Rooted in a Restless Age
Outrage feels like the air we breathe now — at meetings, online, even in church. We brace for defensiveness, settle into cynicism, and call it normal. But Paul says this restlessness has a root: life “in the flesh,” where neglect grows weeds fast. The Spirit offers another kind of cultivation — belonging, surrender and a steady step-by-step walk that forms real fruit in us.
Suffering and the Providence of God
Suffering feels like chaos because it refuses to fit inside neat explanations. But providence isn’t a theory meant for armchairs — it’s the difference between living landlocked in fear and living anchored in hope. Scripture doesn’t promise you’ll understand the “why.” It promises you’re not abandoned in it. Sometimes the most honest faith is simply this: I don’t know… but I know who holds me.
I Know What I Need to Be Doing
Every January, I come back to three risky prayers — because they invite Jesus to disagree with my plans. When I finally asked with real openness, one word surfaced: with. Then a face: my 89-year-old dad. The invitation was simple — Friday lunch — and it reshaped my year. The third answer surprised me too: silence, walking my neighborhood with God.
Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions
Bob Stephens’ elliptical has become a coat rack, which is honestly how most resolutions die — quietly, under the weight of real life. But he’s back at it, not to earn God’s favor, but to steward what he’s been given. That’s the shift. The new year invites a reset, but the gospel reminds us we’re already loved. So set goals, yes — measurable, humble ones — and let them serve your people, not your ego.
The Both-And of Self-Kindness: Why Loving Yourself Isn’t Selfish
Self-kindness, for A.C., began not as a trendy practice but as a terrifying assignment: speak to herself with the same gentleness she’d learned to offer everyone else. Slowly, Scripture and therapy together reframed kindness as part of bearing God’s image, not betraying it. Naming old, shaming messages and letting divine compassion seep into those bruised places became less self-indulgence and more quiet agreement with how God already loves her.
Your Many Siblings: God Could Not Be Satisfied with One Child
God wanted more than one Son. The Word became flesh so that the only begotten might become the first among many. Love moved him — not to multiply servants, but to multiply sons. The cross was his way to family, his means to glory. Christ our Brother, God our Father, and we, his children — justified, glorified, gathered home together.
Short-Term Missions: Their Value When Done Right
Short-term missions can be a holy gift — or a well-funded vacation with a paintbrush. What makes the difference is whether we actually love people enough to serve them wisely. Done right, we go invited, trained and humble, strengthening the local church instead of starring in our own story. Mercy matters. But so does meaning. We bring help — and we bring Jesus.
Prayers of Hope For Peace Over Your Thoughts
Prayer changes things — especially us. When we bring our worries, regrets and need for control to Jesus, he doesn’t just listen — he leads. His peace moves in quietly, clearing out the noise, shifting our thoughts toward truth. The world may still be spinning, but deep inside, we’re anchored. That’s the power of communion with God. Not flashy, not loud. Just steady. Just holy. Just enough.
The Gift of Lament
Lament doesn’t chase away sorrow — it honors it. In the hush of a hospital room or the hush of a sanctuary, something sacred happens when we let grief speak. Not fix it. Not explain it. Just let it sing, like a melody half remembered that somehow still brings peace. God meets us there, and that meeting changes everything.
The Sabbath Saves Us from Achievement and Productivity
The Sabbath doesn’t shame us for burning out. It meets us there and offers something better. It exposes the lie that we are only as valuable as what we produce.
Miracles Happen in the Mundane
Jesus didn’t wait for a grand stage to hand out joy. He stood on a hillside — ordinary, unimpressive — and spoke the words that changed everything.
How To Calm Anxiety and Find Peace
Anxiety may feel constant, but peace is still possible. Real peace — the kind that holds up under pressure — comes when we fix our eyes on Jesus and lift our hearts in praise. From sunrise to sunset, God invites us to marvel at his goodness, to trust him with our burdens and to let worship become the rhythm that calms our soul and clears our anxious mind.
Sacred Rhythms: Harmonizing Work and Prayer
We’re called to hold work and prayer in healthy tension. Sabbath rest, spiritual practices and space for God aren’t luxuries. They’re the foundation for faithful, fruitful living.
When Memory Becomes Destination
The scent of almond blossoms stirs memory — of childhood barefoot in orchards, of both beauty and ache. Some moments return willingly, others resist. Yet in each, God’s presence threads through time. Even what we forget, he remembers. Our memories — blessing and burden — become places where the sacred and the familiar meet, calling us home to his love that transcends time, pain and even forgetting.
Bypass: Learn to Reroute To Avoid Stress
Stress can’t always be avoided, but peace can be pursued. Like a heart surgeon reroutes blood flow around a blockage, we can create pathways around stress.
The Sacred Familiar
I sit by the window, alone but not lost, letting questions roam freely. The roses spill from cracks in the path — beauty too much to behold yet impossible to ignore. I think of the dreams and imaginings that once kept me company and wonder if they were glimpses of truths not yet seen. Even in uncertainty, I’m grounded. Even in fear, I long for what is beautifully familiar and fully his.
Understanding Your Vocation: Hearing God’s Call
We don’t find our calling by chasing titles or tracking success. We find it by paying attention — to our gifts, our burdens and the quiet nudge of the Spirit.
Finding True Delight in the Lord
I used to think delighting in the Lord meant earning his blessings. But striving wore me down. What I learned instead is this: delight doesn’t begin with us — it begins with him.
Dealing With Grief: Interview With Sister Sarah Hennessey
Grief has many faces, and Sister Sarah Hennessey has seen them all — through funerals, fractured friendships and the quiet ache of transition. In a world that pushes us to grieve alone, she offers a different way: brave grieving in community. “God is the one who stays,” she says. Her vocation isn’t just spiritual direction. It’s walking with others through the sacred work of loss.
No Beginning, No End
She stands in the timeless now, hands clenched until surrender unfolds her palm. No gift, just an open hand. The Father takes it gently, fingers wrapping hers. Together they step into a space without edges — past and present folded like petals of the same bloom. She offers nothing but herself. He calls it everything. This is not the beginning. This is not the end. This is the beauty of always here.