Right before Christmas, I wrote down the top 19 memories from 2019, but truthfully, they weren’t necessarily my top memories: they were just the ones I wanted to remember. After all, sometimes we just want to forget the painful events that pushed us over or left us gasping for air. Social media has deluded us […]
Hope
What Can I Do With My ‘Today’? When You Feel Overwhelmed By Change
I wrote a letter to my daughter this morning. I do it every year around her birthday, so yes, I was tardy this trip around the sun, but it still got done in 2019. Since she doesn’t read my blog, I don’t have to worry about her finding out–unless you leak it, but you won’t […]
That’s a Gift? How Sometimes our Hardships Are God’s Fulfilled Promises
I’ve been reading through Scripture and Advent devotionals for myself (and the kids). We are so familiar with the story of Christ’s birth, sometimes we don’t slow down long enough to contemplate the implications of Immanuel, God with us. Or how Jesus fulfilled numerous prophesies foretold hundreds of years before He came. Or that He […]
12 Things We Want for Christmas
“Back in 2013, the LA Times reported that the average American home has over 300,000 items in it and there are over 50,000 storage facilities nationwide (and this is the fastest growing real estate segment!)” We have so much stuff, we are drowning in the waste of it all. This year, we’ve decided to cut back […]
Birthdays Make Me Do This
More than New Year’s day, birthdays serve as a catalyst to analyze, to ask the questions: what am I doing with my life? Am I where I want to be? What do I need to change to be where I want to be (in relationships, in my health, at home, in my spirit, etc.)? Five […]
Shut All Other Doors
I’ve been reading through I & II Kings lately and am astonished at how many pagan practices God’s people adopted. Depending on the king and whether he submitted to the law of the Lord or not, the people often threw their children into Molech’s fiery mouth or set up idol worship in their own homes. […]
Paralyzed by Indecision
“Too many options can flood someone, yet their inability to choose may be directly tied to their fear of making a mistake. This is exponentially increased if they have had a history of being corrected when they were making a choice—or always being told what to do and what to want. Both extremes create self-doubt and the […]
Reconciling the Various Stages of Who We Are and Who We Become
Because the kids spent the night with grandparents into Labor Day, I had the rare opportunity to wake up to an empty house Monday and then spend the whole day alone. I can’t recall when that happened–not one person for 8 whole hours. The house was so quiet, I heard noises I’m not usually able […]
Sitting on Your Own Bum
“On the highest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own bottom.” ― Michel de Montaigne Timothy Keller posted this on FB: “Real humility is shy.” I’ve been pondering that concept in relationship to the scared echo of pride awareness in my own life. Sadly, that deepest, darkest sin oozes through every other sin. […]
Noticing the Little Gifts of God
The Hanley family has talked for years about the fun memories made camping and how we want to carry that legacy on with our kids. After 14 years of marriage and several kids later, we finally said, “This is the year we vacation together.” Picking a spot somewhat in the middle, we scheduled our camping […]