She had almost given up hope. No matter that everyone called her beautiful. What was beauty, or anything, if you couldn’t pass it on to your children? And she had no children. The shame of it cloaked her, gnawed at her insides. What was a woman without children in her time? Far worse than one […]
My little brother went to heaven sixteen years ago today. Most people don’t know my sister and I even had a little brother—he was stillborn so early, at only sixteen weeks. But we could tell he was a boy, which our mom had already sensed. And he is still an unseen part of our family, […]
You know you’re moving when… – The rooms you live in are a strange mixture of empty and chaotic – You accidentally grind up a twistie tie in the homemade ice cream—oh, dear, what are those funny green flecks of paper? – People referring to “home” or the “house” have to clarify which one they […]
A bestselling author I was privileged to learn under at Mount Hermon a couple of years ago commented how many of her stories dealt with a theme that seemed to continually come up in her own life: God saying, “Are you going to trust Me?” Sometimes, she said, she felt like responding, “Haven’t we been […]
The Lord is my shepherd. Tender and patient, picking me up when I fall and pulling me away from dangerous places. Never leaving or forsaking His silly sheep. I shall not want. I should ponder that one a while. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Even when […]
View of Oxford from a medieval church tower. A little over five years ago, I waved good-bye to my family and stepped onto a plane to study abroad for a semester in Oxford, England. I later wrote that I’d felt a bit like an eaglet thrust from a cliff-top nest, hurtling into space with no […]
Lately I’ve realized I’m feeling anxious nearly all the time. It’s not like anything horrible has happened. I know families facing crises right now, and ours isn’t one of them. But the daily stresses of winter sickness running through our household, our theater company getting ready for a show, selling one house while getting ready […]
Christmas is definitely over at our house—after a joy-and-laughter-filled Epiphany party and play reading Sunday night, our house is looking rather stripped bare. Not only did I finish packing away all the Christmas decorations last night, but we are getting ready to move, and our grandma’s house, where we’ve lived the past eight and a […]
Originally posted December 24, 2011 Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight… Mary So much waiting, and now everything is happening too fast. Dusty sandals hurry past me as I huddle in the street corner. Joseph settled me here when […]
Originally posted December 17, 2011 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus Born to set Thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee… Joseph Evening light glints on the soldiers’ helmets as they disappear in a cloud of dust. I stare after them. Lord, if I’d known you meant literally […]
