The Anatomy of Rest
I am a bit of an exercise enthusiast. I started out slow with Pilates and walking before moving on to running with light weight lifting; and now, my most recent switch, is to heavier weight lifting with more intense cardio. I love it. It is an amazing stress reliever and keeps my body and soul […]
Goodness Gracious Stinks Alive
Go to your kitchen, grab a cheese grater and rub it on your face. That’s how China and my expat existence felt during my last year in-country. Before 2016, the cheese-grater-on-the-face moments were few and far between, and I could deal with them by carefully planning my routine so that I had recovered from one […]
A Command Invitation
Our garage had become the storage space for all of the family stuff. We were the ones who lived in the same house for more than 25 years so naturally all family treasures were deposited in our garage. That was until we decided to go back overseas. We started sorting through all of the […]
Salt Flats
We live in the desert. Hot and dry, our part of West Africa is home to large areas of salt flats. The salt flats are natural, flat expanses of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white while the sun pounds down. There are random bushes, a few birds and generally a bloated […]
That One Time All the Power Ran Out Everywhere
If any time earned the title for a crisis, it was this one. The country’s petrol pumps had run dry. Power cuts increased to 16 hours a day. Gas for cooking was unavailable for purchase. Rice, milk, and even water were in short supply. The electricity was off when we woke up and when we […]
The Power of His Desires
I attended a college where “a ring by spring or your money back” wasn’t just a joke. Several weeks into the school year it would inevitably happen: couples started pairing off after connecting in class or through a brother/sister floor event. Pretty soon they would be meeting over coffee and tater tots in the back […]
How Much Sacrifice is Too Much?
“Why are you running so hard?” the counselor asked us as we sat in his office a few years ago. My husband and I looked at each other, hoping the other would answer this question. We knew what the counselor saw, a life beyond full with ministry efforts, heaped on top of raising small children, […]
Bird’s Nests, Eggshells and the Remedy for Our Desperate Reaching for Control
I have dirt under my fingernails constantly from scraping for control in a world where I have learned in recent weeks I maintain very little. Yes, this is a bleak sounding way to start off a post. I promise the light will crack through because it always does and often in unexpected ways. Earlier in […]
The People Pleasing Dilemma Vs. God
Friday morning dawns, and I am on my way to lead the women’s Bible study at my church. As I load my car with the items necessary to teach these women who have been Christians all their lives, I receive a call from my daughter who needs me to go shopping with her to find […]
A Letter for the One Who’s Waiting
You in the waiting, Yes, you And yes, me too — For we are all waiting for something — Dear sister, Beloved one, You in the waiting, This much I know: There are no shortcuts to healing. There are no shortcuts to wholeness. For we can’t know God as Healer without first being wounded. And […]
Why Waiting Is Good for Me
Waiting and cross-cultural ministry seem synonymous at times. We wait… For funds to be raised For visas to be approved For flights to land For shipped items to arrive For languages to be learned For cultural shock to pass For ministries to begin And so on. I still remember the excitement of finally having my […]
Announcing the 2016 Online Retreat!
You’ve been waiting for it. Our team has been hard at work getting it ready for you. Today we get to unveil what the Velvet Ashes Online Retreat has in store for you this year! Our Retreat Registration page is open now. Check it out and see all that will be offered to you for […]