Sylvia Schroeder


boy shooting a bow and arrow.

Is This Too Trivial For God?

Sunshine bright with glory bathed our tiny backyard. Blue sky beckoned. Winter months had been long for our four-year-old son, and he was ready for play. “If you need me, I’ll call you,” he shouted a split second before the screen door banged behind him. Its echo slammed inside my head. I plopped down with […]

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What Does It Mean to be Found?

I’m not good with directions. I never could find where we were on that big paper Rand McNally map, so when the first GPS came out, I considered it to be a marriage saver. Until I realized how terribly bad I am with technology. I mean lost is lost. When the kids were little and […]

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Sandals in the sand

To Strengthen And Encourage In The Faith

She sat in front of me, a crumpled mess. Words halted and poured again like the start and go of a sputtering fountain. Lines furrowed her forehead. They drew the portrait of a weary soul. My heart twisted with her paradox of stories from cross cultural ministry, both uplifting and exhausting. Paul, the missionary, faced […]

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My Blessing of Struggles

I’m so excited to share with you something from my daughter Charity. As a result of a mass on her brain stem when she was  twenty-six, Charity lives with incomplete-quadriplegia. She wrote the post below. I think Charity’s words from a power chair will touch your hearts and you will remember them in whatever struggles […]

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stack of passports

Are You At Home with Your Passport? 

I checked again to make sure the blue passport lay in my palm. Lines of weary travelers stretched long behind and in front of us. In tightly clasped fists, passports of green, maroon, and brown blurred with our shuffling. They were irreplaceable identifications of citizenships from around the globe. We shoved suitcases with a knee, pulled […]

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Are You Really The Best? 

I found the crayon-drawn picture lying on a chair, during my hurry-and-pick-up-the-house-cleaning. Time tightened before guests arrived, and the house reflected the chaos of muddy shoes and thrown pillows. I’d read its message on Mother’s Day, when my grandson handed it to me, but I needed it more today. This day, when I deserved it […]

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Have You Been Living A Scammed Life?

A message on my phone encouraged me to contact a certain Margaret. It seems she wants to recruit me for a job. I have great potential to earn an amazing amount of money. In fact, my name has repeatedly come to her company’s attention. Perhaps you have received a similar text. It’s a scam. This […]

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child coloring in a coloring book

How Do I See Others?

I tilted my head a bit to look for myself in his stick figure drawing. I wondered is this truly how he saw me? “Is that me?” I asked. He nodded. He held a felt tip marker in a small hand stained with reds and greens. He waited. Proudly. Seriously. Expectantly. I went for the, […]

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lady balancing and walking on a train rail.

Keeping Your Balance In An Imbalanced World

She toddles toward me, hands outstretched. My eyes are wide, excited and inviting, “Come on,” I urge with a half whisper. A foot lifts, and then another. A wobbly sort of drunken-sailor-tilt, propels her miniature body. A little too far to one side and then the other, she comes closer. And then, just before she […]

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little girl praying

Does Jesus Always Answer What We Ask For?

“If Jesus wanted to,” my little seven-year-old fellow classmate declared, “He could flatten my thumb and make it big enough to go around the whole world.”   He held his thumb inches from my wide eyes. I stared at it without saying a word. I could almost see it spread and widen. I imagined it […]

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