You never know what melodramatic scenarios are being rehearsed in the mind of a five- year-old boy. Some days my son is shooting bad guys with Captain America and smashing enemies with Hulk. Other times he might be jumping through kingdoms with Mario and throwing fireballs at Bowser. As I drove him to school this morning, he stared out the window, watching the cattle pastures and electrical lines blur past. A frown puckered his lips and pinched his brows. “What are you thinking about, buddy?” Read More
Walking with God
Jesus is Mine
I was recently asked to name my favorite praise song or hymn of all time. Several tunes flitted through my mind. Matt Maher’s “Lord, I Need You” is a definite favorite, along with “It is Well with My Soul”, “He Hideth my Soul”, “He Leadeth Me” and “Great is thy Faithfulness”. But the one song that whispers peace to my heart like no other is Fanny Crosby’s “Blessed Assurance”. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase Read More
Painting Rust
Our front door is a mess. It’s a white door with glass insets, trimmed with frosted scroll work around the edges. It would be quite lovely…were it not for the bubbled rust marring the bottom corner. When the first signs of moisture damage popped up, I wasn’t too worried. After all, it was only a little rust. We live in the south. Humidity is our bread and butter. However, after a few weeks I noticed the spots of orange spreading and taking away from the Read More
What Am I Really Chasing?
I have no idea how it started. Little hints of discouragement. The nagging whispers of “Those other authors are better than you. Their books look like they are doing well. Is yours even selling?” A rough day with the kids and that poisonous hiss tickled my ear. “If you were a better mom, this wouldn’t have happened.” A long to-do list that is never completed. Phone calls that never stop. Some days, I feel like I’m struggling just to keep my head above water. I Read More
I Have This Treasure
A cold, clenched stomach. Darkness. A pounding heart. All you want to do is hide. You beg the eyes fixed on you to disappear but they won’t. They gape and you wonder what they must think, how they must see you. You feel worthless. Exposed. I’m talking about shame. Is there a more miserable feeling? Growing up with a seizure disorder left me with plenty of fodder for times to reflect on this feeling. Most of the time I felt normal. Included. And then suddenly, Read More
The Underground Railroad and God’s Navigation System
In my debut novel Engraved on the Heart, Keziah Montgomery fights against her family, her culture and her own battle with epilepsy to lead slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad. Like many, I had learned about the Underground Railroad in school but was unaware of the delicate and highly intrinsic system of unspoken communication the Railroad utilized. Messages had to be screamed in silence, urgency carried through the façade of the mundane. How were these brave men and women scattered across multiple states able Read More
Charlotte Elliott: Just As I Am
It’s been a rough couple of weeks. End of the year school activities. New summer schedules. Church classes to teach. Writing deadlines and an upcoming book to launch. Loved ones in the hospital and children going through tough stuff. Life can sometimes keep us spinning. To use a Southern turn of phrase…I’ve been dragging tail. I confess I’ve begun to wonder, “What if the demands never ease? What if I fail my kids? My family? My church? What if I can’t keep it together until Read More
Another Christian Cliche: God’s Strongest Soldier
I’ve seen the photos and memes of one particular phrase floating around the past several years and I bet you have too. It’s this: God gives the hardest battles to his strongest soldiers. Judging by how frequently it’s shared, it’s a rather popular sentiment. After all, it sounds good. Perhaps even a trifle comforting. There’s nothing we need more in the middle of our personal storms to know that our crisis won’t destroy us. That we’re strong enough to handle it and emerge victorious. I understand Read More
Fear is a Liar
The opposite of love is not hate. It’s fear. How many lives have been destroyed because of fear? How many marriages ruined, how many children scarred, how many dreams unfulfilled and how many people chained in the terrifying prison of addiction because of fear? So many of us are experiencing a life half-lived. We cower in the shadows, afraid to confront the wounds we need to expose to God’s light. This hissing snake tells us no one will understand if we share our feelings. It Read More
White Space
“You should use up all the space on the paper.” I remember the admonition from my fourth grade art teacher so clearly as she stood in front of the chalk board, holding the large, white piece of paper in her hand, a sharpie in the other. “You kids are bad about leaving too much white space on the page. I want you to draw the black lines all the way to the edge. I don’t want to see any white space any more. None. Every Read More