Posts Tagged ‘motherhood’
The Privilege of Friendship
Gathered around the familiar multi-purpose, formica folding tables, I was the youngest of the group by at least ten years. Thursday Bible study had become a treasured time because of the insight, wisdom, and humor that these wiser women shared with me. One day, as a new session began, some younger women invited me to…
Read MoreCount Your Crosses: The Graces of Fortitude and Perseverance
The cold had run its course through our whole family, taking down each man, woman, and child for days at a time, eating up the entire month of March in early 2011. While everyone else recovered, even five-month-old Teddy, Fulton struggled, weak and congested, long past the point when the other four were back to…
Read MoreA Prayer for Raising Teenagers and Launching Young Adults
Lord Jesus, through your death and resurrection, You teach us that it is only in letting go can we come to the glory of new life. Yet, as a parent, it is so hard to let go, especially when it comes to our children growing up. As our children develop into the people Our Father…
Read MoreThe Greatest Gifts We Can Give Our Teens
We all love a good checklist, don’t we? “Five things you must do this fall!”“Ten ways to tell your kids you love them!”“Three things every parent must do!” Where, pray tell, is the checklist for how to raise young adults who love Jesus and never stray from their faith? I’d argue that we’ve put the…
Read MoreWhat the Korean Mother Martyrs Teach Us
Reading the stories of the Korean saints to me is like sparks flying when meeting a new mom at the park. There’s the thrill of each shared connection and an eagerness for more. When I learn about the Korean saints, I find threads connecting me to them in our shared Korean heritage. As a mother,…
Read MoreNo Breaks in a Broken System: Common Horizon Excerpt
We sit in a small office off the main hallway. The insurance representative is pulling all the forms for me, the new hire at a medical records office. He spots the ring on my finger, my grandmother’s diamond newly set in the band. “Married?” he casually asks. “No. We are thinking of moving the date…
Read MoreArm the Children
Arm the children Arm them with a passion for life and each other. Arm them with gorgeous humans who consistently show up. Arm them with some sort of relationship to the Divine. Arm the children with beautiful experiences and honest ones, too. Arm them with gratitude, an ample dose of optimism and hope, the ability…
Read MoreLoneliness, Jesus, and My Mothering Spirit
I fell apart in my kitchen a few nights after another school shooting that left children and teachers dead. My kids were asleep, and I was washing the dishes when my tightly leashed emotions finally broke free. Anger, grief, and hopelessness washed over me and my soapy, shaking hands. The weight of the vocation of…
Read MoreMotherhood is a Prayer Breathed Out
Something I believe. . . Motherhood is Weighty and wonderful, Sometimes monotonous and boring, But also exciting and spontaneous, While being grievous and frustrating. It’s both stretching and structured, Straightforward and confusing, Tiresome and energizing, Painful and healing, Draining and lifegiving, Hopeful and despairing. // It’s playing the long game Though your finish line will…
Read MoreWhen Prayers Go Unanswered
In fall 2021, I was bombarding heaven with prayers for my daughter, who was starting her senior year of high school. She had received a scholarship to play basketball at an elite high school, but she had spent most of her sophomore year sidelined with shin-splints and her junior year sitting on the sidelines with…
Read MoreOur Lady of Hot Messes Excerpt
Life is so crazy. I used to think that I was doing it all wrong, that because I hadn’t figured out the secret code that every one else seemed to know, God was not interested in helping me with my life. I grew up going to a First Baptist Church in a small, rural south Texas town. I…
Read MorePrayer After Miscarriage
FOR THE WEEK AFTER MISCARRIAGE “Out of the depths I call to you, Lord; Lord, hear my cry!” (Ps 130:1–2) God of mercy, hear our prayer. From the depths of our grief, answer us. Our hearts break at the loss of our child. Our minds struggle to understand. Just days ago we held the hope…
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