Can you imagine what it must have been like traveling the 2,170 miles of the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri, to the Oregon Territory? Let’s say that you were among the first to travel in 1811 when the trail was only wide enough to use by walking or on...
A year ago, in the middle of the school year, our family moved to a new state following a dark season of loneliness and disappointment. I prayed in desperation for God to help my kids recover. I prayed He would provide them with just one good friend. But friendships...
Growing up in a fractured family, I doubt I understood genuine love. This yearning led me astray as I sought "love" in all the wrong places. By age 16, I found myself pregnant with my first child. Faced with the ultimatum to either terminate my pregnancy or go live...
Have you ever felt you weren’t enough? Enough for your parents, enough for your spouse, enough for your friends, even enough for God or yourself? The longing to be enough can often lead us to search for our worth and value in achievements or in relationships. The...
…but no one could heal her.” ( Luke 8:43) NIV Have you ever been in a place of painful uncertainty, desperate for answers? I have. And I have desperately wanted to be in a much different place. Uncertainty can be such a lonely place, but isn’t it a space...
I was in fourth grade when I went to the wedding of my childhood pastor. I was enamored with the couple in front of me. As a nine-year-old, I sat at the reception table after the ceremony and silently prayed, “Lord, I want to be a pastor’s wife one day.” I...
For as long as I can remember, my biggest struggles were feeling inadequate and unworthy. I was told for a large part of my life that I would never amount to anything by someone I was supposed to be able to turn to. I had no idea where to find self-worth, and there...
Dysfunctions tumble down through the generations, “piggybacking” on each other. Some of us have been victims of multigenerational tidal waves of dysfunction. To whatever degree you’ve been negatively affected by family dysfunction, I want you to know: It didn’t start...
The previous conversation left us wanting, for its definition of hope turned out to be mere wishful thinking. It offered no surety, no rescue from despair. So, is there more? Yes, there is more. We have another definition of hope. Used in a spiritual context,...