Something that is hard for me to do is to acknowledge when a seemingly little thing upsets me more than I think it should! I’ve been learning, however, that these little things usually carry a big chunk of emotions behind them that I have to work through. If I continue to ignore these heart emotions, I end up avoiding my feelings and trying to cover them over with obsessive thinking. I believe this was the major contributor to my struggling with an eating disorder in my teen years. For me now, this covering over means ruminating thoughts which anxiously call to me repeatedly in my mind. It’s like having ants in my thinking, they run around all over and drive me crazy. It’s a mental diversion that carries a load of anxiety with it (tight feeling in my gut). But they don’t deal with the pain or grief or anger or whatever is going on in my heart.

I grew up in the same house where my parents still live. The house is a ranch style with an addition. Mom and Dad still live there.

Our gar...

Many of us struggle to keep up with the crazy pace of life’s demands. Our to-do lists are long...commitments, people, and duties seem to insist on having our attention all at once. We are responsible for meeting our own basic needs, like nourishing our bodies and moving in ways that help us thrive. And we often get sucked into a hustle culture that deceives us into believing we must perform and achieve to please God (even when, deep down, we know that isn’t true).

Without realizing it, things become out of balance, broken, and debilitated. We make our best attempts to thrive in chaos while operating at elusive speeds to the point of breakdown.

God adores spending time with us. And while He does desire our best, He knows our best requires rest and time with Him.

Our souls are healed through union with Christ.

“Shalom”, the Hebrew word for peace, means “to bring peace”, “to make things as they should be”, or “to be complete/whole/restored.”

“Jesus, I want you to make me whole aga...

It was the first night of 6th grade science camp. All through elementary school, I looked forward to this week away from home; it meant I was a big kid, and adventure, and meeting new people from other schools in the county.

Although it was decades ago, I still remember the initial feeling of exhilaration as I walked into the mess hall for dinner wearing my favorite clothes- a pale blue short-sleeved sweater with tiny flowers on it, green corduroy pants, and suede saddle shoes (brown tones, not the black & white version). I sat down at a table for 8. I can’t remember if I sat at this table because it was assigned or if, because I was late, it was the only one with an empty seat, but every face sitting there was new to me.

As I took a seat, one of the boys asked, “Are you a boy or a girl?” I remember laughing it off; I thought my short hair was the height of femininity, I mean, couldn’t they tell by my pretty floral sweater that I was a girl?!

“I think we’ll call you ‘Aardvark’”, ...