Join the #FamilyEasterOpenHouse You’re Invited! Easter is one of my favorite times of the year. I love celebrating Jesus and His resurrected life. I appreciate how—symbolic of Jesus’ rebirth—the whole earth breaks forth in life, budding fresh and new from a frozen world stripped bare. Since most of us will not be… [Continue Reading]
God
Somebody Needs to Hear…
Somebody Needs to Hear Last night I sat in a small support group of teenage mothers, and one brave young woman, Liz, walked to the front of the room. “Guys, I usually sit there among you, but I asked Miss Tricia if I could share. You see, I’ve started this journey with Jesus, and I… [Continue Reading]
Finding Hope After Suicide {With Kristen Jane Anderson}
Life, In Spite of Me, is a story about finding hope after suicide. Kristen Anderson came from a normal home, with a normal family, and yet, she found herself contemplating suicide. Her story gives us hope that there is life after an attempted suicide and helps by shining a light on the struggles that… [Continue Reading]
Stories Change Hearts {A Visit to Auschwitz}
Stories Change Hearts {A Visit to Auschwitz} I’ve always been drawn to stories, but few have changed my heart like the ones I heard several years ago. It began when we traveled to Poland to see Auschwitz-Birkenau. I’d read many books about Auschwitz and part of my novel Night Song took place there. But nothing… [Continue Reading]
Be a Voice for Change {In Honor of Martin Luther King Jr.}
Be a Voice for Change We are facing an all-time high of strained race relations in our culture. Even with all that was accomplished by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. over sixty years ago, we are still fighting a disease of racism. Maybe, you know there is a problem, but you don’t know what to… [Continue Reading]
How to Bring Racial Reconciliation in 2020
How to Bring Racial Reconciliation As a white person growing up in California I had black friends, and I thought I understood black history, just from things I’d learned in school. Then, in 2010, my family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, I started a support group for inner-city teen moms, and we started attending a… [Continue Reading]
Twice Rescued Child ~ A Story of Hope
Twice Rescued Child Over six million Jews were systematically annihilated in the Holocaust. It’s a number that’s hard for us to wrap our minds around. Nearly eighty years after World War II, horror and sorrow grips our hearts. We’ve heard stories of families torn apart, mass graves, and ash from the chimneys that fell… [Continue Reading]
How to Recognize Faulty Decision Making
How to Recognize Faulty Decision Making It’s not my fault!” ranks in my Top 10 Most Frequently Used Phrases, and may well be #1. Don’t get me wrong – I’m not the kind of person who always has to be right. But heaven protect anyone who implies that I might be wrong. My favorite family… [Continue Reading]
12 Tips for a Grumble Free Holiday
12 Tips for a Grumble Free Holiday When the Christmas season comes around we can count on a few things: 1) lots of fun family time, and 2) lots of fun family time disrupted by kids’ bad behavior. Kids often misbehave A LOT during the holidays. Their schedules are messed up; they’re over-excited and over-stimulated…. [Continue Reading]
4 Things That Prevent Jesus’ Power
4 Things That Prevent Jesus’ Power In Your Life Today on the blog we welcome Erica Wiggenhorn, author of Unexplainable Jesus: Rediscovering the God You Thought You Knew. 4 Things That Prevent Jesus’ Power In Your Life- and a plan to get rid of them! It’s so easy to look at another person’s social… [Continue Reading]
Practice Makes Perfect When it Comes to Doing Right
Practice makes perfect. We know this is true for first steps, basketball shots, and multiplication tables. Practice means starting where we are with plans to improve. And when my large family decided to take on the challenge of going a year without grumbling (yes, really!), I knew it would take a lot of patience, a… [Continue Reading]