Strolling through the Met, I could barely see through my tears. Because how can I look at the delicate brush strokes, specific words painted thousands of years ago by Egyptian artists, the individual strokes evident, and not think about the person who sat there recording those ideas? Laboring to use his abilities and make something...

Pay attention. That seems to be what God is telling me. On New Year’s Eve afternoon, I posted a Facebook status that included these words: … But you know what? It’s all OK. Looking forward to whatever this year has to offer — and especially whatever God has to offer — and thankful that, whatever...

The candles flickered on the communion table, and the silence of the people in the room reflected the holiness of the moment. After washing down the slightly stale cracker fragment with the blackberry wine, I stood off to the side, arms around my three children, watching my husband kneel in front of the altar. Tears...

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...

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...

Good morning! I have a new post at Internet Café today. Please join me there to read the rest of it. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) In theory, I like fruit. But in practice? Well, I’m...

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...

Second installment in my series of interviews with first place category winners in the 82nd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. (First interview, with Julia Byers, can be found here.) Finding Stephanie seems like a beautiful bit of serendipity. She’s a gorgeous writer, and she writes of her search for herself after she lost her mom,...

I’ve known about this for a couple months, but the official issue of Writer’s Digest came out last week with my name listed: First Place Winner in Inspirational Writing Category! When I decided to attend the Elizabeth Berg Writers Workshop in Positano, Italy, last October, it was a huge leap of faith — telling the...

To celebrate the release of her new book, Addie Zierman asked her readers to share stories of when they were on fire for God. She’s younger than I am, and I didn’t grow up “on fire.” Or even knowing what that meant. But I’ve experienced the first tentative sparks of faith, then the all-consuming fire,...