christian living
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Several years ago, I was inspired by the movie War Room to designate a space of my own for quiet time with God. In our apartment in California, I had a lot of space to work with in our bedroom closet, so I soon got to work setting up a little corner. I used a…
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Grief is a constant companion from the first moment it arrives. It bursts through the door uninvited, often unexpected, without any regard for what you already have going on. It spreads out, taking over every corner of your space with its presence. You notice things are missing and grief just shrugs, refusing to give anything…
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Chapter 12: Freedom My Dad was teaching, and my brother was in school, so my Mom and I had a long drive just the two of us. “I promise I will never send you back there,” she said in earnest, and the rest of the weight floated away. We had a real heart-to-heart, and though…
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Chapter 7: Crumbling Down On the morning of September 11, 2001, I awoke to another day of school. School hadn’t even been in session long enough for me to memorize my schedule and I was frantic because I couldn’t remember which class I had third period. It was one of the classes that rotated depending…
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Chapter 4: Not So Merry Traditionally, my little family of four spent Christmas day with Grandma P and Uncle M. I was wary when I found out that they had both been sick on Christmas Eve. They insisted it was just something they ate, maybe the fish, and so my parents made the decision to…
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Chapter 3: Pivot We did not end up moving to Guatemala. I was led to believe that it was pretty much a guarantee. We had our family portrait taken at the Wal-Mart photo studio, those smiling faces slapped on some prayer cards to distribute at the churches we needed to visit. My parents were tasked…
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I have participated in NaNoWrimo (National Novel Writing Month) several times in the past, but once I achieve the 50,000 word count and the challenge ends, the things I write usually never see the light of day again. They just sit in word documents, collecting digital dust. My hospital stay recently came up again during…
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A whole month has arrived, existed, and then bid us adieu since I last posted. February was a topsy-turvy month full of sickness, discouragement and isolation with welcome glimpses of hope and joy along the way. It wasn’t without love, comfort and encouragement but it was certainly shrouded in a bit of gloom. All that…
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I wrote this to work through some of the emotions that come with my chronic illness journey, and the struggle it is to get a diagnosis for my never-ending pain, to find a manageable solution, while reconciling it all with my faith. I’m a work-in-progress, but at the end of every painful day I find…
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I am the sort of person who has been known to write something down, decide it’s too messy, and toss the whole sheet so I can start over again. I have been trying to keep an optimistic outlook on life, reminding myself that a rough start to the new year does not mean it’s like…