If you have a strong willed child, you understand that some days are almost beyond the endurance of even the best parents (whoever they are). My husband and I have been blessed with five wonderful children; two boys and three girls. All of them have strong personalities but one of them, more than the others,…

The constant ache and then sudden, excruciating pain of anything cold that ruled my last week is not something I will soon forget. Growing up, I had two traumatic experiences with dentists and consequently, I do not go to the dentist any more often than is absolutely necessary. Normally, our family goes in all together…

Stuck between a rock and a hard place…somewhere nobody wants to be! We all understand that a rock is hard and immovable and who hasn’t faced a ‘hard place’ in their lives? Whether financial, marital, physical or relational, hard places are no fun. But what happens when we change our definitions? What happens when we…

I don’t know about everyone else but there are times when I seem to have a fuzzy brain. Usually it is a result of overcommitment, lack of sleep and middle-aged estrogen. Last night, I stood in the kitchen door flicking the light switch, trying to turn off the kitchen light. The problem was that I…

  Young love runs to embrace after being apart. A child holds out their arms to be cuddled by a parent. Friends hug to express concern, condolence or comfort. The phrase, “outstretched arms” brings to mind many images. For me, all of them have to do with acceptance, trust and love. When our children were…

  M man was created in God’s image          Genesis 1:27 E everyone has sinned and falls short of the glory of God          Romans 3:23 R redemption cannot be bought by man          Ephesians 2:8-9 R redemption is through Jesus’ blood alone          Ephesians 1:7 Y yesterday, today & forever, Jesus is faithful         …

Suppertime highway rush hour traffic.   Five lanes of highway, all eager to get home in this week before Christmas.  As the lanes separate to transform from highway into streets, traffic slows and gridlock halts all progress.  Doing a quick shoulder check before changing lanes, the car behind fails to notice the stopped vehicles in front…WHAM!This…

Have you ever noticed that between denominations and even between churches within the same denomination, there are differences in the way things are done? How about between you and your closest friends? Do you do everything the same way? If not, why not? It was brought to my attention the other day that there have…

  Our family photo this year had us all piled up in a pyramid on the beach with me standing behind making sure the littlest one didn’t fall off the top. Dad and big brothers were on the bottom and older girls were in the middle. As I look at the picture, I can’t help…

I once heard a story about a man who had two teenage daughters. They were a happy family and they loved each other. One day, the girls came home asking their parents if they could see a popular x-rated movie in theaters. The family rule was that movies with a rating over 14 were unnecessary…