“I haven’t given up on you.” Bible turns covering the porch of all my hopes. Prayer just finished. Heart begging for what only God and I know… Those secrets nobody sees. And sometimes there’s secrets. Secrets only you and God hide inside the core of your chest. Planted in infancy, born through trials, come to life […]
Despair or Hope? When the Doctor Has Bad News
Loud cracking sounds startle me from my sleep. With the wars in the middle east, I roll my head over as thoughts already consume me, “What was that?” I ask sleeping husband. “Thunder and lightening”, he whispers. And with Israel having no peace, and Russia domineering Ukraine, it can be hard not to think the wars […]
When You Just Need To Turn Your Life Around
I am all alone. It’s a miracle. You too would “get it”, if you had four kids and a husbands whose lives never stop. Church calls me, and I cannot stay calm…inside four walls, with Jesus fading. The corporate body, like a current in me, calling me to come and praise Him. “Still” seeps in the […]
Writer or Not….You Were Not Made to be Invisible
I blogged for years. Anonymous. No name. No blog tied to my Facebook. Just words, bubbling forth. Deep from the soul. Uncoated. Untamed. Fearless. Real. And now, there is a name, Jen Avellaneda. The name I’d always hidden from. Run from. Unowned, because I never wanted to be seen or known….by anyone… Let alone the millions […]
When Faith Looks Like a Leopard Print Dress for a Girl I’ve Never Met
Faith is the assurance of things unseen… I had been feeling the tugging at the core of my being. Seen it on the horizon. Had dreams that the crib we leave open for foster children wasn’t going to be empty for too long. My mind saw no name, or age, or date…but my spirit saw a […]
Feel like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz?
Ever feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, caught up in a whirlwind of business? I step on the soil in Dominic Republic. Off the grid; no running water, only a short time each day on a generator with electricity; dust and dirt everywhere. Still, somehow I settle into a peace I have desperately needed. […]