Tag: God
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You Don’t Know the Whole Story
Once, I thought I knew it all. I thought my story was sadder than anyone else’s story. I thought my family had endured more than anyone else’s, but that was just our little secret to carry around. Psh, if only you knew. And by “once” I mean a million times. This is an easy habit…
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How to Win the Day
Last night: chips and salsa, tacos, and sangria with my longest best friends. One declares she’s learning to wait. (A fist pounded on the table to mark the historical moment.) She’s the decision-maker of the team, so we cocked our heads a little bit, squinted, because this whole waiting to make a decision thing will…
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When Life Goes Off-Roading
A baby lost. Singleness prolonged. Families incomplete. I always feel different, changed in some deep way when I hear stories like these about faithful people who have plowed through serious heartbreak. No one expects to lose a newborn baby, one you’ve carried around for nine months, rubbing your belly while whispering prayers of forever. No…
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Finding Beauty in the Ashes
More and more, I’m starting to believe in the quieting of pain. For some time, I subscribed to the pray-it-all-away mentality, the belief that God will surely eliminate the pain, the fear, the grief entirely. I’ve held out for the day when my anxious self will disappear, thinking I’m less-than until that day arrives when…
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For When You’re Still Waiting
I want what I want, when I want it, NOW. No, yesterday. As my grandma always sang to me as a child, “There was a little girl who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good. But when she was bad she was…
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How Long You Stay On A Treadmill Reveals a Lot About Your Future Self
I will not die on a treadmill. Let me back up a little bit. Angela Duckworth wrote a book called Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. In the chapter about how effort counts twice, she quotes Will Smith, who said, “The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is: I’m…
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Who Are You When No One Is Watching?
I am not the first person (really, Christian) to confess this, but here it goes: I have been known to slip out a cuss word here and there. Or several, as is suitable for the circumstances.
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Every Day Is for Hard Work
“I want you to know that the invitation to offer your life as a living sacrifice is probably not going to feel very glamorous or heroic. It’s going to show up in the way that you love your spouse when it’s difficult. The way that you care for your children even on the long days.…
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Showing Up
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. I do this thing (often) where I’m late. A friend in my Dig Deep group shared this week that she was running so late that morning, trying to coax her egg casserole into…
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Brought to Our Knees
This post is part of a new project that I’m working on. Visit Jess Alston’s website to learn more about the Dig Deep Podcast. I have a confession: there’s this song by Zach Williams called Chain Breaker, and the chorus starts with, “If you’ve got pain, He’s a pain taker.” Sometimes, when I’m alone and angry and…
Ashley Fenker 