• Uncategorized

    Failure Keeps Me Going

    Failure is the reason I keep going. Yet another rejection deadline has passed, and in the publishing world no news is bad news.  The frustration is strong, and I want to throw in the towel- but that just leads to more laundry! It seems as if everything I do is like banging my head on a brick wall- it gets me nowhere and it hurts! I know I have potential… I just can’t get others to see it! So I begin to make a list of motivation- what gets me to press on when I feel like I’m sinking? Failure. Yes, failure. And its impending threat from someone ready to…

  • Uncategorized

    Holiday Recipe Swap!

    Time to prep for the holidays! This time of year I am always looking for a new recipe. Do you have a favorite? Maybe its something unique. Or a family recipe passed down. Or maybe its a new twist on a holiday standard. Whatever it is, I’m sure its good! So, lets swap some goodness! Post your favorite recipe in the comments below, then scroll through to find something you want to try! Don’t forget to come back and let others know how it went! Participating in The Thanks And The Giving? Why not whip up a treat and drop it by a friends house just to let her know…

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    The Thanks and The Giving

    November. The month that reminds us to be thankful. To count our blessings. To gather together and say thanks. Its a time to slow down and refocus on the life in front of us. As we settle in this first day of November I can’t help but feel challenged to do more. Not more things to do, but more thanks to give. More love to give. More giving. So, this year I will focus on the thanks and the giving. Yet what do I have to give? Everything. The whispered prayers of help I offer up when the pennies are short are answered with the word give. But what do I have to give?…

  • Uncategorized

    Stop Believing You are Not Enough

    I drank the milk straight from the carton this morning. Someone left the smallest amount of milk possible in the bottom of the jug, and frankly I didn’t want to dirty a glass. So, I gracefully hid behind the refrigerator door, put the carton to my lips and downed it. It felt good to break the rules of being a good housekeeper. Recently I have found myself in the midst of friends openly admitting our shortcomings of being a homemaker. Tales of laundry piled high, unmade beds, and bathrooms that need cleaned. Hearing my friends authenticity has given me the comfort that I am not a failure! And because I…

  • Rejection

    Taking Back Myself: From Rejection to Recovery

    This post is part of Lysa TerKeurst’s Uninvited Book Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with many other inspiring bloggers. To learn more and join us, click here.   Rejection. Its like a hang nail. It hurts desperately. You can’t leave it alone so you poke, prod, and pull on it. But it gets worse. You finally distract yourself from the pain, but the slightest bump of your finger and it all comes back in an instant! You know you need to take care of it, but instead you just pick and pull. And you repeat this process again and again until you break…

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    Kids and Worship

    One year. I’ve been worshiping in this church plant for one full year. I’ve learned a lot from the preaching, I’ve felt loved a lot from the people, and I have become happily involved in a variety of ways. Its been a really great place to heal a broken heart. And today the worship transformed into something amazing. And it wasn’t a new song. But lets back up for a minute. My 3 children, my husband and I came here from a good sized church with a kids program with around 100 kids. And here, in this very young church plant, my children warrant nearly half the regular attending kids.…

  • Uncategorized

    Its time for War

    Far too long have I listened to the voice of evil tell me I am not good enough. I have let it choke the words right out of my writing, talk me down from big projects at work and home, convince me that I am a terrible mother, and keep me in my own little world of doubt. But that ends now. Three weeks ago I was ready to launch some new material and a big project. I worked hard for days reading, writing, and researching. But life gave me a few stumbles… a sick kid, a small car issue, extra hours at work. In those small tasks of life…

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    A Perfect God in my Imperfect World

    Back in the day Joan Osbourne recorded the song, “What if God was One of Us,” where she poses that question- What if God were one of us? Just a slob like one of us?  Just a stranger on a bus tryin’ to make his way home?   Too often we don’t want to imagine our Holy God as a stranger on a bus. We have a hard time seeing him as a “slob” since he is called perfect.   Instead we put God in a tight box. We pack it with the beautiful language of the 16th century, touch it with white gloves, and dare not to let him…

  • Uncategorized

    Its time to clean out the Junk drawer!

    It’s beyond capacity. It’s overflowing with random projects, school papers, craft materials, and candy wrappers from my secret stash. I was looking for something the other day and pulled open this overflowing junk drawer to find myself even more frustrated as a result of the overflow of mismatch that poured out. And instead of calmly sorting through the stuff I did what every mom of young ones did… I yelled. And then I shut it. And somehow I have a far fetched hope that the next time I open it will be different.   But it won’t.   Later that night as I sulked in my bad mood I began…

  • Emotions

    Jammin’ in the Dark

      You know how sometimes things just sneak up behind you? Sometimes you are so focused on your path and everything is looking good, when suddenly the emotions and inadequacies you have stuffed down deep come raging in. And you are so unprepared! If your like me, the one that follows you everywhere is the feeling that “I’m not good enough.” Sometimes its at my job. Others its my mothering skills. I can have a simple, sometimes mundane, day of work, homework, dinner, dishes, and bedtimes. But when I sit down at the end of the day the feeling that I am terrible at such things come waging war on…