Inspire
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Stuck In Pessimism? Look up. Try God-centered focus.
Sometimes I need to refocus. Because discouragement and frustration can be symptoms of self-focus. I need God-centered focus. (the following was originally written in 2014) I was watching the Big Ten Network (don’t all good Nebraska wives do this on a Saturday night? Good thing I like football.) and the special feature snagged my attention. I mean really hooked my interest with one kid speaking. “I’m blessed to wake up every morning.” The camera followed Shane Wynn of Indiana out of the locker room as his voice came over the tape. “Why not make it a good day?” Wow. Out of the mouth of babes. (I so can’t believe I’m…
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Morning Desperation! (what if I was as desperate for Jesus?)
Faced a crisis–a morning desperation! Crawled out of my bed after the third round of snooze-slapping, wandered to the kitchen and hit power on the Keurig. Pod in, mug positioned…go. It dripped about a quarter of a cup…and then broke my heart. Cue morning desperation! I slunked back to my room, my day now ruined forever, curled up on my bed and covered my head with a pillow. Hubby comes out of our bathroom wondering why I’m going to die. “I just need a cup of coffee…” Yes. This is tragic. So I’m sitting here with my McCafe in hand (sorry Joltin’ Jo’s. I couldn’t muster the strength to brave…
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The Ache For Happily Ever After
I was thinking about happily ever after… The sermon series at our church has been themed on happily ever after. I’m a Christian romance author, so you know this had me from the start. This week, in a dry tone, the pastor asked us to open to the last chapter, the last verse in the book of Cinderella… where we find that “they all lived happily ever after.” Then, he directed us to the last verse of the last chapter of Sleeping Beauty, where he assured us again that we’d find, “and they all lived happily ever after.” Following that we were to go to the last chapter of Snow…
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Identity. Do You Know Yours?
Thinking about…. Identity. My kids’ youth group has been talking about this, and when the youth pastor and I were chatting, he was sharing about how profoundly important he felt like the discussion is. I completely agree. Knowing who you are… and who you are not willing to become… it’s like a runner putting in the miles of practice (a crazy number of miles, I might add) for one solid race. Without those strides; failure. I’m not talking about not winning, kind of failure. I’m talking not finishing. Or worse. Injury. Physical illness—sometimes creating an emergency situation. But having a solid grip on your identity… Wow. I mean, power, baby.…
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Stuck In Pessimism? Look up. Try God-centered focus.
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What will you do with what you believe?
What will you do with what you believe . . . This is the question God has me wrestling with right now. I’m not sure of the answer. It seems like it should be easy to nail down… but it’s not. Perhaps that’s because I live a pretty cozy-comfy life. Or maybe I want a better definition of the question. “What do you mean, what will I do? Do I need to do something different?” Hmm… what do you think? We’re discussing this in our home. What does Kingdom work look like? How can I better be the loving hands and heart of Christ to my community? Like I said,…
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Purpose birthed into the storm.
“Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord oh my soul, and forget none of His benefits.” ~Psalm 103:1-2 The storm gathers. I feel the winds sweeping, growing in strength and chill. The gray clouds cluster, swirling, churning, warning. It has been for a while now. Not the first time. Won’t be the last. You’ve been there too. We want to name the storm. Identify the source. Sometimes, though, it’s name is simply life. It rises and falls, there are days of sunshine and days of rain. It is appointed to be so. So, in the midst of the…
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Guilt
Thinking about… guilt. I once asked a friend how to weed through the feelings of guilt that I was wresting with. Balancing being a wife, motherhood, writing, and volunteering in ministry is an ever-present concern in my world. At that moment (when I talked to my friend) I couldn’t shake the guilt I felt every time my kids found me working on something not-them related. She told me two things that really stuck. First, our culture, especially the church sub-culture, tends to bombard us with the idea that our kids need our undying attention every second of every day, no matter what age they are (mine are 9-15. They don’t…
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Stuck In Pessimism? Look up. Try God-centered focus.
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The Snowflake Hunt
I find myself in search of snowflake ornaments now. This is the first year I’ve experienced this obsession. Honestly, I don’t think I currently own even one of said decorations. But this woman—her name is Kale Brennan—has put into my heart a need to collect these things. Her story, which involves snowflakes, and hot cocoa, and sledding, and all sorts of other wonderful wintry things, also points to the amazing uniqueness of an ordinary snowflake. And how much we can see the extraordinary love of our great God in everyday, ordinary ways. In the words of her daughter Sydney, “There is no such thing as an ordinary snowflake… And we’re…
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No Escape
Fiction… that imaginary place of story that becomes an escape. True. Sometimes. Not always. I live an ordinary life. We juggle the norm…joys, fears, tears, and the expected struggle to figure out this living thing so that we may do it well. If you were a fly on my wall, and you managed to escape my nylon swatter, you’d probably wonder why I write what I write. Sometimes, I do too. I just past the 1/3 mark on the rough draft of my current project. Usually that’s where it gets hard. Sadly, I get bored. I go looking in my imagination for new people to meet, a new story to…
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Stuck In Pessimism? Look up. Try God-centered focus.
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Imaginary Friends and Real Life Lessons
Know what I love? Learning. Truly, I do. I miss school. When my kids were younger, I signed up for correspondence courses, because I just needed to use my brain, to stretch my knowledge. To know that my life skills went beyond the laundry room. (Those skills aren’t very good, to be honest, so, yes, please! Let me be useful past the clean clothes journey!) I love research. I love trying things. I love discovering. What does this have to do with anything? Here’s what I love most about writing: I learn. These imaginary friends who live in my head, open their wounded souls to me, they teach me things…
