It can be easy to fall into a prayer rut. We may pray the same type of prayers – for those struggling with health concerns, for example. We may always pray the same way or at the same time of day. Or maybe your rut is that you don’t pray at all, really. It feels overwhelming … More 10 Ways to Pray
Our firstborn has been learning that sometimes when things break they can’t be fixed. He’ll bring a toy to Daryl or me with a quivering lip and ask us to fix it. Most of the time we can—between duct tape and super glue and a screwdriver, most toys will go back together. But sometimes they won’t. … More If God is For Us * 10 Minute Devotional
My husband had knee surgery a couple weeks ago. In the days leading up to it he went for a prep appointment with his surgeon. Daryl’s been through this surgery – repair to a meniscus (that cartilage pad inside your knee) – before. Ten years ago, when we were still boyfriend-and-girlfriend, his roommates and I helped him recover by … More On Being “Older”
It’s been a rough few weeks in America, hasn’t it? News headlines have read like something out of The Hunger Games. There was the Stanford rape case. Suicide bombings in the Middle East. Zika virus threatening the Olympics. A resurgence of hemorrhagic fever in western Africa. The vitriol of this election cycle. And, of course, the atrocity … More Think About Such Things * 10 Minute Devotional
Nothing tests your understanding of God like a preschooler. Our firstborn is asking some pretty tough questions. I’ll be the first one to admit that I don’t have all the answers, especially to the tough questions a preschooler asks. Perhaps nowhere are his questions tougher than when we read him Bible stories before bed. The Bible … More Gruesome Bible Stories and Your Preschooler
No matter how well you’ve prepared for certain big things in life, you can never be fully prepared. Whether you’re surrounded by well-wishers offering advice or totally alone on an island, there will be things you just didn’t predict until the big event happens. I had some idea of what welcoming baby #2 into our lives would … More 5 Things Nobody Told Me About Adding Baby #2
Nothing good happens at 3am. Friends of mine had a baby who woke them crying at 3am. Evan went to check on him. In the dark room, he leaned over the crib to pick the little guy up when the baby violently spit up all over them both. Half-asleep and covered in baby vomit, Evan … More Step Out * 10 Minute Devotional
I stood in front of the mirror trying to screw up my courage. “I should be ready for this,” I told myself. “Other moms do a lot more than this a lot earlier” I wasn’t preparing to climb Everest, or even host a preschooler’s raucous birthday party. All that lay before me was a day with my … More Stopping the ‘Should’ Cycle
My father grew up in the little farm town of Washington, Illinois just outside Peoria. He spent his childhood playing cowboys and setting off firecrackers down by the creek, walking to school (uphill both ways in the snow, according to him, but that’s another story…) and worshiping at Grace Presbyterian. He loved his town, and we went … More Jesus is in the Boat * 10 Minute Devotional
Matthew 28:16-20 16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all … More This is a Football * 10 Minute Devotional
Courtney Ellis 