• When You Feel Depleted, Exhausted, and Discouraged

    woman in desperate and anxiety sitting alone

    You will be Restored (Part of the Caregiver Devotional Series) “And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.” Isaiah 58:11 Often a season of caregiving begins with a difficult diagnosis for a loved one. In a moment, or perhaps slowly over the years, you see something that was good become unrecognizable. Whether it’s the expectations you had for a child that you now know will have a very different life. Or…

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    To the Mom Whose Child Gets Sick at Christmas

    Christmas! The most wonderful time of the year! Until it isn’t. Midnight fevers, stuffy noses, croupy coughs and glassy eyes are just a few of the things that might disrupt your well laid plans. Soon the packed calendar turns into…

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    My New Favorite Book Reviewer

    Where do you go to find book recommendations and reviews? Usually I rely on friends, my local church staff, and a small handful of online groups whose opinions I generally trust. This summer a writer friend of mine asked for…

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    How to Find a Writing Community

    Today I’m writing to the writers. To those of you who have asked me questions about sharing your own stories, connecting with other writers, or developing your writing skills. I don’t feel like I am the right person to answer…

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    Thoughts on the 5 Year Cancer Anniversary of our Daughter

    Tomorrow marks five years since we first heard the word “cancer”. I’ve described it many times before as being just like the movies portray it. Sounds dimmed, peripheral vision blurred, and I felt like I was in a tunnel. I…

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    How to Make Infused Water with Children Underfoot

    I should rephrase that... I have no idea if it was the appropriate amount of water because two kids were fighting over who could fill the pitcher the fastest and neither of them was measuring.

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    “God is More Tender of You Than You Are”

    I’ve been re-reading “Gentle and Lowly” by Dane Ortlund. My first time through I thought I had marked the book up pretty well… but going through a second time I’m underlining all sorts of new passages. As I flipped through…

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    New August Series: Back to Blogging

    So, I'm giving myself permission to write a little differently this month. You won't find me on social media. You won't find my name on any articles at big publications. Instead I'm going to be old-school blogging the way the…

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    Trusting God’s Love When Life Gets Hard

    When life gets hard, do you struggle to believe that God really loves you? Where do you go for reassurance, encouragement, and support for your faith? Is your local church a safe place to process your questions and fears? And…

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    Parenting After a Trauma: Three Helpful Tools

    The end of the story promises that we will be sheltered by the presence of God. No longer will we need to try and be the shelter for our children, grandchildren, loved ones or friends. God himself will protect us.…

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    How to have Faith in the Middle of the Story

    And so… perhaps there is value in writing about faith in the middle. Not the naïve faith of believing it’ll all work out the way we want. Nor the defeated faith of assuming God is going to do whatever he…

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    Ending the Year In the Arms of my Shepherd

    This year as I read through the Christmas story I find myself most resonating with the Shepherds. Like them, I am wrangling disobedient, stubborn, anxious, and sassy sheep (well… can sheep be sassy?). Like them I’m up at weird hours,…

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    If It’s Not Okay, Then This is Not the End

    Grandpa had dementia for awhile. Slowly his brain began to let him down. He could have an in-depth conversation about his stock portfolio, but couldn’t tell you how to make a sandwich. He could retell in detail the birth stories…

  • In All Your Caregiving, Who Cares for You?

    Excerpt from “Who Cares for You?: A four week Bible study for caregivers. Available Now!   There is a picture on my phone that is hard for me to look at. It’s of me lying on the sofa with our…

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    Suffering and Friendship: True Rejoicing in the Lord

    Based on Philippians 4 Has anyone ever dismissed your pain by simply telling you to rejoice in the Lord? I have seen Christians use this phrase in so many hurtful ways, and I was so encouraged to read these well…

  • woman in blue shirt and black backpack standing on top of building

    Suffering and Friendship: Calling Our Friends to Faith

    Based on Philippians 3 So far in Philippians Paul has called his friends toward love, unity, humility, and obedience – now in Chapter three he calls them to faith. Have you ever watched a friend suffer and thought it was…

  • mother making a bed and daughter sitting on pillows

    Suffering and Friendship: The Value of Humble Obedience

    Based on Philippians 2:1-11 For years my dad quietly took care of my car. I was embarrassingly old before I figured out that my oil needed changing, my tires needed rotating, and my windshield wiper fluid could run out. This…

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    Suffering and Friendship: Focusing on the Bigger Picture

    Based on Philippians 1:12-30 About six months into our daughter’s cancer journey, our pastor asked if I would speak to the church. He specifically hoped I could encourage the body of Christ by helping them see how God was providing…

  • Encouraging Resource: How to Pray Using Scripture

    I’ve been doing a Summer Scripture Series on Instagram and Facebook. On Monday mornings I post a Scripture verse, and an example of how to use that verse to pray. I know that not all of you are on social…

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    Comforting Our Friends with the Gift of Lament

    An ARTICLE I wrote recently for RisenMotherhood was a special tying together of so many things I enjoy writing about: serving our friends, sharing comfort, the gift of lament, etc. The article walks through how we can help our friends…

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    Pediatric Cancer Parents and the Gift of Lament

    Many years ago, I never imagined I would be writing about lament or about pediatric cancer. Yet, that is part of the story God has written for our family. A Not only has God provided personal and specific comfort for…

