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3 Practical Ways to Cultivate a Deeper Relationship With God
White light breaks through smoky billows of fog. Climbing out of bed, I admire the scene out the window and ask God to help me be more aware of his presence throughout the upcoming day. I’ve been seeking a deeper relationship with God over the past few months. I know that going deeper includes becoming more aware of what he is doing around me. Sadly, I tend to overlook his presence as I push through my days on autopilot. This is not how I want to live. I’m tired of rushing through my moments, wishing away long days, and living in survival mode. How to Have a Deeper Relationship With…
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Feeling Broken? 7 Truths to Lift Your Head
I’m rushing to make the house presentable before slipping out the door for a Wednesday night meeting. It seems I can’t stop the frenzy of hurry that’s overtaken my body. I have no way of knowing this flurry of activity is about to be a hard lesson on what to do when you start feeling broken in life. I hurriedly shove a white porcelain cup on top of a clumsy stack of plastic children’s dishes, and then it happens. The cup slides straight out of the cabinet and onto the kitchen floor. It breaks into a handful of tiny pieces, white shards that threaten soft little feet. I hear the…
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Go Ahead and Wear Your Fat Pants: How to Love Your Body the Way it is
Don’t pretend you don’t exactly which pair I’m talking about. I have them. You have them. They sit folded in the bottom dresser drawer, and we only break them out when our winter waistlines increase, in week seventeen of our pregnancies, when going to visit our grandmothers, or when we just want to be comfortable for once! Yes, they are our precious fat pants, and if you’re like me, you have a love-hate relationship with these pants. I’m learning to embrace the skinny jean trend. My favorite thing about skinny jeans is that the bottom of my pant legs don’t drag on the wet cement of parking lots, and they…
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4 Ways God Wants to Transform Your Mind for Deeper Joy
Wolf Creek is overflowing its banks, and this normally languorous stream is raging with terrifying ferocity. The ice that covered the creek all winter is breaking up and crashing downstream with thunderous intensity. It seems this quiet creek is resisting the transformation, and I get to thinking that letting God transform your mind often requires a similar kind of reshaping. Letting God Transform Your Mind Listening closely, I hear a guttural grinding noise coming from the depths of the creek. I watch as a crack in the submerged ice layer widens, eventually allowing an enormous chunk to break free and cascade downstream. One piece at a time, the ice is…
