Heart Matters Blog

 Many are devastated right now. You are fighting depression. You are fighting feelings of hopelessness. You are fighting fear. I've been listening to you. I get it. I have walked through all those same emotions. I have shed about a year's worth of tears recently. We see any strides to protect the unborn being undone. We know the great strides into child trafficking that occurred at the border are being undone. We see the agenda for youth gender confusion and modification amplified. Independent journalists are having their jobs rewritten. Some have lost jobs. I've had several conversations with my friends living here from China and Kenya confirming what I see happening here, and it isn't good news. Said one friend, "I was in prison 10 years for speaking against our government. My wife,...

 At least there is hope for a tree…if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its root may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. —Job 14:7-9 Pine Trees Before straight-line winds tore through our neighborhood one summer, we used to have stately pine trees gracing the fence line of our backyard. Despite the trees determined effort to withstand the storm's fury that fateful day, several of them, looking more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, had to be cut down. Three rather defiant pine trees managed to remain rooted in place, although they were snapped in two in the process. After all the debris was cleared away, those three broken pines stood as the only evidence of t...

 To see small things you have to slow down in life and over the last year especially life has greeted me with pace that has had me appreciating the small things on a whole new level. This all came to a sweet understanding just the other day as I sat in my Nanna's home remembering her life and sitting in memory of the days just gone. My darling Nanna passed over to eternity just a couple of weeks ago and as I was going through her handbag I found the tiniest little bible. I mean this thing was crazy small and could sit like quarter in the palm of your hand. It was quite thick, after all it was the entire bible, but here it was a little token of my Nanna's faith that she carried around with her everywhere. It really got me thinking about the small things in life. Of course, this tiny li...

 How do I respond as a believer? I honestly don't have all the answers. There are a few words that keep landing in my brain though, like the cotton from the trees that keep landing on my porch, clinging: listen, pray, serve. Fight for righteousness and the innocent. In other words, be more like Christ. As these thoughts were circling in my head, I ran into a friend as I was driving out of my neighborhood. I rolled down the window to chat. She told me she had spent the evening around a campfire with a Native American and an African American. She said there was much anger in the beginning of the night. "But by 3 in the morning there was so much peace and well-laid plans of how we could all work together to make positive changes in our community." My heart swelled. I loved this. When I a...

Writing has been such a huge part in helping me process through some of the darkest parts of my life. Writing has had incredible healing power in my life. It has also been an outlet to express my happiest and most joy filled moments. Today, I am thankful for a whole lot more joy in my life lately. I wrote the following because life might not always look like we want it to. It can feel impossible and hopeless at times. But for me, the darkest times have now made me appreciate the joy filled times 100x more. Freedom is possible. The messy work of healing is worth it, no matter how long it takes or how messy it gets. "…the truth will set you free…" But first it might destroy you, first it might shatter you, first it might break you into so many pieces that you can't ever imagine being put bac...