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    God’s Word: God’s Promises and Christ’s Love

    Have you ever wondered why modern day people bother reading the Bible? Have you ever assumed that the Bible is too old to have relevance to your life? Maybe you’ve tried reading it, or you’ve even studied it years ago,…

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    Lament Series: Why Easter Allows Us to Grieve with Hope

    What does it mean that as Christians we get to “grieve with hope”? How does Easter make that statement true? As we wrap up our series on  lament, it is fitting that we got to walk through Holy Week and…

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    Lament Series: Anchoring Our Hearts on God’s Good Character

    We’ve come to the final component of lament. We’ve talked about turning our hearts to the Lord, pouring out our complaints and presenting our requests. Now let’s look at the concept of Anchoring. Deep down, all of lament is built…

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    Lament Series: Are We Allowed to Complain to God?

    We teach our children not to whine and complain. We encourage them to be thankful and to look for the positives in their circumstances. So when we look at Biblical complaint in lament, it can feel uncomfortable.Biblical complaint is different…

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    Lament Series: Where Is Your Heart Prone to Turn?

    I turned to obsessive cleaning. I even broke a mop because I had channeled all my stress, anger, sadness, and fear into the act of scrubbing my floors. I had pushed the mop until the plastic handle snapped off the…

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    Introducing A New Series on Lament

    “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:42 Rob got angry before I did. There is nothing righteous about my delayed anger. I simply worked through other emotions before getting…

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    Are You Struggling to Believe that God Loves You?

    (This devotional is from my new eBook “Rooted and Grounded” coming out March 2nd. If you are not a subscriber, use the sign-up link below to make sure you get your free copy!)   Now Jesus loved Martha and her…

  • A New Devotional eBook Just For You!

    I’ve written a new devotional eBook called “Rooted and Grounded”, and it’s for you! I will be sending it out in the next newsletter on March 2nd. If you’re a subscriber, you don’t have to do anything except check your…

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    The Truths My Weary Heart Needs

    If you are curious about what my weary heart needs to be reminded of on a daily basis… it is this: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end. They are new every…

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    When Our Faith is Shaking

     (This devotional was originally posted in the Christian Parents of Kids with Cancer Support Group)                                              So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the…

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    New Year Resolutions

    We’ve made it to week two of 2022! As I think back over previous years, I am struck by God’s mercy toward me in those early January days. There were years when we didn’t know we’d hear crushing words from…

  • Sign-Up to get your FREE Advent Devotional eBook!

    I am so excited to offer you a new tool as you walk through the upcoming Advent Season! “12 Names of Jesus: Advent Devotionals for Weary Hearts” – is my first eBook and I want to give you a FREE…

  • Writing Thank You Notes to Heal Your Hurting Heart

    Painful anniversaries are so tricky aren’t they? We’ve talked about how they sneak up on you. How our bodies sometimes remember them even when your heads don’t. We’ve talked about how “taking them back” can help us process and turn…

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    Let Jesus Redeem Your Painful Anniversary For You

    August. When Alice started feeling sick. When we began asking questions. When she was diagnosed. When we first heard the word “cancer”. When she had surgery to remove her tumor. When we began her treatment process. When our world flipped…

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    Can You “Take Back” That Painful Anniversary?

    We’ve been talking about having grace toward ourselves and our families when those painful anniversaries come up on the calendar. This year, as our family anticipated the month of August (which is when we have lot of hard anniversaries) we…

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    How to Help Our Children Process Painful Memories

    Last week we talked about showing grace toward ourselves when our bodies act out in anticipation of painful anniversaries. But what about our kids? The anniversary of their grandparent’s death, or of their medical diagnosis, or of when their parents’…

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    There is Grace for Those Painful Anniversaries

    Do you have a date on your calendar that you dread every year? The anniversary of something hard or sad that creates a visceral response in you? For our family the entire month of August is hard. Our daughter started…

  • Finding God’s Steadfast Love In Your Story

    It’s been a heavy medical month over here. August is painful and hard in so many ways for our family – and over the past few years it has also become a month laden with doctor appointments, follow-ups, assessments and…

  • New Resource to Help Anxious Kids Transition Back-to-School

    My husband is very spontaneous. He used to wake up on Saturday mornings and announce an outing. An outing that would require a quick transition from sleep-wear and coffee sipping to outdoor attire and water bottles. As I lounged on…

  • How to Show Grace to Parents Who Come to Different Conclusions

    School is starting back up again and… Your next door neighbor has a different opinion about masks. Your best friend has a different opinion about vaccines. Your school’s COVID protocols aren’t how you would have written them. Anxiety, anger, and…

  • How to Have a Productive Morning Quiet Time with Littles Underfoot!

    Do you have regular “quiet time” with the Lord? “Quiet time” is Christian jargon for the spiritual discipline of daily Bible reading, meditation and prayer (and many people include journaling as well). This is a wonderful practice and is extremely…

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    Our Children’s Tantrums and the Heart of God

    Once again, I had reached my limit, and declared a “mommy-time-out”. The never-ending needs of my four young girls had worn me down. I felt drained of all the patience, kindness, and gentleness that I knew they needed. With four…