confessions of a conflict-avoidant champ.

I know that for me, what may be a small conflict for someone else, is a raging storm in my own heart. It may have only been a blip on the radar for someone else, but it threatens to take over all my thoughts and keeps me up at night. My peacemaker heart is willing…

when things feel too much, too terrible & beyond hope.

I was furious; livid, even. I was using words I hardly ever say; words I save for my most-angry-self. I felt so hurt and upset and angry. This conflict in our lives had brought yet another round of the familiar, dysfunctional cycle to our doorstep and I was fed up and fuming. But then I…

when you don’t want anger or grief to be part of your story.

When she said the word, fragile, I almost started crying. This was it. I had been feeling especially something but hadn’t known what until she said the word. It felt like permission and grace and relief to name what was true for me. Only a matter of days before, I had named how utterly depleted I felt,…

what’s saving my life this summer.

With an enthusiastic & busy three-year-old and a sleepy, homebody 4-month-old, these summer days tend to fall into one of two categories. The first category is the “I’m going to make it” sort-of-day. The kind of day that I am able to finish a load of laundry AND put it away, where I drink some…

when being healed feels more like being eaten.

I don’t know when you last did something that terrified you, but I did something just last week that felt “scary beyond all reason” to quote one of my favorite Disney movies. I wish I was exaggerating, but it was one of the hardest things my peace-loving heart has ever done. And before you give…