Do you struggle with guilt? Because I certainly do. If I’m working on mundane housework, some nagging little voice in the back of my mind whispers that I should be doing something more important than sweeping dirty floors. Like maybe I should be fighting against human trafficking or working to save the oceans or praying for the people leading our world.

When you are stressed out about something, what do you do? I’m not asking for the right answer. I’m interested in reality. What do you really do? If you’re anything like me, you probably have a couple of go-to’s. My first is a classic. “I think I’ll spend significant time worrying about this problem and maybe even let it ruin my day/week/month. Perhaps I can even take it a step further and count up all the other times I’ve encountered a similar problem and remember how badly it turned out those times. Yes, that’ll help, for sure!”

I want to live an experiential spirituality. I want to feel the ancient God of the Bible, present within me in the kitchen, in the car, here at Starbucks as I write. But it’s not a feeling that I’m after, actually. It’s a tender, reciprocal relationship. I have some. But I want more. Much more. All too often I brush it aside, push right past, in a busy, distracted life. I want to know the eternal God the way He knows me. Spoiler alert. I don’t.

I know I’ve been spending too much time in the media (social and otherwise) when I’m starting to feel overwhelmed by all that’s wrong in the world. Political turmoil, immigration crisis, another church scandal. Failing education system, failing trust in absolutely anything. Genocide in one country, famine in another. Help, I’m drowning in bad news!

I’m learning something important right now, and I’d love to share it with you… There’s plenty of pain, devastation, and misery to see around us. And I’m not recommending sticking our heads in the sand. But if you allow the negative to become your focus, your consuming thought, well… it will happily CONSUME you!

When you sin –when you find yourself screwing up AGAIN — doesn’t it feel like the problem is, well… that specific sin? If you gossiped about a friend, you gotta tame that tongue. If you wasted an afternoon in self-pity, you need to make a better choice to take those thoughts captive next time. If you flew off the handle at your kids you need to work on that self-control. Sin is a sin problem. Duh, right?

This is a sensitive topic for me, but here goes. I have wrestled with my weight most of my adult life. I’m not saying I’ve been a candidate for a reality tv show or in need of bariatric surgery. But the struggle is real.

How often I speak these words! And even when I am not saying them aloud, I am saying them on the inside. Is this a woman-thing or a me-thing?

As I trek through this life with You, Jesus, it feels like we are climbing a steep mountain.  We progress up the side, handhold after handhold, scaling the face of this seemingly endless cliff.  My strength is nearly gone and the sun is fading.  But we find a cleft in the rock and gratefully ease ourselves into it for the night. 

​I’m back and I’ve missed you! This year I’ve been busily working on a book.  It’s called Loner and if you stay tuned, I hope to be telling you more about that soon!  But as a result, I have sadly neglected my blog while I poured all of my writing energy into the book.  Sorry!  But here’s the good news.  Just two weeks ago — on Thanksgiving day, in fact — I finally finished Loner!  Yahoo!!!  Did you hear the fireworks and the marching band?!?!