Keeping the Record While Honoring the Redemption
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. —Philippians 3:13–14 Sunday, December 24, 1989 Dear Diary, Today is Christmas Eve, and it is about 2:31 a.m. I’m so excited! I got a Nintendo Power Pad and Glove! Isn’t that unbelievable?! That was all I wanted. I also got a bracelet with my name on it, chocolate, slippers, a shirt, Kissing [...]
He Who Has Created These Things
Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing. —Isaiah 40:26 On Sunday, my family and I returned from a multiweek sojourn to and from Phoenix, Arizona, where my church was having its convention. We decided to use the event as an opportunity to a take a long road trip out west. For this week’s blog post, I planned to write a lengthy, photo-filled travelogue [...]
The Power of Intercessory Prayer
We should never underestimate the potential of one person’s prayer to impact a nation. On the day I was doomscrolling and crying out to God, asking Him what to do about the chaos in the United States, I received a one-word response: pray. Could it really be that simple? Yes, it can. One Biblical figure who knew this truth and lived it every single day was Daniel. When I was reading through the Bible and collecting verses to use in One Nation Under God: 40 Devotions for Patriotic Women, I easily could have relied solely on the Book [...]
Misadventures with My Rebellious Pelvis
“For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” —Job 19:25–27 Sometimes I joke that if I ever write a book about my various health issues over the years, I’m going to title it Misadventures with My Rebellious Pelvis. For starters, I’ve had many struggles with my reproductive system. Sixteen years ago, the first [...]
Family Vacations Matter: Rest, Gratitude, and God’s Gift of Renewal
What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun? —Ecclesiastes 1:3 Did you know that almost 25 percent of Americans don’t take any paid time off (PTO) in any given year? I wasn’t surprised to learn this statistic. Leisure is severely underappreciated in our modern hustle culture. It made me think back to all my seasons in life when I worked for other people. Whether it was as a graveyard shift Waffle House waitress, an administrative assistant at a hotel, an adjunct instructor at a state college, or an editor at [...]
Happy 250th Anniversary, America!
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” —Acts 17:26–27 Dearest America, There are many things I could say to you, but I’ll try to keep this short and sweet. I was blessed to be born and raised within your vast borders and have called [...]
Hope for Haiti, One Meal at a Time
“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” —Matthew 25:40 Sometimes, when you learn more about how other people live, it makes you extremely grateful for your own blessings. Long before my husband was called to be our church’s pastor, the congregation began supporting Trinity Hope, a nonprofit organization that feeds schoolchildren in Haiti. Our church sponsors a school, and we delight in receiving periodic bundles of drawings and handwritten notes from the [...]
Father’s Day: It’s Complicated, Part 2
“For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” —Deuteronomy 5:9–10 Just as Mother’s Day is complicated for some of us, Father’s Day can elicit similarly complex emotions. Fatherlessness has been a recurring motif in my family history. My maternal great-great-grandmother lost her husband in a railroad accident. The lore says that until she got remarried, my great-grandmother and her siblings lived in [...]
God’s Design for Marriage and Families
Strong marriages and families are the bedrock of any thriving society. I come from a family of broken homes, so I know firsthand the detrimental effects of disregarding God’s design for marriage and families. By His grace, He has allowed me to break this cycle in my own marriage and family. Having a home where Jesus Christ is the foundation makes all the difference I the world. One of the hymns we sang at our wedding was “Oh, Blest the House.” I haven’t read the lyrics in many years, and today, as I reflect on life over the [...]
How to Make a Neurotic Chick
My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. —Psalm 73:26 On a blustery January day in Central New York, I sat in the backseat of my then brother-in-law’s car, as he and my sister drove me back to Ithaca College, where I was in my sophomore year. I had my headphones on, listening to a mixtape a friend had made me for the ride to and from campus to my hometown. My eyes were either closed or staring out the window, but perpetually holding back tears. My sister [...]