Let’s Talk about Condemnation–On Getting Past Shame & Unworthiness (#Empowered by the Spiritual Life: #4)
“God is wonderfully patient and understanding and will wait for the slow heart to catch up with the truth.” A.W. Tozer, Keys to the Deeper Life We see ourselves and sometimes truth looks back at us. But if we aren’t careful, if we look linger too long on our past, trouble brews a mountain around it. Our negative, internal tape pushes play and begins trash-talking us, about us. “Who do you think you are? There you go again, messing up! Why can’t you just shut your big mouth, already?...
read moreThe Paranormal Trap–On Believing in a Supernatural God vs Everything Else (#Empowered by the Spiritual Life: #3)
“The devil is not now pictured in the Scriptures as wise, only as shrewd. We are warned not against his wisdom but against his wiles, something very different.” A.W. Tozer, Man: The Dwelling Place of God As a little girl, I remember going to sleepovers, staying up past bedtimes or sane parents, and telling ghost stories. In our flannael pajamas, we’d pull our blankets around our shoulders. Sitting crossed-legged and wide-eyed, we shared. The scariest ones where the true ones, the ones that actually happened. Those are...
read moreOn Dabblings & Hard Surrenders–The Gift of Being Undone (Empowered #2)
“Though I recommend it to no one–and I do not need to, for it arrives unbidden into many lives–depression compelled me to find the river of life hidden beneath the ice.” Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak Nobody comes to the end of one’s self, in a rush. Instead we come sliding in sideways, breathless and wide-eyed. We come here because we are un-done and we are done with our old life. We come because we’re at the wit’s end and finally, sweetly, we have surrendered. This is not for the faint of heart....
read moreReleasing–On Becoming People of the Wind (#Empowered by the Spiritual Life: #1)
“True religion is removed from diets and days, from garments and ceremonies, and placed where it belongs–in the union of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God.” AW Tozer, Man: The Dwellling Place of God This is for the tired and hungry, the dry and thirsty. It’s for the desert dwellers, the valley walkers, and the lonely lepers. It’s for the panting stream seekers. This is for the mountain climbers, the shadow chasers, and the Light embracers. It’s for the wounded and amputated, the displaced and broken. This is...
read moreIn Which You Have a Chance for a FREE Copy (#wildInTheHollow)
“When leaning into the Spirit, it is not process of mere hearing and then being okay. It is always the work of receiving.” Amber Haines, A Wild in the Hollow Rarely, a book comes along captivating you with exquisite imagery. In poetic tones, Amber Haine’s Wild in the Hollow, raptures the creative brain and compels it to fall in love with words, writing, and telling a story with richness. Whether you’ve followed her on her blog or not, every reader of Wild in the Hollow enters through the front...
read moreYou are Not Impotent (On Words, Discourse, & Kingdoms)
When I was young, I dreamt of flying. Some weeks, it was every night. I woke up thinking I still could. I flew above rooftops, slipped through massive power lines into a sky that was neither bright or dull. I was free, suspended as if an astronaut outside the shuttle, floating. There was no steering. No superwoman cape. No control. Just a soft rising. But the dreams turned nightmare when black clouds crept up the horizon. The wind changed, the temperature dropped, and the hair on my arms stood on end. Fear clawed at my stomach like...
read moreChange is Inevitable but the Future is Before You (Writing, Courage, & the Magic of Midlife)
Ya’ll, I wrote about life after legwarmers and let me tell you, my “research” to refresh my memory back to the day (because hello, decades ago), was nothing short of eye soreness. Videos of what I used to know about health, exercise, and fashion made me cringe and laugh at the same time. From our remote and cell-phone-less cabin in the Kiamichi Mountains of south-eastern Oklahoma with the provided grill smoking with Ribeye steaks, my words went live. I put all my ailments (ahem, post hysterectomy) in there,...
read moreOn Courage, Straight Talk, & Making it Home
On this farm, I’ve looked myself in the eye and didn’t like what I saw. I’ve wondered and asked like a child, ‘How long?’ I’ve watched days turn into years. I’ve wanted to bury myself under covers, stay all the live-long day, and dream of by-gone days in Indiana or Kentucky. I’ve shrieked at Rat Snakes climbing pecan trees. I’ve swept thankfulness out the broken, back door. I’ve been a stiff-neck-er, as rigid as they come…..join me at Emily Wierenga’s for more about How I Changed My Mind. ...
read moreSo, You’ve Been Called to Launch?
“Each time a door closes, the rest of the world opens up.” Parker J. Palmer, Let Your Life Speak My feet flew over Tommi’s sticker-y grass. I sailed like a bird flapping its arms, except mine flailed to keep from landing on my head. I had kicked my feet in one final push, as high as the metal swing set would allow, when I launched myself out. I was nine years old. All I knew–I was going to win the contest of who’d land the farthest away. I was oblivious to danger. But in the way of metaphors, if...
read moreUnearthing Your Gifts & a Life of Risk with Your Art
“We may catch our calling as it hurtles toward us, but mostly we are caught in its web long before we recognize its existence.” Dan B. Allender, PhD, To Be Told–God Invites You to Coauthor Your Future. I’m not especially cynical. But there was a particular time when it took hold. I suspected motives. I doubted sincerity. I crossed my arms and squinted eyes at the overly-cheery people. I had to fight a return to my glass half-full outlook. I once thought that my surroundings, my experience, or my...
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