Love dares us to change our way of caring about each other–and ourselves–under pressure.
Tag: fear
“But I Flourish”: Review and Revelation
Every once in a while, a book promises to change your life and actually does.
He calls me good
Will I disappoint you? Almost guaranteed.
Will I disappoint God? Never.
No one is good except God (or: how I learned to stop worrying and love Black Lives Matter)
This is not about platforms, organizations, agendas, or performance. This is about all of humanity getting free from sin. Our liberation is bound up together.
To speak truth in love, you must speak
Although white-woman-wokeness is trendy right now and I hate bandwagons, something tectonic has shifted in me, and now I can no longer balk at the fear of imperfection and conflict that has positioned me against people I love by default. It’s time to break the seal of silence and be willing to imperfectly stand and speak the truth in love.
I need an adult
As the news escalates, a previously-rare thought is surfacing more: I don’t want to be the grownup. I don’t know what I’m doing! I don’t know if it’s time to wear masks to the store or for my husband to shower when he gets home. I don’t know how to explain that the mall, …
Love is available even here
A friend of mine has a reminder tattooed on the outside of her wrist where it’s always visible. It says: “Is Love available even here?” I haven’t seen that tattoo in person for a long time, but I think of it often, especially now. In the wild, weird world of today, in the frustrations and …
Go to your room and think about what you’ve done
Anyone else feel like they’ve been grounded? Like God told the whole world, “Go to your room and think about what you’ve done”? This past week, a theme has emerged. Nearly everyone I’ve talked to is halfway enjoying their enforced rest, halfway freaking the eff out because of all the STUFF it’s bringing up. Control …
Jesus isn’t ashamed of your panic attack
Y’all, I had an actual panic attack last night. Not normal for me. It wasn’t even about anything important—I was gaming online, doing too many new things at once, and melted down. It was bad enough that my brain crashed. That I ran from my computer and abandoned my friends. That I cried over something …
Your father is right here with you
When I was 28, I had a massive hip surgery. I’d never had a wisdom tooth pulled and was utterly terrified. The day of the procedure, I was dull and numb and the world moved in unreal slow motion. Thankfully, Mom was there. There I was, a grown woman, clinging to my mother as …
Social distancing, not spiritual distancing
It seems bleak right now, doesn’t it? Schools closed.Events cancelled.States of emergency. The news addiction is real, too. I’ve been on Facebook more in the last 24 hours than the last 24 days, watching reports—both official and anecdotal—roll in with increasing anxiety. It’s not the virus I’m concerned about. Yes, coronavirus is nasty. But people can …
Surprise!
How willing are you to be surprised? Me, not so much. Ask my husband how much I liked it when he surprised me with a promise ring in front of his family at our first Christmas together. But my resistance to surprises doesn’t just rob me of enjoying fun things (like presents) when they’re good, …