The Obscure Thanksgiving List: Banana Pudding, Spanx and Tweezers…Oh my!

This is my girls’ attitude of gratitude board. Every month we have a new theme and each day they put a new sticky note on the board. November’s theme is, you guessed it, thankfulness. Their first sticky notes were broad things, like their gratitude for God, family and friends. Lately though, they are starting to get a little more specific…hair, …

Sippy Cups: When It Seems God Doesn’t Care

Have you ever felt that God isn’t listening to you? Perhaps He showed you something phenomenal He’s about do in and through your life. A child, a gift or talent maybe. Perhaps it was a vocational change or ministry calling of some sort. Perhaps it’s a long-held dream right on the cusp of fruition. God revealed that glimpse to you, …

What I’ve Learned Living with Gastroparesis

When I was diagnosed with gastroparesis several years ago, I confess not much in my life initially seemed to change. I had been dealing with severe reflux issues for several years and became full quickly when I ate. Nothing more. My husband had always accused me of having an eating disorder, mistakenly thinking I was starving myself to maintain a …

Unchained: Breaking Free from the Mindset of Slavery, Part 1

  I recently finished writing my first Civil War novel about the bravery and courage of those who aided the Underground Railroad. It’s been inspiring, heartbreaking and challenging, to say the least, but so incredibly rewarding to examine the lives of some of our country’s rawest freedom fighters. In gathering research, I found this quote by Harriet Tubman and it …

When The Makeup Runs

by Tara Johnson I watched the performers dancing down Main Street of Disney’s Magic Kingdom, spinning in their glittering, satin costumes, smiling with those perfectly lined white teeth and painted lips, and I couldn’t help it. I felt a pang of pity.  Oh, they were beautiful and mesmerizing as they sang and danced under the swelling rush of orchestra music …

A Wounded Shepherd: When Pastors Suffer With Depression

It’s taboo. A major no-no. Pastors never deal with stuff like depression. They certainly are never suicidal…right? Um, no. Talk of depression among pastors is often pushed under the rug. Oftentimes, by the pastors themselves. Thom S. Rainer says, “Depression was once a topic reserved for ‘other people’. It certainly was not something those in vocational ministry experienced. Perhaps it would …