Once upon a time, a sad girl lived in a dark, dreary land. As far as the eye could see, the land was gray. No colorful flowers danced in the breeze. There were no trees or sunshine, just bleak gray clouds and barren fields of dirt. There were many people but no one was happy. The mean ruler of the Land of Darkness kept all the people chained in irons, wrist to wrist and foot to foot. If anyone tried to escape, they would only fall, entangled in the shackles binding them. The sad girl always wondered what was just…

It's taken me some time to process all the thoughts and emotions swirling through my heart with the passage of New York's recent abortion law. Shock. Horror. Outrage. Nausea. Heartache. A throbbing, overshadowing heartache. We cry for civil rights, women's liberation, and racial equality, yet we kill future civil rights leaders, murder females and males alike, and show no discrimination in the races we destroy. We insist on protecting immigrant children at the border but find no problem killing children next door. Who knows if the world was already gifted with the scientist who would have cured cancer, or the…

Poor Sugar. My little dog is getting old. She’s still spunky, still knows me and most of the members of our family, but when we were told she was nearly blind and suffered from what can best be described as doggy dementia, none of us were surprised. After all, what else can you call it when a dog stares for hours on end at the mailbox? Or when your fur baby howls at the wall? Or when she begins confusing the wide expanse of outdoor restroom area for your bed?  Getting old is tough. This past week she did something…

“Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” ~Psalm 34:14 Part of seeking peace and pursuing it, not just seeking it but making it a defining characteristic of a believer’s life, is not solely found in a list of things to be, but is discovered within the Bible as specific things to avoid. No matter how much we dislike the thought, walking with Jesus requires cutting away things that harm us. Relationships that poison our emotions and thoughts. Patterns of living that corrode away the joy and peace God so desperately wants to give us. I can’t…

"All of us want to be humble. None of want what it takes to get there." I'm not sure who coined the phrase but I've learned it's quite true. We long to have noble defining characteristics marking our spirit, but when we realize what we must endure to be shaped into that image, well, 'walking the walk' takes on a whole new meaning. 2018 has been the single hardest year of my entire life. My family and I have endured assaults on every front---multiple medical crises, emotional turmoil, betrayal, rejection, profound spiritual attacks, and more. It was as if everything…

"No room."  Most of us have heard the story. The fabled innkeeper who turned away Mary and Joseph in their hour of need. The calloused man has become a staple in the Christmas story, though he's never mentioned in the Bible. No, really. The only Gospel that makes mention of there being 'no room' is Luke chapter two. Check it out: "and she gave birth to her Son, her firstborn; and she wrapped Him in [swaddling] cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no [private] room for them in the inn." (Luke 2:7 AMP) No innkeeper, only a…