Culture Here vs. There

Why Bible Study Part III Imagine walking into church Sunday morning. When you step inside, everyone welcomes you with a big, “Hey! How are you?” and a kiss on both cheeks. Be a little weirded out? On the other hand, in Latin America, a warm greeting similar to this welcomes you everywhere you go. It’s […]

How to be Thankful When You’re Tired

As I’m sitting here typing this, I hear the water draining out of the bathtub and the pitter patter of feet running around which means I have a 2-year-old streaker on my hands downstairs. His dad fell asleep reading and his little sister is already in bed so that means I get to go dress […]

The Depth of the Bible

Why Bible Study? Part II One nippy October night on a hayride, I shared the story of Jesus’ love with a curly-headed first-grader. Her eyes lit up with understanding. “That’s the nicest thing anyone has every done for me!” The message of the Bible is simple enough for someone hearing it the first time to […]

The Bible as a Story

Why Bible Study? Part I When I turned eleven, my parents gave me the Anne of Green Gables books. I connected with those stories on a level I never had before. I laughed with my mom late at night reading how Anne cracked her slate over Gilbert’s head. When her friend Ruby died I cried […]

God’s Story in my Life {31 Days}

I have a confession to make. Several actually. I got to about Day 10 of this 31 Day Challenge  and started worrying. My life sounded so idyllic. Was I talking too much about the good parts in my story? Should I conjure up all the negative things I can remember about growing up and start […]

A Lamp to my Children’s Feet {31 Days}

My Charlie is a Wild Man in the making. Someday he’ll be skydiving and hang gliding and I’ll see the Instagram pictures after the fact and be thanking his guardian angel even more. So when we had our sweet Lou this summer I worried about her safety with such a rambunctious brother in the house. […]

My Thankfulness Journey {31 Days}

For years I’ve complained while going through trials. Dug my heels in and whined to God the whole time I struggled with something. But often I would reach the end of the difficulty, look back and see the benefit of it – the blessing of it and lessons learned through it. And I’d ask myself, […]

Two Babies, Two Stories {31 Days}

I have two beautiful children. As the oldest of 9 in my family, I was familiar with pregnancy and childbirth. However, I would often worry when my mom was pregnant that something would happen to her or baby. So when I was expecting our son, that fear reared its head and I struggled with the […]

How Nate Proposed {31 Days}

I’m not a very hard person to surprise because #1) I’m generally rather skeptical and #2) I don’t like to spoil surprises so I don’t believe what I hear or I purposely forget clues that I see. So if someone had said to me on December 8, 2010, “Nate’s going to propose to you tonight,” […]

Waiting and Praying {31 Days}

God called me to spend my summer in Colorado praying for Nate, specifically for an open door for us to pursue a deeper relationship. I learned some valuable lessons on prayer through that Sometimes Christians believe that the Bible says God will unconditionally give us whatever we pray for. As I learned more about prayer, […]