You may have noticed a lapse in painting videos recently. This is the explanation. Sometimes you have to say no, especially when something becomes a have to rather than a want to. I have loved painting for Lent, but this year is different. It became more chore than...
So much I’m learning in this season. My anxiety has quadrupled, it seems. I’m learning how I have chased after false refuges. Finances: when all is well, they bring peace. When they’re in flux, my stomach roils. Home: it’s typically been my place of peace and retreat,...
This morning I read from @ct_mag : "What the Asbury Revival Taught Me about Gen Z" by Kevin Brown. In it, he writes about the worship teams who participated. "Without being directed, they played from the side of the stage, outside the spotlight. This was consistent...
Ever since we began our marriage planting a church, we have been studying and observing church. We have experienced so many amazing bodies of believers all over the world, from French speakers in Montreal, to a group of students in Vietnam, to the wealthy of Monaco to...
Recently I thought about how easy it has become for me to discard things that are no longer serving us or our home. I apply this William Morris' quote quite liberally: 'Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be beautiful or believe to be useful' Honestly,...
I'm walking through a season in my relationship with God and his church to the point that overused worship songs fall flat to me. For whatever reason, I can't seem to participate in them, and so many of the internal messages of modern worship songs are about me-me-me....
"I'll be the exception to the rule." This is the kind of thinking that has stolen my joy. For years. Some examples: "Planting a church in France is hard. It's known as the missionary graveyard." Surely not! (But oh it was, and we were not the exception to the rule....
Last night my grandfather breathed his last. I was not able to hold his gnarled hand, could not sing songs of kindness over him. I prayed. Oh, I prayed. But I grieved from many states away. I gave him the name Bopo, which then became his grandfather name--all the...
I met Shelly Carvan when my heart was in shreds, soon after our family came home battered from the mission field in France. We attended the same Life Group at church, and I distinctly remember talking to her in the hallway outside of class, knowing immediately that I...
I've shared this story before, but it begs repeating. In high school, I pined for a boyfriend. I prayed for a boyfriend. I made bargains with God about said boyfriend. But heaven was silent. Single Mary stayed single. No boyfriend. And now? I'm grateful. Because my...
This is one of those posts I am starting that I don't know how it will end. During this time of Covid, racial tension, and employment worries, I (like you) have had some space to observe my life. And something has bothered me. I get mad when I see someone offer grace...
I am terrible at celebrating. Ask my husband. I flit from thing to thing, seldom stopping to cherish a moment or celebrate a milestone. Can you relate? I'm reading a really helpful book right now called Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. It's been the habit book...