their true shape. This seems ridiculous to the progressive women of the 21st century, but I wonder how many of us are still hiding? I have spent a good portion of my life hiding my truest self. As a former pageant girl (Miss America reject), I learned how to conceal aspects about my body that were…ummm… unpleasant. For example, right before the swimsuit competition, I would forget to watch where I walked

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Is Battling Depression Disappointing God?

Is Battling Depression Disappointing God?

There is a genuine struggle being waged by many, one that can overtake the entirety of a person’s life. I’ve seen it in those I love, in friends and family members who before they mounted this battle I may not have believed it would be one they would wage. That battle is depression: the overwhelming dark days that are intense, long-lasting often accompanied by the belief that it will never end. Walking alongside those that have waves of emotion from which they cannot break free, I have come to understand a few things about this journey. One that I think all should realize—most importantly those that are drowning in this sea of darkness. Depression Does Not Equate to God’s Disappointment God is

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Grace in the Desert

Grace in the Desert

I have wandered in the desert… And it wasn’t merely a stroll. It was a long, hearty trail. And it took a few years. My desert began when I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder, which was quickly followed by a break up with my high school sweetheart who I had dated for 5.5 years, and then topped-off by turmoil within my immediate family. There were times when I felt like I was living a nightmare… one from which I could not awaken. There were times I felt like I was drowning in my grief and tears. There were times when I simply wanted to give up. More than anything: I was needy, vulnerable and desperate in the desert. But Jesus Christ

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The-Don’ts-That-We-Do-When-Others-Are-Hurting

The Don’ts That We Do When Others Are Hurting

I was at church one Sunday, about a year after my husband died. I freely share that I rarely escaped a service sans tears. Every week I sat in the same sanctuary, same side, sometimes even the same seat, where I planted Sunday after Sunday with my husband, whose skin I could still feel beside me. Periodically, the tears were so abundant (read uncontrollable) that I would escape to the bathroom mid-sermon to just sob them out. On this particular Sunday, I was once again recovering from my failure to control my emotions, feeling pretty raw and down. Someone from my church ripped me a new wound as we walked out the front doors into the sunshine and she proclaimed, “You just

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Long Distance Friendship

Long-Distance Friendship

The start of the New Year marked a change in a significant relationship. One of my dearest friends moved from our shared city to a town 676 miles away. After eight years of side-by-side life, we will now be separated by stretches of interstate. I delayed our goodbye as long as I could, but when I could no longer ignore her departure, I drove to her house one last time. The tears I’d held back for months fell heavily and freely. As I pulled up to her house and parked behind the moving truck, I paused to dry my tears and pray for some counsel. I heard, “Keep it in perspective.” What kind and wise counsel! As we embraced, I was mindful

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From Pits to a Palace

From Pits to a Palace

Before Joseph the dreamer arrived at the palace he was stuck in a pit. Talk about sibling rivalry! I may have tied my sister to a pole when she was little and left her in the dark, but I would never throw her in a pit! As the story goes, God gave Joseph the gift of interpreting dreams but before Joseph was the dream guru, he had a bent towards a cocky misinterpretation of God’s gifts. Often God gives us gifts and within our sinful nature we abuse them or use them for our own glory, much like the dreamer. In the play-by-play of his early dreams, Joseph’s family was bowing down to him. How nice. If we continue to read through Genesis, we will

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I Was Gonna Rock This Parenting Thing

I Was Gonna Rock This Parenting Thing

I was totally going to rock this parenting thing… And then I had children. I read all the books on getting my baby on a sleep schedule and what to expect when expecting. But then I had children. I realized it is all a bunch of nonsense and everyone is a liar because God gave me the children that are divergent, the ones that all the books call “the exception to the rule.” I would have appreciated a book that covers topics like “what to do when your 3-year-old decides to go streaking through the neighbor’s yard”, “how to keep your child from going all Jedi with a lightsaber on the neighbor’s statue of Mary”, and “how to keep your toddler from

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When-Fear-Keeps-You-From-living

When Fear Keeps You From Living

Last summer, my husband begged me to go to Montana. I told him I would go as long as we could have a professional tour guide and go “GLAMPING.” Instead, as life would have it, we ended up in Southern California (with a free place to stay; sorry Montana, maybe next time). These are my kind of people. Beach. All Day. I was thoroughly enjoying the beach with the rest of my people when my husband, Jamus, a.k.a. Indiana Jones, decided he wanted to go on a hike. (He just would not let it go.) Some dreams need to die. I said, “Okay honey, see ya when you get back!” He gave me the puppy-dog face—the one layered with guilt and much

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My Road Through Infertility

My Road Through Infertility

Like many women when they first get married I believed I would get pregnant easily. I started taking birth control at 25 for cramps, got married, and soon got off of them because we figured in a few years we’d have a baby. This was the next step if that was in your future, so we took it. My husband and I began the natural family planning method. I would diligently take my temperature every morning and then begin to chart it. Well, a year into that plan of action I realized that my diligence had lasted for a few months. I was terrible at it, pitiful at remembering every morning and was completely off my chart by halfway through the week.

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