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Are You Lamenting or Whining?
We live in a culture of complainers. Everywhere we turn, we hear complaints. The culture’s bad. The neighbors are bad. Life’s not fair. Why can’t we have what we want when we want it. You know what I’m talking about. I listened to a sermon series1 recently on the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk looked around him, seeing all the injustice, and challenged God on why He wasn’t doing anything about it. Habakkuk asked God a bunch of “why” questions and “how could you let that happen” questions. The speaker asked this question, “Was Habakkuk lamenting or just whining?” That question struck me. The answer has stuck in my brain for…
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Mental Health Challenges: Remove the Stigma
How has COVID affected you, your family, your church, your job, your neighborhood, your world? If you’re like about half of all Americans, the pandemic has taken its toll on your mental health—and if not yours, that of someone (or many someones) you love. Various studies have revealed that about 47 percent of US adults say pandemic stress alone has had a negative effect on their mental health. That rings true, doesn’t it? Most of the public school teachers I know suspect the percentage is higher, expecting to see a pandemic of depression as young people return to school and compare notes about their lives for the past year. The pandemic has definitely…
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Don’t Be Anxious?
Living our best life––or at least a life characterized by peace, joy, and healthy rhythm––has never been more difficult for many working women. Myself included. Are we doing something wrong? How do we experience peace in anxiety-riddled days...
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The Commencement Address I Actually Got to Give
In 2014, I wrote a blog post The Commencement Address I’ll Never Get to Give. Then I was deeply honored to be asked to address the eight graduating seniors of the Richardson Home School Association, where my husband and I have been teaching. He’s the high school science teacher and I am his admin, I teach cursive handwriting to younger kids, and together we teach “Building Confident Christians,” a faith-building year of worldview and apologetics. I had already written my address as a blog post, but I tweaked it some, coming in at a very-short-for-me nine minutes (because ain’t nobody goes to graduation for the commencement address, right?): We’ve taught…
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Facing Disappointment With Facts and Faith
Life is hard. Disease destroys precious loved ones. Injustice extinguishes innocent life. Dreams are crushed and die. Prayers remain unanswered. How do I accept the reality of pain and disappointment without losing hope? How do I trust that God might never answer prayer the way I want and still keep asking for a miracle? I’ve told myself all the usual answers: God is good and he loves me. He is sympathetic to my cry. He knows what he’s doing. Sometimes he answers, “wait.” Working behind the scenes, he will redeem the pain. I still believe these truths, but I need something more. Do I give up hope of ever seeing what I wish…
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Pursuing Peace
My mother recently wanted to recount a tale of terror to me about something tragic that happened to a child. I know her intention was teach me a lesson through a cautionary tale, but in reality I just didn’t have the ability to hear a scary story involving young people. Often, my Mom misinterprets my attitude and believes I am too cavalier. In reality, I can be crippled by fear. I heard myself saying, “Mom, if you think my lack of interest is a result of some apathy I have towards my children, or an inability to worry, it’s quite the opposite. There are days when I worry about my…
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This Is the Way
On a recent road trip our GPS app suddenly changed our route, suggesting we get off of the interstate. We found ourselves on a state highway with lots of traffic, stopping and starting at the many lights for an extended time. Following its instructions we eventually wound our way through small side streets back to the interstate. I’m sure you know how we felt. Our original route was fast and easy while the new route was slow and stressful. My companion was sure that we would have been better off ignoring this app and swore to never use it again. But I trusted it and believed there was something worse…
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Saying “Masculinity Is Toxic” vs. “Fight Masculinity That Is Toxic”
“Toxic Behavior Versus Toxic Masculinity.” That was a title I read on a press release in my in-box. And, normally I hit “delete” on email ads. But this one grabbed my attention, because I saw in it two things contrasted that were actually the same thing—because toxic masculinity is toxic behavior. And we should oppose that. So, I read further and found the release contained information about a new book by a well-known Christian author. “No doubt, men’s behavior can be toxic, or sinful if you want to put it another way,” the release said. I agreed. But then it went south: “Society’s answer to this dilemma has been to…
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Mother’s Day: A Day to Honor Non-Traditional Mothers, Too
There’s more than one way to become a mother, but often that fact is neither touted nor commemorated, and that leaves many women feeling rather uncomfortable—and forgotten—on Mother’s Day. (Para español, lea abajo.)
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