There is a sudden ache in my gut, like I’ve been kicked. As much as I prepare for hospital-sterile, IV’s and blinking lights, the moment I enter my daughter’s room I cannot stop the sudden intake of breath. I pause, the dread in my stomach stops my heart for a second, and I wait till […]
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Japanese rubbish took over five years to hit our shores after an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s shores in 2011. Everything from house parts to car parts, about 20 million tons of it were carried across 4,500 miles of ocean. It took a while, but it eventually got here. Riding on that hunk of unmoored […]
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Generations, like peanut butter and jelly, are layered lavishly one upon another at the tables. Like a train of blessing, bowls with steam rising and platters overflowing, pass from big hands to little. A chain of exclamations, deep voices and little ones rise higher and higher in decibel. Stories and laughter richer than creamed gravy […]
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Back in the day when “missionary” brought to mind pith helmets for the men and polyester ruffles for the women, my husband and I took three little girls away from their grandparents and everything they knew to Italy. The term carried with it good-byes like “see you in about four years.” Going overseas was a […]
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I am into the fear of God. It seems to neon-light itself at me throughout Scripture. People have turned it into an undesirable emotion, but the fear of God is a good thing. The book of Proverbs loves it. “In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence…a place of refuge…a fountain of life, […]
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Sometimes being a mommy was like the ocean that disappeared into sand. Vast and unmeasurable, mommy-hood was never completely accomplished or satiated. Its demands drained, yet its beauty abounded. I wanted confidence, “You’ve got this.” But mothering was often a murky insecurity of, “I don’t know how to do this.” I wanted to thrive, but […]
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I wedged myself half onto my daughter’s hospital bed. The other half rested uncomfortably over the gap between my cot and Charity’s paralyzed body. I’d prayed every possible prayer in every possible way. I’d pled, I’d believed and I’d offered God solutions, but His silence deafened the dark room at Mayo Clinic in 2007. If […]
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“The week of the goat,” I will label it. It began the day I came home from school to find a goat tied up in our yard. For a thirteen-year-old it wasn’t cool, and as the bus came to a stop at our driveway, the whole bus confirmed it. One day after a long school […]
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Lovingkindness. I linger over the word like a morning cappuccino. I lean my head back, close my eyes, and savor it. “Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You” (Psalm 143:8 NASB). What does lovingkindness sound like in the morning—or at any time? Is it in the voices of my grandchildren playing or […]
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“In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Isaiah 30:15; NKJV. When Phil and I left for Italy with a two-year-old, a four-year-old and a seven-year-old, we were about as prepared as any missionary could be. Like a couple without children are experts on childrearing, we had […]
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