"Slow of speech doesn't mean slow of mind." I stuttered as a child and I remember the frustration of a brain that was brimming with ideas and words, yet was burdened with  a tongue that refused to obey. I would be desperately trying to share something with my mom or dad and my lips would stall. My parents patient admonition to "Slow down, sis" would force me to take a deep breath but it didn't help the words flow any easier. The only thing that helped was to sing. It was a strange remedy...the same sounds and letters that tripped…

Most of us are ready to kiss 2020 goodbye. It's been a marker of disease and death, upheaval and shock. Yet simply turning over the pages of a calendar doesn't mean life magically rids itself of pain. No one but God knows what the next year holds which is why I've been so thoughtful about what word I'll choose to meditate on during this upcoming year. After much prayer, I feel God leading me toward the word HOPE. Years ago, Steve Westbrook ingrained in my heart the best definition of the word hope: "Joyful, confident expectation of good things yet…

Not long ago, I finished up a beautiful study on the book of Hosea by Jennifer Rothschild. She challenged her readers to do something I love: to make a to-be list instead of a to-do list. I’m prolific at creating master to-do lists. They give me a sense of control, a sense of accomplishment and keep my cluttered mind from letting crucial jobs slip through the cracks of my faulty memory. (Correction: these things give me illusion of control, accomplishment and clearer brain function.) Despite my love of meddlesome to-do lists, I think they are overrated. Our culture is so…

One of the blessings, and sometimes headaches, of being a historical author is the amount of research I have to wade through each week. On occasion, a gem appears that is so rare, so astoundingly beautiful, that it makes the hours of sleeplessness worth every moment. Each Christmas I find particular joy in digging anew into the accounts of Jesus' birth. I've studied Simeon, Anna, the outposts around Bethlehem, the innkeeper, Mary...the possibilities are endless. But this year, I was giddy to discover a letter held in the Constantinople archives. This missive was a report written by a priest named…

When elementary school teachers across our nation tell their students the origins of Thanksgiving, there are accounts of pilgrims and Indians, complete with black-buckled hats and feathered headdresses, talk of starving people and the wisdom of men like Squanto who taught the Mayflower pilgrims how to survive amid a challenging new world. And while none of these accounts are wrong, the breaking of bread between the new Europeans and the Wampanoag tribesmen were not the beginning of Thanksgiving as we celebrate it today. In 1789, George Washington issued a proclamation to set aside November 26th of that year as a…

Words are powerful. They can build up a life through language doused in love, or they can cut a life down like a scythe slicing through brittle grass. When I recently asked my oldest daughter what she loved most about her best friend at school, she replied, "I've never heard her say a bad word about anyone. She speaks the truth, sometimes very directly, but always with kindness of love. She's not a backstabber. It's hard not to love being around someone like that." Her reflection caused me to evaluate my own life. Jesus told us what comes from our…