Some of the most tender and intimate moments Chuck and I have experienced happen when we are the most broken by life. Such times are opportunities to remove any pretense, tear off masks and…

The day I put my final manuscript for Treasures in Darkness in the mail, I reviewed the context of my life in which I wrote the book. I realized while the earth shifted beneath my feet, God held me steady through chaotic circumstances…

I was 18-years-old and thought I was in love. My boyfriend was deployed to Germany and when he came home in December…

You are a star! You were made to shine like the brightest light in the heavens. News flash, the brilliance is not about you! God created stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:16). A star is an internal collision of hydrogen and helium atoms. This powerful impact…

Fear and wisdom may seem like unlikely companions. Solomon and I would beg to differ. The convergence of these two things has happened in my life many times. The Lord has been showing me in those moments that I have a shallow understanding of them. Several years ago, I had to make a very big decision in…

You are a star! You were made to shine like the brightest light in the heavens. News flash, the brilliance is not about you! God created stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:16). A star is an internal collision of hydrogen and helium atoms. This powerful impact…

When our children were little we let them make a list of all the places they would love to visit should the Lord allow. It was a big list and we lived on a small pastor’s salary. Providentially, the Lord has actually allowed them to travel…

You are a star! You were made to shine like the brightest light in the heavens. News flash, the brilliance is not about you! God created stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:16). A star is an internal collision of hydrogen and helium atoms. This powerful impact…

I love spending time with young moms. Recently I went to breakfast with an expectant mother. She began to tell me about all the books she had been reading in preparation for the baby’s arrival. “Do you think you are ready?” I sheepishly…

Is that three-year-old you’re trying to “lead” driving you crazy? How about the outside the box student in your eighth grade class, or the employee who…

You are a star! You were made to shine like the brightest light in the heavens. News flash, the brilliance is not about you! God created stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:16). A star is an internal collision of hydrogen and helium atoms. This powerful impact…

I had spent a long day teaching about how we have the opportunity to image God as we live out our helper design. By the end of the day I needed someone to help me because I was tired and hungry, which is a bad combination…

I was 29 when I arrived at a leadership laboratory, just a seedling. I had been married six years and had a two-year-old and six-month-old. I could stop right there in my story and begin to tell you all…

I am still trying to figure out who I am going to be when I grow up. We face grown-up situations but deep down there is a little girl inside us who wonders when she will mature. You will never understand who God is…

For years my husband and I fed Wheaton college students after our worship services. On any given week we had no idea how many students would show up. It could be…

I entered the national women’s ministry leadership scene not as a leader but as the pianist. We finished leading the worship, and I found a seat at the back of the auditorium. It was 20 years ago, but I still remember …

Over twenty years ago I attended my last conference as a member of the women’s ministry team for our denomination. Sadness filled my heart as I let go of regular contact with the women who helped shepherd me through the first five years after the death of my son, Mark. I struggled to accept the “changing of the guard as a good thing.”  The Lord had transformed…

Once upon a time, there was a television advertisement for men’s wedding tuxedos, and it made such an impression…

We know from Jesus’ later conversation with Peter that He knew how Peter was going to die. “Truly, truly, I say to you, when…

My grandmother sewed my mother’s wedding gown, a labor of love that boggles my mind. Perhaps you have sewed someone’s wedding…