Adding Anything Affects Everything {a God-sized dreams post}

Several years ago I learned a hard lesson about myself:  I'm a control freak. My need for perfection, to be seen as capable, to never disappoint, that desire for approval was destroying me ... and it was costing me more than realized. I spent a lot of time studying Proverbs 31. In fact, I spent most of 2006 and 2007 digging deep into those passages and looking at the words and phrases, comparing them to other passages of Scripture about women. What I learned changed me. By October of 2007, ... [Read More]

Happy Valentine’s Day, Scott!

He leans over to kiss me on the back of my neck as I wash the dishes. His arm slides across my shoulders as we sit on the front pew. He gently turns off the iPad and removes the earbuds after I've fallen asleep to another episode of The West Wing. He fixes dinner {again} because I've been working all day to launch this new website. He puts gas in my car and makes sure I have Pepsi to drink. He saves the words we've written to each other. He tells me I am the only beautiful woman he's ever ... [Read More]

When Lent Presses In

"It occurred to me that perhaps what God calls us to give up, really, is ourselves."   Kris Cameally, Introduction to Holey, Wholly, Holy It's 7:10 on Tuesday night. It's been a busy few days and the next two weeks are no less chaotic. We've eaten dinner and done the dishes. I'm sitting in my favorite corner of the couch in my favorite yoga pants and one of my husband's fleece pullovers. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. I'm 41 and for most of my life that was just a little notation on the calendar. ... [Read More]

Forgiveness. Ugh.

You know how sometimes a book gets all up in your business?  Well, apparently, I have some forgiveness issues.  Or maybe it's just one issue:  I need to do it better. My friend and fellow MOD Squad mom Tracie wrote a 31 Days series last October ... and she took the basics of that series and added all sorts of other goodness to it and turned it into a book.  A book that will get in your business.   31 Days of Forgiveness {through the eyes of grace} is a tender exploration of ... [Read More]

Living Our Fears or Living Our Dreams {a God-sized dreams post}

  I've been living my fears.  I've been hiding in the cocoon of comfortable.  It's been very safe here ... and I'd almost forgotten I burrowed in here for all the wrong reasons. Being a part of Holley's God-sized dream team is killing me, y'all! I've had to face down so many fears.  I've had to admit all the ways I've settled for what I could do and what was safe ... I've been living my fears.   Two weeks ago I had a phone call that shook me up.  It wasn't a family emergency or ... [Read More]

Radical Well-Being: A Biblical Guide to Overcoming Pain, Illness, & Addictions

Over the past few years I have become increasingly confident that many of the health issues faced in our modern culture are related to the way we live.  Not just the "biggies" like eating too much fast food, red dye, etc., but the fast pace of our society and the never-ending pressure to do more, be more, have more. When I received a copy of Radical Well-Being: A biblical guide to overcoming pain, illness, and addictions by Rita Hancock, MD, I was anxious to read what a Board-certified ... [Read More]