Love… One Sip At A Time // A Valentine Tea Party
I started hosting tea parties in an older home propped as pretty as you please on the corner of a quiet street. A family of four in a two-bedroom, one-bath home made for a tight fit, and tea parties felt downright snug, but no one would change a thing. Some teas were scripture-based, and others celebrated holidays, but every time, the room filled with the scent of scones, floral tea, and...
How to Bless Those You Met At The Writer’s Conference (and 4 Highlights From Blue Ridge)
Now that the dust is settling from last week’s Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s Conference, highlights {and ideas} are beginning to surface. First, the highlights: {ONE} Forging new friendships and celebrating established ones. There was a time in February when I considered not attending Blue Ridge this year (gasp!). I didn’t have a...
How God Created Hope Through A Gift Made of Wood
It wasn’t the first time God has used a piece of wood to speak to me. Years ago, it was the story of His Son hanging on a tree, taking on all my sin, that gave me true hope for the first time in my life, resulting in eternal life. And an abundant one, too. Part of the abundant life, I’m learning, is celebrating the small but creative ways God personally makes Himself known to us....
Cultivating Creativity // Reflecting His Image
Notice anything different? Hope so! I’ve made some changes to this place I’ve called home since 2008. Back then, I began blogging at the prompting of Rich Butler, a friend, and fellow co-staffer at the time. Each week as a church staff we came together to design, if you will, our weekly services. It was my favorite hour of the week. To experience God bringing to life those...
The Day Macaroni Art Jesus Became A Reality {An Ode to VBS}
I remember the day Jesus was no longer just pasta art glued onto a ripple-edged paper plate at Vacation Bible School. I was a single mom with two little boys in a duplex that sat just outside the city limits. Poor Sinful choices I’d made landed us there. I knew it, I confessed it, and asked the Man I’d heard about in VBS all those years ago for forgiveness. I’ve read in...
A Promise In the Night {For When You Have Trouble Sleeping}
It was the night before my surgery and to say I had trouble sleeping would be quite the understatement. Leaping sheep battled it out with a host of what if’s attempting to keep me awake. But we know only one thing wields the weapon of choice against every what if that comes against us: God’s Word. In that moment, it was Psalm 121:4. “…indeed, he who watches over Israel...
Seeing God in Action on An Ordinary Day
Few things in life compare to seeing God in action on an ordinary day. Of course, I knew it really wouldn’t be all that ordinary. Two years ago I was invited to lead a writing workshop during a Heartstrings Day Retreat for mothers who have felt the gut wrenching loss of a child. So when they invited me back this year, I knew the blessings that awaited, or so I thought. Two years ago, a...