He didn’t know this visit would hurt. He didn’t know to ask if they would pinch or poke him. He bounced into the hospital in his Spiderman costume, looking for stickers and suckers, knowing just how to wrap people around his little finger with charm. I knew what lay ahead for my son. My heart…

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This week’s Faith Jam at The Faith Barista is on our dreams for Christmas. At first, I wasn’t going to write anything because I don’t have any dreams for Christmas this year. We went through the motions for the kids two years ago. It was just 2 months after our oldest daughter had died, and…

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Life has a way of turning upside-down for everyone. It happens in a flash. One minute everything lies before you like a farm valley in July, ripe with possibilities and opportunities. The next, the ground rips apart and it all disappears into a dark ugly chasm… and you’re falling headlong into it. And it’s precisely…

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I feel normal. That has not been normal for… years. Last fall I finally acknowledged the stormy fog in which I trudged, halted, sometimes crumbled, constantly denied. It was depression, or for those of you who shy away from psychology, it was a dark night of the soul. My dark night. My soul. “Dark” doesn’t…

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The hall wore vertical stripes like a matron trying to hide her spreading hips. Yellowed light from 20-year-old wagon-wheel chandeliers froze cameras unable to resolve the flash-or-no-flash dilemma. Plates on tables presented forgettable food. But God came there. Through the words of timid but obedient women, He spoke gentle firm correction to this woman who…

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I am independent. Stubborn. Smug. Love myself. Hate to fail. Take-charge. Crushed one potential boyfriend when I said “I don’t need you.” (He wasn’t satisfied with being wanted.) Don’t need help. I can handle it. Have the right answers. All this? The world says it’s a recipe for success. Then God ripped off the blindfold.…

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