This month, in our online community called Balanced and Beautiful, we have delved into the topic of balance, asking these three questions: What is balance and is achieving it even possible? Is the pursuit of balance biblical? How does God’s word make us more balanced......
One of the best parts about forgiveness is it’s a personal process. It’s something we can do alone with God through prayer, whether the offender is dead, estranged, or never seen again. Its power can transform our hearts and change our lives—forever—with or without that specific person....
When our home catches fire, we call 911 for help. We may quickly assess, but when we realize it is taking over, there is no delay in our response. There is no sitting on it. Pondering it. Wrestling with it. Yet, when temptation starts to grip our hearts and minds, we may treat them as a favored pet, letting our mind race back to it with mental and emotional attention....
It’s a good thing I wasn’t a comedian at the time or my agent would have been furious when I decided to turn my back on sarcasm for two months as an experiment. I can imagine his hands wringing, mouth grimacing, and the berating as he pretended to remain calm. All the while him calculating how this would affect my act. But that’s the thing, I didn’t want an act anymore....
I had it in me, my old bulldog of being right. Think soft marshmallow flesh with stocky shoulders and a snarling, sputtering, toothy, aggressive need-to-be-right....
Forgiveness can be a tough nut to crack. It is something that needs to be processed on a deep personal level and, oftentimes, revisited. It’s a sacred act within. So, if you are struggling with forgiveness, you’re not alone....
As the disciples rode the dusty coattails of Jesus’ rising influence, their dream of being a part of a powerful new king’s kingdom was crushed as Jesus hung on the cross and died. I’m sure they were quite perplexed...
I’ve waited for a marriage to fall through or be reborn. I’ve waited for pregnancies to end in the dark too soon or come to full fruition in soft whimpers and fresh cries. I’ve waited for business opportunities to flow into my hands or fold like the wind whipping away at what I was never meant to have....
Envy lies as dormant desire buried alive. Nothing buried alive is beautiful. In her book Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True, Elizabeth Berg describes envy as “the cockroaches of the soul”. ...
Sometimes bravery doesn't wear heavy armor and swing a sharp sword. Sometimes it’s more simple and subtle than that. Sometimes bravery is resting from all we are doing to promote ourselves, pad our self-worth, and calm our eating anxieties....
I believe there are some uncommon, often uncelebrated forms of bravery. These subtle forms of bravery do not get enough recognition, but they certainly have a quiet way of weaving honor back into our own chests while they also extending respect into the hearts of......
I’ve seen women too timid to speak up and raise a hand that they are drowning under years of broken boundaries and layers of heavy waters....
I’ve heard women, somewhat unintentionally, crush conversations quicker than a demolition team taking down a titan of concrete with a critical spirit gone unchecked. ...
I know average women who can walk into a room and fill it with the sunshine of their beaming and generous smile, winning and warming the hearts of men and women alike. I've also seen beautiful women enter a room and chill it almost as quickly as they've entered....
My heart saddens a little as we wrap up our nightly routine of watching an Andy Griffith Show episode with our two, grade school, children for the past year-and-a-half. ...
As we retreat indoors this season and trim our trees with warm lights, we will purposely close the cold outside. What will we use our strength to close the door to this Christmas season; what will we refuse to let in other than the sharp wind? ...
Anger, at its best, is a controlled burn. Farmers use controlled burns as a powerful tool to rid their land of invasive weeds and the clearing of cluttered, useless underbrush. Burn, baby burn. ...
Allowing ourselves to be beautiful has a lot to do with becoming comfortable being seen and not afraid of judgement. For many years, being seen has elicited fear within me; fear of judgement, of being mocked, and then crushed. But look at the flowers. No flower self-protects....
Oftentimes, feelings of powerlessness come over me after I've faced circumstances armed and animated with all I've got and nothing's budged. Powerlessness begets hopelessness, or does hopelessness beget powerlessness? (This might just be a chicken-and-egg argument.)...
Sometimes we need to take a great, terrible, long fall from a comfortable perch. It’s the only thing that will crack and crush the shell we never needed in the first place, but we created and clung to out of fear and the comfort of familiarity....
I collect dandelion leaves to feed our children's bunnies on my walks. The leaves I find along the buzzing roadside are tougher leaved and pocked by sharp roadside pebbles....
Christian Mindfulness: It's a thing and probably an ancient one at that. The most natural rhythm between God and I has become receiving from Him and me giving thanks in return....
Darning our tattered little minds and tired little hearts with threads of trust, not in our circumstances, but in our God. ...
When roots wrap stone bread: How do we untangle the message from the messenger?...
Regal Simpleness: Before we were even a twinkle in our mother’s eye, I believe our inmost being was handcrafted by God in a heavenly place....
Precious Stone: This is your value in Christ's presence. I visit with Him in the quiet of my prayer. He shows me my worth in the palm of His hand....
Some Background – Pedestal of Our Hearts It’s my opinion that we all have a pedestal in our hearts: a place of prominence and devotion. It’s a hidden, deep place in our hearts where we want to pour out unconditional love and focus. (This could......
The truth is, forgiveness IS like an onion and it has a lot of layers....
Does this mean I will always be kind? Probably not. Does it mean that I want to be kind? Yes. Even when I am "Hangry" (hungry + angry)? Yes. Will I make mistakes? Absolutely....