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. […]
When Your Losing Faith and Need Some Inspiration
We gather around table, bowing heads. No pews. No holy cross staring at us from some sanctuary. No spiritual music calling us deeper. Just ladies. All ages. Weak. Vulnerable. Trying to gain faith and strength in our weariness. And we recognize, sometimes “having faith” can be tough, in a day where children die, lives get ripped […]
Why You Never Need to “Find” God
“Crazy. I was just about to call you.” I can almost hear his smile on the other end of the line. “That’s just the way it is when you have been married a long time.” His words confirm our heart connection that only comes after knowing someone, deep, personally, intimately…for a very long time. But I […]