WOMEN'S MINISTRIES BLOG

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about death—a compounding of various conversations I’ve had, books I’ve been reading, the beginning and ending of lives I see all around me. I know as a Christian I should have a glorious hope in death. But mostly I feel fear, a desperate clutching at people whom I hold close knowing I cannot take them with me when I go. Shortly after I turned…

Do you ever feel like you’ve been trying to put down roots for a long time? I do. A lot. For those who haven’t, it’s like waiting for important news, searching for something in the dark, and that horrible the-bottom-of-my-brain-dropped-out feeling that always comes after you walk into a room and forget why you’re there. Sometimes I forget why I’m here. Here: late-twenties, single, living with my parents, working on…

Two parrots flew over my car this morning. At first, I didn’t see them. But I sure heard them. They’re unmistakable with their loud, obnoxious squawks. There’s nothing melodic or rhythmic about them—they screech and shriek. Every noise they make sounds angry and ugly and loud . . . very, very loud. And I smile every time. My head is immediately on a swivel searching for them with a big,…

In my 20’s I can remember sitting in a doctor’s office with lower back pain. He told me I was carrying around some extra weight and when I lost those pounds, it would feel better. After that visit with “Dr. Shame,” I walked out with my shoulders sagging. “I did it to myself.” The weight of shame just made it feel worse. A few (just a few) years later, and…

My Nanny—my mother’s mother—was a great cook. She came by it naturally. She was raised on a farm where she would help her own mother bake eight dozen scones every day and would serve all the menfolk early breakfast while it was still dark, real breakfast when they came in several hours later and then a full dinner (as opposed to lunch) at noon every day. For my entire married…