After Lexi passed away I struggled a lot with the purpose of prayer. I (along with many others) had prayed fervently for so many years for her to find healing. She did find health and sobriety for almost a year. And then suddenly she was gone. Why even pray? I thought...

“God, please fix this!” How many times have I cried out this prayer? When life throws me curveballs, when unexpected circumstances arise, or when tragedy strikes, I find myself pleading to God to just make the situation better. In my desperation, I am anxious for God...

“I just don’t feel like God would act that way. That doesn’t seem like a loving God,” I told a family member of mine with heartfelt conviction. This was years ago, and we were debating predestination. His answer: “What you feel about the situation doesn’t matter. Your...

I remember seeing the poster quite often growing up. Sometimes there was a weight room in the background, or a baseball diamond, or another sports scene. And the verse scrawled across the top was Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me...

I’m fine, you tell yourself. I’m okay. I’ll get through this. I’m strong. But inside, your stomach cramps. Your head aches. Your mind is cloudy and it’s hard to focus on anything.  You try to engage in normal, everyday life. You plaster on a smile and try to put...

The week I face ahead of me is the hardest week of the year. Six years ago on January 2, I drove to Oklahoma to spend the day with my 21-year-old daughter, Lexi. We enjoyed the day eating lunch, driving around, running errands, then getting coffee just to prolong our...

Some days are better than others. Some years are better than others. Some seasons of life are better than others. It’s easy to look back on seasons of life and feel sadness, longing, and wishfulness for what has been. Those were the good ol’ days! I think this is...

I sometimes wonder what Joseph felt like at the end of the long journey to Bethlehem. Ah at last! Time for a meal and a warm bed! The trip he and Mary had made was somewhere between 70-90 miles and would have taken anywhere from four to ten days. What rotten timing...

It’s the season of gift-giving! Although I love getting gifts, I actually think it’s more fun to give them. There’s nothing better than finding just the right thing for someone and that feeling of satisfaction when you see their happiness.  The greatest Giver...

We all know the Christmas story - the baby in the manger, the star, the angel, the shepherds. But how often do we read past that, to the second part of Luke 2, to what happened when Jesus was about six weeks old? As a mom who has lost a child, this part of the story...