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 →

DAY 8 According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an estimated 19.2 million adult Americans are affected by specific phobias, "an intense, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger." Heights, tight spaces, and flying are among the most common phobias in our culture today. (Those all seem like fairly legitimate... Continue Reading →

Congrats—you've survived Week 1! I hope you're getting as much out of this adventure as I am in both comfort and challenge. Because of the magnitude and timeframe of this project, we've only been skimming the surface on some pretty big topics: identity, personality, sin, learning styles, strengths, stories, and values. There is so much... Continue Reading →

DAY 7 Think about the last sporting event you attended (or imagined, if you're an introverted book lover like me). The sheer amount of passion wrapped up in a game never ceases to blow my mind. You can definitely tell who has a vested interest in what's happening on the field (and who's just there... Continue Reading →