DAY 17 I'll let you in on a little-known fact. Lean in close. Ready? We all have a secret side hustle: every person on the planet is a blacksmith at heart. According to John Calvin, "The human mind is, so to speak, a perpetual forge of idols... Stuffed as it is with presumptuous rashness, [it]... Continue Reading →

DAY 16 "Repent and believe in the gospel, Jesus says. Turn around and believe that the good news that we are loved is better than we ever dared hope, and that to believe in that good news, to live out of it and toward it, to be in love with that good news, is of... Continue Reading →

DAY 15 One of my favorite things about fairy tales is the custom of giving gifts at birth—Hercules received Pegasus, Aurora was granted beauty and song, and Ella, poor thing, got stuck with the "gift" of obedience. (I'd be partial to an overactive metabolism, but, hey...) As our hearts are brought to life in the... Continue Reading →

Woohoo! You've hit the halfway point; can you believe it? If you were Frodo Baggins, this would be the rest stop at Rivendell before continuing on the arduous but essential journey with your name on it. (Bonus—you don't have freaky poison coursing through your veins, so there's that.) Did we touch on a topic you'd... Continue Reading →

DAY 14 "He does have surprising, secret purposes. I open a Bible, and His plans, startling, lie there barefaced. It’s hard to believe it, when I read it, and I have to come back to it many times, feel long across those words, make sure they are real. His love letter forever silences any doubts:... Continue Reading →

DAY 13 Whoa, there, sweet thing, your cross is a little lopsided. But so is mine. And so is everyone's. How can that be? I mean, drawn on paper, it's such an easy shape—two simple lines. Ah, but the cross is 3-dimensional, friends, and we all knock it off-kilter in unique ways. (Not that we... Continue Reading →

DAY 12 Today's assignment is my favorite kind: it smells like notebooks and freshly sharpened pencils and caffeine and grace. (You supply the first three, and you'll find the fourth waiting for you.) Brew a cup of something hot and settle in for a writing challenge. What? You thought this 31 days was just for... Continue Reading →

DAY 11 When it comes to emotions, the struggle is real, friends. As highly sensitive a person as I am, my feelings about feelings are very much like this cat's—we're not exactly happy about being held in their grip. I ran across a question a few years ago that's never quite let go of my... Continue Reading →

DAY 10 "Nothing will disarm a friend more than the grace you grant them when you listen with palms up and walls down—inviting their hurt or their joy, their exhaustion or their delight, their fear or their fun, into your own self so you can understand it from the inside out." (Lisa-Jo Baker) We've covered... Continue Reading →

DAY 9 I don't talk much about my teenage years—I'm partially still embarrassed, partially still trying to figure them out myself. A lot of emotional and physical upheaval occurred after my parents divorced and married other people, and I was a walking bundle of nerves. Mainly anger. For some reason, my new stepdad thought arming... Continue Reading →