Journeying Home Together
Dear 2020, I think I’m over you. I don’t think I’m telling you anything you don’t know; I also don’t think you can pretend that our relationship has been a healthy one. I’m just ready to move on from all that you’ve put me through. It’s time. I can’t take it anymore, and I have to believe that something better is coming, and soon. I have to move on and
Hey, you. We’re in a bit of a tough spot these days, huh? Yeah, I know. But I don’t want to just talk about the stuff we’re going through. No, I want to apologize to you. Because I’ve said some things. Some things that have hurt you. Some things that make hard things even harder on you. And while I don’t mean to do it, the words just seem to
As I gathered my purse and keys and starting to get up from the couch, I asked, “I need to know something. What, exactly, is the goal here? Like, what are we aiming for?” My psychiatrist looked up at me from over his glasses, where he was writing the last of several prescriptions, and asked his favorite question of all: “What does that mean?” I paused. Even though I always
Dear Younger Me, I desperately wish I could sit down with you, face to face, over a cup of coffee. Well, today’s me (Or should I say you? This could get confusing.) would have coffee, but since you’re only 16 and still on your caffeine hiatus, you’d probably have Sprite. Anyway, I digress. (Yes, you still wander off on rabbit trails when you’re 39. You’ll learn to adjust. Sort of.) I
As mamas, sometimes we do things over and over and over, hoping for a certain result but never knowing if our efforts are making a difference at all. We have to wait and wait and wait, hoping beyond hope that the things we are praying and pouring over our children are sinking in and actually changing something. Day after day passes, and we continue in this marathon of parenting. We keep doing the
I have my share of insecurities, but there is one that surpasses them all: insecurity about my parenting. I want so badly to be a good mama to my daughter. I want to do all that is right for her…be all that is right for her. I want to be the perfect mama, which is ridiculous because I know that’s humanly impossible. Other mamas seem to do it, though, so
During the first few months of my freshman year in college, I fell in love. I was away from home for the first time in my life. Everything was so new and fresh, but I was lonely and desperate and in a pretty bad place. Every morning began with the disheartening realization that yes, I was still there at school…and every night ended with a gut-level sigh and one simple thought: I want
(Note: This was originally published in 2014, when my own daughter was only 5 and I was squarely in the middle of mothering a young elementary-aged kiddo. Now, with a “not-so-little” kid, I see this post from the opposite vantage point and go back to it in my mind often.) Dear Mamas, This is hard for us to say because we really do look up to you. You are further
Bible study is a tricky thing to figure out. We know it’s something we should do, but we don’t always feel like it (just being honest), and when we do feel like it we don’t always know what to do. Just this year I found *gasp* a method that works for me, and I’m hooked. I posted about it in my stories last week and so many of you asked
Dear friend, You’re not the only one. For years I was alone. Not alone alone, because I had my husband and family and all…but really, I was alone. My life was defined by feeling alone in a crowded room. Maybe you know the lonely feeling I’m talking about. I’m not entirely sure how it happened for me, but here it is: I used to hate Sunday mornings. That sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it?
