Love Brightly

  When my kids were babies, a mentor from church gathered a group of us young moms in her home. She served us homemade tomato soup and warm buttered bread. As we situated ourselves after dinner on her plush living room rug, she expressly told us the reason for the night:  to impart to us how to pray for our children. One of her practices was to purchase a Bible to gift to each kid on a milestone birthday and to read through that Bible, circling the promises of God and claiming those promises for her child by writing prayers in the margins. I was inspired by her challenge and presented my firstborn a promise-circled Bible with my hand-written prayers a couple of years ago. As my second daughter nears her 13th birthday, I have almost completed her most special gift.  Today as I was writing in the margins, I was struck by the tablecloth underneath -- hand-embroidered by my grandma when she was in her last weeks of pregnancy with my mom.  The impact of generations of pra...

reading aloud to my kids showering in my home walking in heels brushing my teeth with tap water pushing a grocery cart upping a flight of stairs putting a gallon of milk in the fridge breathing easily or unassisted taking a walk washing my face in the bathroom sink shutting my car door singing a mid-range tune dancing, even just a little bit taking a dish out of the oven sitting comfortably This is the list of things that I can do now but that 18 months ago I could not. I could take many words and explain why, but that's not the reason why I'm writing today. My list was temporary, although it didn't feel that way at the time. My limitations were coming from many directions and circumstances, and they lasted around a year.  During that time, God gave me increasing clarity about the things that last: God, His Word, my soul, the souls of others. During this time in 2020 when so many things in life have to cease, I can look at this list, now res...

What'd we do before cell phones when our car broke down? Well, we had to walk, and if walking was too far, we had to approach someone for help and hope they weren't a murderer. Here's my story (spoiler alert, I wasn't murdered). ;) The summer my husband Karl and I got married, in a year that began with the number 19, we moved into a small apartment in our college town. It seemed almost like a ghost town in summertime--the roads and businesses that were usually packed were practically empty. We didn't have even one friend who had stayed in town for a summer class, but since we were high on life, that didn't matter much to us. The weekend we returned from our honeymoon, we joined a church and hopped into a newlywed group. I remember how the pastor encouraged the congregation to applaud for us, partly in congratulations of our marriage, and partly because the first decision we made as a wedded couple was to join a church. We decided to forego the "colleg...

"Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading." "The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success. "The final stage in the life of faith is attainment of character." "The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting." Oswald Chambers, My Upmost for His Highest, circa 1915 My journal notes this morning in response to Oswald's thoughts on faith ...Faith = love + knowledge... Love: Love is an action. Jesus says to His disciples, "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15) The disciples naturally ask, "Which commandment is the most important?" Jesus answers, "The greatest commandment is this: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The second is this: love your neighbor as yourself." (Matt. 22:...

We had only been married a few months when another couple close in heart and only a few years ahead of us got divorced. They were headed for ministry together. We had looked up to them. And it BLEW.OUR.MINDS. Things were sour behind closed doors? It woke us up to the reality that this amazing marriage we found ourselves in at the ages of 20 and 21 might not always be easy or blissful. The first thing we did was pray. For real. We prayed for our marriage aloud together every night. The wake-up call that was first sparked by grief and fear became a grounding force of reverent reality that if our union was gonna last, it would only do so by the grace of our Heavenly Father. So we prayed, and we continued in that pattern for the next 5 years. Every night. A mentor heard us mention this in conversation and asked us what we prayed for. We told him,  "That we would be drawn closer to each other as we draw close to Christ. That He would be the center of our marriage." This y...

Updated: I've removed the Bible from this list because it's on a list all its own. It's the absolute most essential collection of written words ever, and if you need convincing, please read my previous post about it.  These books help you in your journey to better understanding the Bible, the Gospel, and your identity as a child of God: Reason for God, Tim Keller Faith is Not a Feeling, Ney Bailey The Normal Christian Life, Watchman Nee Master Plan of Evangelism, Robert Coleman More Than a Carpenter, Josh McDowell The 3D Gospel, Jayson Georges The Mind of Christ, T.W. Hunt With, Skye Jethani The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis The Jesus Storybook Bible, Sally Lloyd-Jones *FAQs: Q: Why is there no topical book on this list? A: You'll notice that this list doesn't include topical books that give advice about things like relationships, addictions, parenting, etc. I've read many topical books and have found the testimonies and advice of fellow be...

Perhaps you've noticed a void in my posts this calendar year? It's not because I haven't been writing. It's actually because I've been writing MORE. I've written a book! Yep, an entire book, and I'm in process of exploring avenues of how to best share that book with you. Details coming in 2019!