“You’re the loneliest person I’ve ever laid eyes on.” I had only been at college a week when a girl on a campus bus turned around and said those words to me. “What?” I shook my head in disbelief. “How would you know that?” She simply replied, “God told me.” With the most disrespectful tone…
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Vintage Dad
Even when I was little, I knew my dad was not “modern.” He systematically chose traditional or slower means to do most anything. If my dad had an option between driving a back road or the highway, he’d take the back road. On Sunday afternoons, we’d choose to play board games over watching TV. His…
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Called to Mother
As a first grader, I perceived how important our kitchen table was. It was where we ate all our meals, did homework, and played board games. It was also where my mother waited for me each weekday with an after-school snack. Although she had four other kids arriving home, dinner to prepare, and homework to…
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A God Secret—Drop the Rope!
During my middle school years, there was a lot of “tug-of-war” between my younger sister and me. I was under the mistaken impression that being a year older gave me certain rights. Our conflicts often ended in her walloping me. After one such incident, I remember a picture came into my head. It was of…
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Casting God’s Love over Your Children
As we walked into the assembly of over 300 children and I saw the staff dressed up as characters for Book Day, I knew it was the perfect setup for our skit: “Postman Joe,” frantic to deliver his package to Miss Ginger, wouldn’t leave until she opened it, and inside was a special book. As…
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Who Are You Thanking?
“Mom! Mom! Thanksgiving Day—who are we thanking?” I’ll never forget hearing that question from a young child in the grocery store. Her mother was trying to explain to her why they were buying a turkey. “It’s just a holiday, honey.” Welcome to the great divide in America. A recent trailer of a summer movie captured…
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A Sneak Peek at Christmas
One Christmas Eve, my dad agreed to let my sisters and me sleep in the downstairs family room on our grandparents’ sleigh bed, the bed he put together each time my grandparents visited. They hadn’t arrived yet, so it was all ours. Once we were bathed and in our pajamas, we crawled into that magical…
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Shared Experience—It’s the Heart of Christmas
I was six years old the year I found a long, rectangular package with my name on it under the Christmas tree. The box was wrapped in candy cane-stamped, pine-green paper, and inside was a doll. She had caramel-colored hair, a white blouse, and a red, Scottish-plaid beanie and skirt. I named her Tammy. After…
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The Package Is on Its Way!
My son was supposed to have been born on September 27, 1998. But that day came and went. As the nurses were monitoring him every couple days after his due date, I remember my doctor saying, “We see the package and it looks fine.” Then he laughed and said, “When he’s being delivered, you’ll know.”…
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Testimony Power
I believe that a big part of being in heaven will be our hearing both the well-known and unknown stories of believers on earth. That’s why testimonies are so powerful; they carry the convictions of the people who lived them. I was an eyewitness to many amazing demonstrations of God’s love during the most recent…
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