• Mental Health

    Ryan Reynolds Inspired This Post

    May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and in 3 days, it will be over. I began writing this blog post in April, with every intention to post it. In a frenetic flurry of activity, May has virtually come and gone. May is insane for everyone (or, as I like to say, “May is Cray”), but especially parents with end-of-the-year programs, recitals, activities, and graduations. Ryan Reynolds, the actor, bravely shared this just the other day, inspiring me to stop and finish writing this post with a few dwindling days remaining on the calendar before droning on with our lives and forward into June. Did you even know that May was…

  • Friends,  God,  Marriage,  Mental Health,  seasons,  Uncategorized

    Steadfast

    The word that keeps rolling around my brain these days, the one that means the most to me when it comes to describing God’s character, is steadfast. In my times of meditation and quiet before God, this is the facet of His character that shines through. It means: stead·fast ˈstedˌfast/ adjective resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering. “steadfast loyalty” In an ever changing world, where nothing is ever certain or secure, this sounds refreshingly welcome, doesn’t it? What I keep hearing, and what keeps being communicated to me through the air waves is that God is resolutely, dutifully firm, and loyal in His love towards me and His plans for…

  • Anxiety,  God,  Grief,  Mental Health,  Therapy,  Uncategorized

    When You’re a Fighter, Not a Lover

    I love Shauna Niequist. Maybe in a kind of stalker-ish way. I adore her writing and her recipes. I am a huge fan of her dad, Bill Hybels, her mother Lynne, and the amazing ministry they have accomplished all together at Willow Creek. Their family truly inspires me. I have seen Bill talk 3 times in person, and every.single.time, I sob like a baby. And I absolutely loved this post written by Shauna. The problem I have with it, though? I couldn’t relate to it. After reading it, I felt like I was from another planet. Let me explain. I am, by my very nature, a fighter. I was an…

  • Mental Health,  Therapy,  Uncategorized,  Writing

    Why write?

    I often wonder what compels me to cut open my veins and bleed all over this keyboard that sits in front of me. I apologize for that graphic image. But for those of you who are acquainted with the metaphor, often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, you know that I am talking about the craft of writing. What possesses me to share with total strangers all my fears, my hopes, my dreams, my parenting adventures (and struggles), my political frustrations, my theological meanderings? Do I have an insatiable desire for attention? Well, maybe… Honestly, though, I think it is something else. I think it is how writers are wired. I think…