Recently, I was rereading my first draft of my book, Tears to Joy, and I realized that there were several chapters that were omitted in the final draft. I decided to share them on my website. It’s a little weird to post this first one about the early days with Michael, since I am now in the first few months of marriage to Jeff. I…
There are times in our lives when God asks us to do things that makes no sense to us at all. Remember Naaman in the Bible. He was a very wealthy man, but had been struck with leprosy. He went to Jesus for help and Jesus told him to go dunk himself in the river three times. This was ludicrous to him, and angered…
I teach a Dating and Marriage course to high schoolers, and I am always reading about the subject in order to stay current. Most of the teenagers I teach, particularly the girls, believe that they will one day marry their current boyfriends. I recently read that out of 100 married couples, 22 said they married their high school sweetheart. Now before you say, “Ahhhh,”…
I recently interviewed with a fellow suicide survivor, Leah Slack Stirewalt, on her blog. I met Leah a couple of years ago at SheSpeaks (a writer’s conference). We both felt instantly connected as we shared our stories and enjoyed a sweet time of prayer together. She too, lost her husband to suicide. We have stayed in touch over the years, and it is so refreshing to…
Last week our Sunday school class had a cookout, and many of us left with more than a good time. Over twenty of us there left with a brutal stomach virus. It was like a scene in a bad movie — we were all shocked at how contagious this virus was, and just how puny it made us feel. As I reflect on this rapid spread,…
Many years ago, my mentor commented that I was never home. I laughed, and said, “My grandmother always said that my middle name should have been GO.” She didn’t laugh. With complete seriousness, she said, “Do you not like to be at home?” The truth was that at the time our home seemed like a place of chaos; she was right. I didn’t like to…