life. faithful.

And love hurts . Sometimes, it can only be described as excruciating. When life knocks you flat on your face, it's easy to start wondering if you should just stay there in the dust. Because quite honestly, it hurts too much to stand back up. Today, my hometown is rocked by the devastating loss of a little boy. It's one of those losses that doesn't make any sense, one that leaves us with nothing more than questions without answers. When you're part of a small town, everyone feels the pain of a loss. Everyone's world is rocked. I'm struggling with what to write, because it's in times like this that words simply aren't enough. They feel like empty platitudes, no more helpful or lasting than smoke in cold air. In times like this, you don't want to hear that life will go on, or that God works in mysterious ways, or that He has plans, or that time heals all wounds. When your heart has been shattered, those things don't matter much. In those ...

People may be right in their own eyes, but the LORD examines their heart. ~Proverbs 21:2 Sometimes, that verse isn't a comfort. Sometimes, it's a reminder that we can't be fake because God knows when we're just going through the motions instead of giving our whole heart. Sometimes, knowing that God is seeing your heart is an uncomfortable feeling. At first glance, that's all this verse is saying--that God knows our intentions. Like so many verses, though, if you read it again you might get a different meaning. Let's pull another verse into the mix: Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. ~Psalm 37:4 Maybe there's more to that verse from Proverbs than meets the eye. Maybe, when you link it with the verse from Psalm, it takes on a more comforting meaning. God knows your heart, which means that He knows you better than anyone else in all of creation--even including yourself. If He examines your heart, ...

If I step back and take a look at the majority of struggles in my life, they all seem to have a common cause: I want to be in control of my life. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy spontaneity. I'm all for taking a trip at the drop of a hat; I rarely order the same thing off a menu twice; I'll try just about any adventure you can dream up. But being spontaneous from time to time doesn't change the fact that I've had a 5-year plan from the time I was 5 years old. I always want to know all the answers. I didn't want to start Kindergarten at Green Forest because we had just moved from Bentonville and I didn't know my new address--I didn't know the answers. Wanting to know the answers isn't a bad trait in and of itself. After all, that is what led to my studies in physics. It's also what pushed me to dive deeper into my faith, to know what was underneath all the "Sunday School Answers." But the thing is, I want all the answers--and in adva...

Hey you-- yes, you. My child. I know you think that I've forgotten you, turned My back. You feel like you're being crushed by everything that's weighing you down right now. You're afraid that you're going to crack under the pressure, and since people know you're My child, you're afraid that if you break you'll give Me a bad name. But you know what? That's not possible. That's right, I'm telling you that you've got it all wrong. photo by Sarah First of all, My name can never be changed--not by you, not by anyone. No matter how many times you mess up--and yes, you're going to mess up--you can't do anything to change who I AM. Remember, I told Moses Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh -- I AM WHO I AM. My child, you are infinitely important to me, but you can never change who I AM. Second, who told you there was something wrong with being broken? There is beauty in being broken. After all, it was My Son's brokenness that gave yo...

I heard a new song yesterday (well, I don't know how "new" it really is, but it was new to me). I've always been a music person--it seems like there is a song to go with everything that happens in life. There was a song line that stood out to me when my brother was killed, songs that seemed to describe every crush I had when I was a teenager, songs that make me think of my kids, the song Nathan played for me that first had me falling in love with him...and everything in between. You know what's pretty amazing? God knows how our minds work. He knows how much songs mean to me, so from time to time I fully believe that He speaks to me through them. Take the song I heard yesterday. I looked up the lyrics and copied and pasted them onto facebook, but I didn't really have time to read them then. Yesterday, I have to admit, was a bit rough (which might be an understatement), and I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed. As I've said, I'm a much better wri...