Drums pounding, enthusiasm rising, battle lines drawn, warriors clothing themselves in armor, charging forward toward the front lines. The momentum is contagious. Cheering, shouting, and promises of victory drives the multitude onward expectant toward the victory. However, the front lines are loud, messy. Shouting fades and all that’s seen is pain and difficulty. Doubts start trickling […]
How To Rise From the Mud and Mire
They say Auschwitz has this eerie stillness, this somber silence as you step on the grounds of this World War II consecration camp. We’re in Arlington, driving to a hike with waterfalls along a river. Google says they’re remarkably beautiful. So, we go. Hoping to escape it all. But on our journey, a familiar cliff reaches […]
The One Secret Act Guaranteed To Change Your World
“What is this?” I stand in a driveway off of the three-mile-long country road we live on. College age men. Laughing. Playing volley ball. I had followed the white trucks, the mini-vans, the cars, saying, “God Will Provide”, “International Missions”, and the most bold of all, “Jesus Heals”. On a road filled with horses […]
When Your Marriage Needs A Miracle
I didn’t plan my wedding. Didn’t pick out our square cake. Or choose my hand-me-down dress borrowed from some divorced bride we were acquainted with. I simply said, “I do”, nauseated in my stomach. All I could think about was the secret tucked under my size five dress. After our wedding day (the one where it […]
When It Matters What We’re Clothed In
I see them in a row. Lined, ready to go. Dressed from raggedy old off-white dresses, to what seems like plastic, flawless flowing gowns ready for a wedding. They wait, speechless. Someone is coming. Expressions varied on these pre-wedding, waiting women. Some faces seem long, others dead and almost hopeless. Lifeless, as if none can wake […]
Fragile Families, and Why You Should Fight for Those You Love
My suitcase held a strange comfort as it lay open on my bedroom floor. I wasn’t going anywhere…But something about a filled case brought peace and comfort… Luggage waiting made me feel like I had an option of not staying…Even though I was morally obligated, and staying. A little girl lay curled up in an outlined […]