“What were some things in your life that were hard or painful for a little while, but then when it was over, there was celebration?” Lydia asked, reading the question from the night’s devotional entry. It is Holy Week. We (I) decided for Lent this year, we would strap in, buckle up, and get throughContinue reading “So You Survived a Global Pandemic. Great! Now What?”
Category Archives: hope
What Happens to Suffering When We Pray
This week, my daughter, Lydia, broke one of her arms for the fourth time in six years. There’s never a great time to break a bone, but in my opinion, the start of the summer is the worst time. As I scurried down to church camp to pick her up the day after dropping herContinue reading “What Happens to Suffering When We Pray”
This Makes Me Uncomfortable
We have two teenagers in our house right now, and there are many, many, many conversations we’d rather not have with them. It would be so much easier to just… let it be. They’ll be fine. They’ll figure it out. Maybe if we ignore it, it’ll go away. There’s a model in the Bible forContinue reading “This Makes Me Uncomfortable”
The Things We’ve Lost and Where They’re Found
The pancake batter bowl is missing. I have twice opened and shut every kitchen cabinet drawer it could have been stuffed into by one of three children annoyed by the daily chore of unloading the dishwasher groooooan. Maybe it was the jesterly husband with all his high-minded opinions about where and how certain dishes oughtContinue reading “The Things We’ve Lost and Where They’re Found”
Hope: Closer and Louder
We’re entering the season of advent. The days of advent are traditionally not days of celebration—they are days of longing for the light and voice of God to be heard through the darkness, for peace and justice to reign over oppression and violence. Before the time of Christ, the people of God were living inContinue reading “Hope: Closer and Louder”
Resolve
Each Christmas I write in a little Christmas book an update about what has come in the last year. I’m forever in wonder about how much happens in a year, and how little I saw coming. This year was no different. From new job opportunities to moving towns to publishing opportunities, it was a yearContinue reading “Resolve”
This Right Here
From where I sit in our new living room back in Ashland, my Christmas tree’s lights reflect off of five surfaces. Every night after I put my kids to bed in their new bedrooms, I settle under a white afghan, my 12 pound pup snuggles in next to me on the couch, and I takeContinue reading “This Right Here”
The Middle Ground
My latest blog post for Off the Page on the roots of racism and what we ought to do about “The Others” was shared on Wednesday. It was difficult to write this article because the temptation for me and I suspect other Christian writers is to craft the I-was-lost-but-now-I’m-found message, I was bad but now I’mContinue reading “The Middle Ground”
Advent Day 3: Find Bright
I’ve been writing these advent posts knowing my mom will be in treatments for a cancer that is near impossible to cure and a hard one to fight throughout this advent season. There is a child who cries loudly across the hall from my mom’s room where she waits for her next dose and theContinue reading “Advent Day 3: Find Bright”
Held
We spent the evening with friends of ours discussing the aches and opportunities of the church we’re attending, and while our kids ran around their living room and up the stairs, and I scratched the ears of one of their pups, I said the thing I keep saying about this church community: I laugh everyContinue reading “Held”
Sarah Marie Wells 