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Hidden {… but not unseen}

Hidden {… but not unseen}

Sometimes you need to live a moment three, or four ... or seven times, before you see that it's purposed. We were 23 minutes late for the party that was only planned to last for two hours. I know, because I counted each minute that passed and had eyes only for the...

At 40, What I Would Say to My Twenty Year-Old Self

At 40, What I Would Say to My Twenty Year-Old Self

My diploma was still in an unopened manilla envelope on my apartment desk when I stood in front of a crowd of 300 sets of smiling eyes to tell them about what I'd committed to doing for the rest of my life. Though I didn't say it in so many words, at twenty-two I knew...

Jesus Calls You Beautiful

Jesus Calls You Beautiful

When I heard from Dee Brestin that she was writing a book about His love for us as demonstrated in the Song of Songs I thought: "I have to get my hands on this book." And it did not disappoint. Several times as I read the pages of her book it was as if He was near...

Messy Beautiful Friendship

Messy Beautiful Friendship

I had a circle of 9 friends in high school and lived with about the same number of friends all throughout college -- I always had a "group" ... I thought, then, isn't that just supposed to be how friendship works? It mysteriously comes together and is always available...

When You Find Yourself Hopeless on Mother’s Day

When You Find Yourself Hopeless on Mother’s Day

There's one kind of woman that still makes me cry. She stretches big bows around pink wrapping paper and makes casseroles when the mama is still hobbling the stairs and bleeding after-birth and she might as well start a pinterest account just for one year-old birthday...

What Does it Mean to be Successful?

What Does it Mean to be Successful?

It's Sunday night, and the only light in our foyer is from the moon, stretching its arm-beams across our lawn and bringing the outdoors inside with its reach. The house is at rest. Finally. It's as if we all sighed -- the walls, the keyboard, the well-loved doormats...

The Gift of Limitations

The Gift of Limitations

It was a rambling college-town that hosted the race that was to be my last for a long time. It is a town where narrow dirt-and-dust roads lead to horse farms with near-perfect views of the Blue Ridge and millionaires shamelessly drive beat-up old Volvos. Eccentric....

God Wants Our Sad

God Wants Our Sad

This friend's eyes were some of the first to read the manuscript that I'd almost tucked under my mattress, hoping it would only be shared between me and God. As a timid response to the whisper from Him -- write your story -- I stayed up into the wee hours of the night...

I Share a Bloodline With The Children We Adopted

I Share a Bloodline With The Children We Adopted

“Look, she’s calling you mommy!” said a beautifully well-intentioned friend, wanting to celebrate just how quickly we’d become a family. My little girl was building with legos in the corner and her less-than-nimble fingers needed help piecing them together. She called...