How to Respond to Faith Deconstruction

If you haven’t already, you’re almost certain to encounter someone in your personal life who is going through a season in which her* faith is shifting, something that has been labeled as “faith deconstruction.” For Christians, especially evangelicals, who are not themselves experiencing a period of deconstruction, discovering that a friend or family member–someone who likely used to share her […]

Every Scar Matters

This post was originally published at The Glorious Table. I’m a little late getting this teaser up, but still wanted to share this message with you. Join me? I sat at a table with two women. One of them mentioned how much my youngest daughter has grown over the past few months, how much she must have changed while my husband […]

6 Tangible Ways to Support the Hurting in Your World

Today I’m over at my friend Stacey’s blog, Chronically Whole. Stacey writes about surviving and thriving with chronic illness. As well, she gracefully tutors those of us who love other people with chronic illnesses in loving them better. I’m sharing a little bit on caring for others in practical ways. Join me? It’s commonplace to rally around joyous transitions, signing […]

On Breaking Bread and Building Relationships

I’m over at The Glorious Table this week, talking about how meal sharing and relationship building go hand in hand. Join me there? We’ve had some lovely posts on freedom and honoring both our forefathers and our military these past few days here at The Glorious Table, but as we wrap up the holiday weekend, I wanted to share with […]

Is It Really Possible to Have Authentic Community Online?

Christians like to talk about what we call “authentic community.” It’s one of our buzzwords. We claim this kind of community is highly sought-after and highly valued; we claim we will go to great lengths to find it. We say it’s elusive–more elusive than it should be, considering we are all supposed to be “grace-giving” to one another. We say […]

On Being Friendless in a New Town

Hands-down, the hardest thing about moving is being friendless. It just plain sucks. This week, I had an email from one of my sister’s friends, who lives just south of Nashville, cancelling our tentative plans to meet halfway between us (about 1.5 hours each way) and connect. She said her husband told her she can’t add anything else to her […]