Feeling amazed. Found the journal entry from the day I started praying for the woman who would eventually buy my old house (the story that is the premise for my whole book). On 9/29/07, four months after putting our house on the market, I wrote these words: If it means we have to wait, we...

The winner of this week’s giveaway is Kerry Dunham, who just so happens to be my sister and just so happens to live next door. When my husband saw her name on the slip of paper he drew, he said, “No, we have to put it back.” But that wouldn’t be very nice. And I...

The winner of this week’s giveaway is Kerry Dunham, who just so happens to be my sister and just so happens to live next door. When my husband saw her name on the slip of paper he drew, he said, “No, we have to put it back.” But that wouldn’t be very nice. And I...

God giving His Son to us. Life. Renewal. Freedom. Love. I could list gifts for days — months, years, decades — because God’s gifts are immeasurable and unending. Really, we have all we need. God has already provided it. Probably not a single one of us needs more stuff. But I’m offering some stuff to...

I can’t say I’ve known forever that I wanted to write. I liked to write; just wasn’t sure I had anything worth saying. But look what’s happened in this past year. I went to Italy and learned from Elizabeth Berg (and met a lovely group of women I’m happy to call my friends). An agent...

Here I sit, hunched over my construction paper, gripping a crayon so tightly that it snaps in half. Arm curved protectively around the paper, so close that it curls and crimps the corners of the pages. Tongue stuck out in concentration. Creating, creating, but with each stroke, holding it closer to myself. It’s both a...

Well, maybe it’s not a pyramid scheme, but it is kind of upside down. Because, well, that’s how we do things around here. And I’ve had a revelation. Months ago, to be honest, but I suddenly feel like now is the right time. My project — this book about prayer — needs to be bathed...

a pseudo book review My friend Peggy talks about “nuggets” — the best part of a message, what she takes away from it. My “pseudo book reviews” are just that: the one or two things I will remember, maybe all from one chapter. It may be a particular phrase or thought that changed the way...

Here’s the thing. As American consumers, we are used to people catering to us. Sometimes we forget — or, in my case, don’t really know — how our products get to us. We don’t know, or maybe don’t care, that some of the workers on these farms are, literally, modern-day slaves. Or that the divers...

a pseudo book review* *My friend Peggy talks about “nuggets” — the best part of a message, what she takes away from it. My “pseudo book reviews” are just that: the one or two things I will remember, maybe all from one chapter. It may be a particular phrase or thought that changed the way...