My mom was silent in response to my frantic question of her: Momma, will it be there in the morning? Tears were running down my cheeks as I glanced at the flames greedily licking up the wood walls of our 73-year-old farmhouse. My nine-year-old brain was trying to shut out the undeniable fate of my beautiful canopy bed. My grandmother had recently bought my sister and me a matching bedroom … [Read more...] about How To Not Panic When God Seems Silent
The (Almost) Perfect Crime
You and I have been the victims of the (almost) perfect crime. This morning I was reminded of this fact that we rarely realize as I drove one of my three teenagers to another town. Some of the best conversations happen unplanned while driving together. I am often surprised at what I can learn when we are inside those four doors on wheels with the road stretching out before … [Read more...] about The (Almost) Perfect Crime
Made For Another World
Some days I forget...I was made for another world. The reason I don't fit in some places and some circles is because I am a stranger, an alien here.I belong to a kingdom not of this world, invisible, but the only true kingdom there is. This world will never be my home.Homesickness is a good thing.Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: … [Read more...] about Made For Another World
Hand-to-Hand Combat
"Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light." Micah 7:8 (NIV) My dad made history come alive for his children. The summer before we left for Congo, he and my mom took us to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I was ten years old, Nicol was eight, and Todd was five. What could have been a very boring day turned out to be … [Read more...] about Hand-to-Hand Combat
Through the Fire
One cold November evening, when I was nine years old, our 73 year-old farmhouse caught fire due to a faulty oil space heater. Weather-beaten and aged, the house was completely engulfed in flames within twenty minutes. My father was away on a ministry trip in California thousands of miles away from our western Michigan home. My mother, sister, brother, and I escaped the flames with the clothes on … [Read more...] about Through the Fire
How To Survive Separation Anxiety The Right Way
I had read about separation anxiety in my parenting books, but how bad could it really be? My son was five months old and, frankly, I needed a full night's sleep! I was foolish enough then to think I was some super mom doing everything right because my son always seemed content. We were inseparable his first five months, mostly because I was scared to death something would happen to him if I … [Read more...] about How To Survive Separation Anxiety The Right Way
