when grown-up friendships are hard.

Friendship is hard when you’re a grownup. I’ve heard it over and over again that relationships take work, but I find myself amazed at how hard it can be to stay friends as an adult. When I was a kid, it honestly felt as simple as figuring out who was fun to play with and…

what the sorting hat taught me about grace.

[Warning: Nerd alert. The following post assumes some knowledge of Harry Potter. Muggles, be forewarned.] It was on the walk back to the car, holding hands as we finished our date. There had been Mexican food, thanks to a coupon in the mail and lots of time meandering throughout our local bookstore. I mentioned that…

finding grace on the dark days.

I sat with my Bible open on my lap, my heart feeling cold and numb. I saw my notes in the margins and remembered the peace and relief those same sentences had brought only the summer before when I faced a move away from the man I loved. In a season where my heart was…

when you feel a no, but live a yes.

Today I’m preaching to myself. My feelings are all sorts of loud and I desperately want to listen to them. But I know that the truth doesn’t always match my loud emotions, and today is one of those days. I feel the Holy Spirit whispering truth to my heart, and I know his is the…

when the manna stops.

In the last place we lived, I felt surrounded by tangible reminders of the Lord’s provision to us. Food. Because of my work at the university, we had much of our food provided through the meal plan I was on. And for as many complaints as cafeteria food gets, we saw it as the Lord…

the envelope that exposed the shame in my heart.

When I opened up the envelope, I felt my stomach drop just a little. It was a mixture of dread, shame and anxiety, in one fell swoop. The deadline is at the end of April. There is time. I have time. But even yet, I knew I need to wrestle with this decision soon. Would…