It’s December 1… do you know what this means?! This means I can open up the first window in my Aldi box of Emporium Selection Advent Cheese Calendar! Also, it means the beginning of advent, the beginning of 24 days of family activities, the beginning of holding space for hope and anticipation. But also, rightContinue reading “Little Joys—Mini-Cheese Advent Calendars”
Author Archives: Sarah M. Wells
Little Joys—Advent
Back in May, I asked my Facebook friends to share songs that celebrated the little joys of life. I asked because I was scared. The frailty and finitude of life was right there, right in front of my face in the form of microcalcifications in my right breast. I waited a month for answers. InContinue reading “Little Joys—Advent”
Behold, A New Thing
I keep describing the last four months as a wild ride of trying to trust God, getting it wrong (or right for the moment, and then wrong, and then right again, for now *crazy eyes*), and questioning the mysteries of God’s will, my will, and the conflation of these two things into one mushy pileContinue reading “Behold, A New Thing”
Experiencing the Transformative Power of the Lord and the Joy of Incarnational Community
I preached for the first time on Thursday, September 22, at The Well, a campus ministry on the campus at Ashland University. The subject of the sermon was on two parts of The Well’s mission statement: to “Encounter the Transformative Power of the Lord” and to “Experience the Joy of Incarnational Community.” Here is whatContinue reading “Experiencing the Transformative Power of the Lord and the Joy of Incarnational Community“
From Gilded to Gold
It is hard to keep up with all that is swiftly unfolding politically right now, but if you try, I can promise you a full day of doom-scrolling and despair. It all feels huge and impossible. Flinging one more opinion on abortion, climate change, gun control, religious freedom, the insurrection, LGBTQ+ rights, race relations, andContinue reading “From Gilded to Gold”
Hold On Loosely
This morning as I drove the kids to school, a blade of light cut through a hole in the clouds in that divine way, you know, the way that feels like God is descending through the clouds to rest his glory on your shoulders, and you feel blessed, and particular, the center of the universe.Continue reading “Hold On Loosely”
The Universal History of People Doing Whatever They Feel Like Doing
In those days there was no king in Israel. People did whatever they felt like doing. – Judges 17:6 I’m reading Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones right now. At the same time, I’ve been trudging chapter by chapter through the book of Judges in the Bible. The confluence of these two narrativesContinue reading “The Universal History of People Doing Whatever They Feel Like Doing”
The Sound of Snow Falling
Earlier this week as I was standing outside waiting for our new puppy to quit chewing on leaves and sticks and discarded seedpods and pinecones and get down to business (you know, business), the snow began to fall, and it sounded like static electricity, or sand sifting constantly, or a far-off snake rattle, or theContinue reading “The Sound of Snow Falling”
2022 Resolutions: Recover
The last few years, I haven’t made a resolution list like I have previously but instead sought a word from the Lord. My word for 2016 was “clarity,” and much was made clear to me in 2016. By the end of 2016, I changed jobs that eventually brought us back to Ashland. My word forContinue reading “2022 Resolutions: Recover”
Cranial Nerves and the Ongoing Post-COVID Journey
It’s been 21 months since my initial bout with COVID. I’m still not 100% recovered, maybe 80%? It’s hard to recall what “normal” looked like; I sometimes remember charging forth into every day with deep wells of ambition, staying up late into the night writing or working on a project, leading meetings, spending so muchContinue reading “Cranial Nerves and the Ongoing Post-COVID Journey”
Sarah Marie Wells 