I live in Washington state, where we have been issued a “stay-at-home” order since about mid-March. Despite being mostly isolated with my family and extremely limited on what we can do, I love my home and I would not want to be on lockdown anywhere else right now (except a sunny beach. That might be …
I’ve heard terms like “Prayer Warrior” applied to people in my life, and it is an incredible merit that I can only hope to be known for. It sounds so glorious: the thought of someone who prays so abundantly that they are renowned to all around them for their relentless devotion to prayer. I can …
It took me years- almost my entire adult life- to understand what the Bible is talking about when it says praise. I think in my very American upbringing the thought of praise is evoked only when someone is telling you about a job well done. Praise was always a very me-centric concept; wondering how I …
What comes to mind when you hear the word JOY? Now that it’s January I feel like I’ve been inundated with the word joy and all the different things we’ve attached to it. December is overflowing with the use of the word joy; we sing Joy to the World, our mailboxes are filled with greeting …
With the start of the new year, and a new decade, it feels like a really great time to step back and reflect on the last few years and what they’ve brought us. Between 2010 and 2019 we had some of the biggest life changes that a family can experience and there were quite a …
Have you ever encountered a situation where you doubt whether you are strong enough to endure what is before you? Or maybe you’ve endured for a long, long time and feel the bleak possibility that things may not get any better and giving up is starting to look like a better option (if that’s even …
Why do I need to be in community every week? As Christians, we are called to selflessness. We look to our savior Jesus Christ to model perfect selflessness and how to serve one another as his followers. As a mom, I am blessed to spend every waking (and sleeping) moment of my life ready to …
Every single year I greet the first few sunny spring days here in the Pacific Northwest surprised that the gray is gone and the buds are blooming faithfully with the changing season. The first warm days (aka anything over 55 degrees) always make me want to cry. It’s such a relief, like a weight has …
Have you ever heard the saying that family isn’t a word, it’s a sentence? Right now within the Body of believers, I’m starting to believe that the word “community” is no different. In our travels and in our own city it’s hard not to notice a deep divide that is certainly not new to Christianity or …
Facing Conflict in Relationships Recently I’ve been wrestling with what to do about a relationship with a relative that has become more and more dysfunctional. It’s new territory for me as a believer, because my old, worldly self would have deemed the relative as toxic and resolved to simply end any contact or communication with …
