Cynicism: Trusting God with Every Paper Cut

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Cynicism: Trusting God with Every Paper Cut

Every so often, I suffer from an extreme bout of cynicism. Maybe that surprises you since I generally come across online as a smiling fairy princess, or maybe that doesn’t surprise you at all since you see me in real life and know that I growl sometimes.

This tendency towards cynicism is something I do not like about myself, and more tragically, it’s something that gets in the way of my delight for the Lord, his Word and his Bride. Because delighting in those things is so important to me (and because I don’t really want to handle rotten tomatoes), I’ve been putting some thought into what causes cynicism and what it’s made out of (other than stale soul pizza and garbage juice).

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A Prayer Over the Church for Mother’s Day

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A Prayer Over the Church for Mother’s Day

Dear God,

We see your fingerprints all over the precious mothers around us! They have loved us by sacrificing their bodies—you loved us the same way on the cross. They have loved us by preparing homes and meals for us—and you do the same for us in heaven. They have loved us by caring deeply for seemingly insignificant details in our lives—and you do the same for us every moment. They are doing the things that you placed in their DNA to show the world what YOU are like. We praise you for mothers, God, because you came up with them in the first place, because they bear your image so faithfully by the way they love, because you didn’t have to give the world the good gift of mothers—but you did. We praise you for they are fearfully and wonderfully made!

We’re celebrating mothers today not because we deny the pain and loss that many in the room are enduring—but we celebrate because pain and loss do not win and do not have the final say.

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Selfless v. Needless

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Selfless v. Needless

For a Christ follower, it’s difficult to make this distinction between selflessness and needlessness. We know we are called to lay down all things, including our needs. After all, didn’t Jesus do this very thing on the cross? But, Sister, laying down our needs doesn’t mean denying they exist. Laying down our needs means humbly confessing that they exist both to God and others, remembering and praising our ultimate Provider, and vulnerably asking for help from God and our community that God has given us. Actually, neediness is a gift in funny packaging.

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Your Best Beach Brain

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Your Best Beach Brain

Who cares about their brain when they’re prepping for the beach? Maybe no one. But I think we should. Because love handles and thunder thighs and muffin tops and stretch marks are not the true enemies of beach bliss. The true enemies are the thoughts that wage war in our minds.

I’ve created a seven-day guide to Your Best Beach Brain. It may not be what you think, or it may be exactly what you think, but either way, it’s my prayer that God would use this to draw you nearer to him and to equip you to marvel over him and have fun—even when you’re in a swimsuit.

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