Wants…Needs…Jesus

During Christmas, my mother used to ask us to list three things we want and three things we need. It didn’t take long to list the wants. Mentally we had been keeping track of them, like a child wanting a toy. “I want that. No that. Oh that too.” As though our eyes couldn’t get…

Christ’s Words Carry More Weight

Forming a negative identity from something hurtful someone said to you in your past, changes how you act and respond to others now. Please know that the message spoken to you wasn’t about you, but the person who spoke it. I know that’s hard to believe at times, but we are all broken people learning…

Finding Clarity with Caffeine

You called me to 3361 McCracken for what Lord? To combat my restlessness with a dirty chai in my bloodstream, hunkering down with Max Lucado’s book, Cure for the Common Life, so that I could organize these thoughts that have bound emotions in me? You even prompted me to bring plain paper, of which You…

Inspired

This is not your last rodeo, I insist upon it. You will try again, you will inspire through lens and keystrokes, you will…you will…you will. Keep at it, the voice in my head tells me, push through whispers in the shadows encourage, come back to earth doubt says, flagging down my fantastical brain. But, I…

Behind Fluttering Curtains

I am awake in darkness, silently reading a letter from you; remembering as much as I can, word for word, for I know I will forget when morning comes. Gradually, the black keystrokes come alive in a deep voice, which I imagine is yours. “Keep pressing in” you encourage, “I’m on the verge of breaking,…

Finding You

I find you here. After endless miles of asphalt, from lakeshore to lakeshore, my mind discovers ease as you remind me of what I cannot “not” do. You encourage me to pursue what you have made me for. On this wooden porch and in your creative nature, the air brushing gently over my face, I…

When I Wanna Quit

Being on mission is the hardest calling I’ve ever lived through. At first, I was welcomed, and all the world seemed right, I even stopped arm wrestling with God about where He’s led me. Then, in an instant, everything changed. Now, five months later, everyday, I wanna quit. Plagued by fight or flight each morning,…

Well Worn

My closest relationships are like a pair of well worn jeans. The ones that I can’t wait to put on when I get home. The ones that have thinned so much; I should no longer be wearing them in public, yet at times, I do. Throughout the years, the cotton has stretched to the edge…