I never planned on walking away from everything — until the day it became the best thing I could do. Divorce is so common in our society we often discount the trauma that comes with it....
LIFE
603 || Fear Not: Share Your Story
God will never forgive you. He doesn’t love you because of the things you’ve done.” These words were spoken over me throughout my childhood and young adult years. I believed it all. I thought I had...
601 || The Soul Of The Commencement Speech
I sat between Rachel Foreman and Gus Hansen. Sewanee Academy, Class of 1978, alphabetical order. Rachel admired the Stretch Monster I received for Christmas that year, so she asked her parents for...
600 || Coming Full Circle: From Teenage Pregnancy To Adoptive Parent
I found myself pregnant at 15 years old. For the next two decades, I lived fear-stricken and full of shame. I thought this was normal and the only way to live. Feeling like my life had been a series...
596 || Redemption For The Most Violent Man In Texas Prisons
Rickie Smith took one of the bars from his prison cell and filed it into a point. During an altercation, he stabbed a guard so hard, the point almost came out his back — gore you only expect to see...
593 || When I Cried Out
“Why, God?” Lezlie cried out. “Why would you finally give me a daughter and then this?” We all feel the pain of wounds. Some of the flesh, and some plunged so deep they stab our heart and soul. We...
592 || Lego Old Money
I felt violated. Not big violated, like somebody robbed and beat me, but little violated, like somebody cut in front of me in line. Or … some other, deeper, more meaningful comparison lurking...
590 || The Magic Of Simple Respect
It looked like a blizzard hit the living room — a whole, four-pack of toilet tissue, shredded and strewn across the living room. Our Staffordshire-Jack Russell terrier mix, Demitasse, had done the...
589 || The Gospel Of Teething
I remember walking into Sunday night church as a child and passing by a mural with John 3:16 painted on the cinder block walls. I memorized that verse long ago, and up until last year, I thought I...