The year 2020 was supposed mean vision. 20/20 laser focus on what's important. At least, that's what a friend recently told me. She scratched her head. "This was supposed to be the year for clarity. Why does it feel more like I should be watching for a plague of locusts on the horizon?" It's been rough. COVID-19, riots, murder hornets, food shortages, natural disasters, and economic instability has left the world reeling with anxiety. To be honest, I took most of the upheaval in stride. Kids doing school from home? No problem. I homeschooled for years. It was like slipping…

During this tumultuous season in our nation, its easy to raise our voices, to shout our opinions, our convictions, and our testimonies. In all honesty, I feel that social media can become a riot of its own...a mob of anger, name-calling, opportunities to be 'seen', and pointing fingers. Little of it is effective. Some of it causes the wounds to deepen. We live in a sin-sick world, filled with broken people who have been grieved and hurt by other wounded people. The ripple effects of these decisions cascade down through generations. That's what sin does. It kills. It destroys. It…

The Arkansas State Police is a happening place to be, especially in the motor vehicle office and even more so from one to four when they are administering driving tests. I recently took a family member to fill out some paperwork, which provided me plenty of time to sit in the waiting room and watch people coming and going. Anxious teens milled around, some of whom were too cool to show their jitters. Nervous mothers smacking gum contrasted against parents who rolled their eyes, muttering to the person on the other end of their cell phone that young Anthony "...better…

I desperately want people to like me. There. I said it. The thought of someone being displeased with me in any way drops a sick feeling in my gut. What's one way to shake that cold feeling of dread? Work harder. Be more agreeable, more likable. Fit in. Be accepted and never, ever let them see the real you. After all, if they know what you're really like, the acceptance will disappear. Right? That's what I told myself, anyways. I've battled people pleasing all my life. I can readily admit it now, but I would have died a thousand deaths…

What strange times we’re muddling through. Covid-19 has left us all reeling, searching for answers. For normalcy. For an end to the chaos. For hope. I pondered what I should share with you this month. I wondered if you wanted to know how my speaking schedule has come to a grinding halt. (Whose hasn’t?) I could tell you about living out of boxes while in the middle of a move during a global epidemic, or how being a homeschooling mama has saved my sanity during these educational transitions, or about the new story I’ve just begun. Instead, I think it…

Country living is the best. Well, it was awesome to me, anyways. For a time in my childhood, my Dad pastored a small church in a tiny Arkansas town, population 630. It wasn’t exactly a metropolis. We had one bank, one gas station, one small grocery store and one restaurant where you could buy anything deep fried. That’s it. Everything else consisted of houses, churches, dirt roads and cows. Lots of cows. Everywhere. Oh, I forgot to mention chicken houses. Growing up in a small, Mayberry type of town is awesome when you are a little kid. The closest Wal-mart,…