Overcoming Shame to Serve Fruitfully
During our first year overseas I went through a season of deep spiritual struggle. I didn’t necessarily go into that year expecting that. I had crossed cultures twice before (once...
Feeling for Stones
We stood there on the bank of what back in Tennessee would have been called a creek, but here in southwest China was a river. The woman beside me, an...
8 Practical Tips for Returning and Furnishing Your Home {The Grove: Returning}
Here at Velvet Ashes we are passionate about holding your hand as you go through re-entry, because we know what a roller coaster it can be. Most often we focus...
Staying Healthy Amidst Change
When the only thing that’s consistent is change. When the hellos all lead to goodbyes. When the chaos leads us to crave monotony....
The Opening Scene {The Grove: Overture}
Overture comes from the French “ouverture”, which means an opening. This may be obvious to the musically inclined, anyone who has listened to anything from Mozart’s overture to The Marriage...
What I Learned From A Plateful of Whipped Cream
I came home late last evening, tired from the day. I’d gone to a worship conference designed to refuel and renew the participants. Yet, I found myself...
Coming Back to Life {The Grove: Refresh}
There is so much that must die in us in this life. It starts with a thought, a consideration, perhaps a calling. It starts at an altar,...
Rising Anew
The time to leave China arrived. As a person of imagery, the only picture in my spirit was darkness; a girl standing on a path unlit and shadowed....
The Enneagram and Me {The Grove: Personality}
The room was dark when I scooped up the scattered shoes and sprinkled them into the shoe-bench by the backdoor. The host of the podcast I was listening to asked...
Obliging the Curiosity Within
These days, I have more questions than answers. When I write my teammates that I have left behind, my messages are full of questions. I’m so...
