Reconnect with Joyful Things
I’ve recently reconnected with my love of college basketball. I loved attending college basketball games when I went to the University of Virginia. And now that I’m at Penn State, I have followed and cheered loudly for the Penn State basketball team. My husband and I love doing this together. We even now go to […]
Looking Back and Forward
My oldest daughter turns 18 years old today! I can hardly believe it. I found myself crying tears of joy, gratitude, nostalgia, and sadness all mingled together. What a privilege to witness the growth of a child to adulthood! I took some time to wallow, but then I turned the page to think of her […]
Tucking Yourself In
Last night, I thought about my current bedtime routine that involves reading news on my phone, laughing over funny videos, skimming Twitter, responding to email, or even drifting off to a movie. I emailed a friend to ask about her evening spiritual ritual because we’re studying the Psalms together. I had just read about the […]
Happy New Year!
I pray you experience great, new, unexpected blessings this year. May hope fill your heart. May you find little miracles and astonishing beauty all around you. Might you unearth the treasure hidden in every soul you meet. I pray you find a creative community where you feel alive and at home. I pray this is […]
No Strangers
I am on my way home from speaking at a Cru Winter conference in Indianapolis. I didn’t know but only a few people out of 1500 students and staff. But I found myself immediately connecting with so many people over our shared love of God and helping others grow. I remember the joy of being […]
God’s Nature: To Bless
This morning I read in my God is Enough devotional how God cannot help but to bless us because it’s His unchanging nature to do so. How wonderful to consider! I remember the words of Isaiah 30: “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. […]
The Wound is a Portal
This morning in church, we heard testimonies of God’s faithfulness through hardship. We looked back together as a church family over all God brought us through in 2019. Families cried as they shared how God’s power and presence met them through the illness of a child, through depression, through cancer. They knew Jesus in such […]
Your Blog in 2020
I love blogging. I love that blogs are searchable and work as a ready archive of your life. For example, in 2010 on this very day, I went sledding even though I was all dressed up for a night out. In 2011? I watched a petal floating down a stream and learned about letting the […]
You Can Be the One
Today I remembered to be the one to gather people. It can be you! You can make the plans, pick a friend up, look up the movie times, make the restaurant reservation, scope out a new hike, or dream up any outing you want. You might rely on someone else to do these things–and perhaps […]
The Viral Moment You’ve Been Waiting For
It finally happened. I went viral. (Not technically. Viral means something like 5 million views in 5 days. I’m not viral like this. But keep reading. You’re about to witness my most ever liked and retweeted social media post in the history of my social media use.) More specifically, my cat Louie went–and continues to […]