Awkward Christian
Ever since I started a website about saying ‘yes’ to things, I’ve been trying to take intentional risks. But as I practice being brave in the everyday, I’ve realized something important. Fears are not equal-opportunity. Years ago, I pushed past fears about writing, and felt like I’d put myself through a meat-grinder. Honestly, the fallout hamstrung my …
Three questions to ask before you do something scaryRead More
When I walk long distances, I pay a price. It’s a relatively minor one: an ache in my hip that sends tentacles down to my knee. It’s an annoyance, mostly. Sometimes it makes it hard to fall asleep. I feel it after I take an hour’s walk on the beach on Sunday mornings, toes sinking …
Move as if the hounds of hell are after you–for SheLoves MagazineRead More
When I need a Bible, I reach for my husband’s. It’s leather-bound with his name embossed on the front. His parents gave it to him. Tucked inside is a fabric cross his mom needle-pointed with a few spindly pink irises. Parts of the spine are cracked and peeling off glossy finish, and it has a …
About a year ago, Rachel Held Evans wrote “The scandal of the evangelical heart.” She talked about how the tight theological arguments that exalt the genocide and violence of the Bible almost “scared her out of the Church.” Richard Beck calls this “orthodox alexithymia”. We completely uncouple our emotions from our theology. We expect ourselves …
Mary DeMuth asked if she could feature last week’s post about owning our scars on her site. If you don’t follow Mary, she writes about living uncaged each day. Her testimony about surviving and healing after sexual abuse always rocks my world. And I’m so grateful that she uses her platform to champion abuse victims in the …
To be honest, I’m still not sure why I freaked out about the clay. My daughter had found the battery-powered pottery wheel at the thrift store. Her face flushed with excitement, she placed the box on the counter and paid for it with her allowance. I was tentative at best. The thing looked like a …
For a long time, I thought the reason I didn’t like confession was because facing the things I’ve done wrong during the day–an attitude of entitlement, say, or sheer impatience with my family, or arrogance and vanity–well, it’s painful. It’s like the moment when my daughters come screaming to me with a skinned knee, all …
When my friend Melissa asked the discussion question, I wanted to shrink into the floor. “What do you need to confess?” she said. There was a long silence while we all considered our answer. We were at IF:Gathering, or more specifically, at one of its 40,000 off-site streaming locations. Our conference center was Melissa’s living room, …
Really? You listened to a woman? for The Junia ProjectRead More
This post originally appeared at The Happiest Home. Not long after we moved into our house a few years ago, I panicked. Big time. What was making me hyperventilate? Cabinet shelves. (Yes. Super-important.) Bear with me here. We just bought a lovely house. Days before our move, I started cleaning out the kitchen. I knew …
This post originally appeared on The Happiest Home in 2013. Two months ago, we said goodbye to a house our whole family loved. As we packed, I ached: I knew I’d miss the brilliant natural light in the master bedroom, the wide-open space of the downstairs, the snug backyard where my daughters set fairy tables. …
