Gaining a heart of wisdom
As I write today, Houston is well into the long rebuilding that follows a hurricane and flooding, and Irma has raged through the Caribbean islands and through Florida, leaving a wake of destruction and death. In an odd sort of coincidence, those of us who are reading Jayber Crow according to the schedule have been… Continue reading Like the Sound of Many Waters — Jayber Crow Discussion (3)
My faith unraveled at a Christian college. I know that’s not the way it’s supposed to happen, and I can remember wishing that a hostile, atheistic professor had bludgeoned me into my doubts with brilliantly irrefutable arguments. It would make for a much better story. Instead, the truth is I just got numb. The constant barrage… Continue reading 3 Stories Completely Ended: Jayber Crow Discussion Group (2)
Stuffing a ratty t-shirt into the washer's maw, I try not to think about the fact that it was only yesterday that I hung this very same t-shirt on the clothesline. The laundry is never done -- even though we are down to a family of four these days. How in the world did I… Continue reading “Laundry Is My Overflowing Inbox”: Working within the Home
Life has a way of expanding to fill the available space. Little League games used to occupy Saturday mornings with hours of sunshine (and mosquitoes) and with chatting on the bleachers with other mums. However, a quick glance around my house reveals our family has aged out of that particular American institution. We’ve moved on,… Continue reading Living in the Wide Open Spaces
We were greeted with warm handshakes and pleasantries, an outline of the morning service, and then a startling announcement: "We assumed that your wife would want to take the children." In the early days of our marriage when my husband was the area director of a children's ministry, I used to travel with him to… Continue reading Women in Ministry: What God Wants You to Know
A favorite Elisabeth Elliot quote comes to mind whenever I overhear fragments of the ongoing row about the role of women in the church: "I am not a different kind of Christian because I am a woman, but I am, most certainly, a different kind of woman because I am a Christian." Since ten of… Continue reading A Different Kind of Woman
Everyday, the townspeople of Thrim would ask, "Hey, Yoj, how are you today?" And everyday, Yoj would answer, "I am fabulous and full of life!" And why shouldn't he be? Yoj was the happy doll maker who awoke each day with a song on his lips and dinner invitations almost every night -- until one day a mysterious stranger… Continue reading Fabulous and Full of Life!
“I should have worn sturdier shoes.” “What was I thinking?” Well, for one thing, I was thinking that an invitation to go for “a walk” issued by a seventy-five-year-old woman with a snowy crown of fly-away hair would be a rather sedate affair. I was thinking that we would chat, and that Helen would tell… Continue reading Vocational Equilibrium – A Tribute for Women’s History Month
"As Christian women, we desire to honor God by living countercultural lives that reflect the beauty of Christ and His gospel to our world . . ." These powerful words lifted from the True Woman Manifesto are a wake up call to women, an invitation to enter into a life based on truth, and to… Continue reading Divine Design
Almost twenty-two years ago, I packed up my favorite coffee mug, my personal files, and a few samples of my work, and walked away from my career in human resources. Four babies in eight years, homeschooling, ministry, and a huge vegetable garden each year have hardly left time for me to look in the rear… Continue reading Purposeful, Missional Work
Living Our Days 