Light in the Margins

It can be easy to have that initial burst of faith when grief or trials come. But what do we do when our faith flickers as the days of grief wear on? When our confidence in God wants to cave under the weight of disappointment? Are there moments we stop praying because the silence feels final? Do we quietly give up hope because the answer is just taking ‘too long’? Recently my Pastor preached about...

As a young girl, I can vividly remember watching my dad, a state trooper, polishing his uniform buttons. To me, they looked like gold, so shiny and yellow. Only they weren’t made of gold—they were brass. That image came to mind one day as I was reading 2 Chronicles. Solomon’s Shields of Gold King Solomon was very wealthy. The Bible tells us “the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year” was...

I don’t know about you, but I love a good deal. I went to a yard sale several weeks ago and saw a foldable children’s picnic table. I had seen them in the store and had considered purchasing one for my girls, but at $50, I just couldn’t justify the price. When I asked the man how much, he casually replied, “Coupla bucks?” I was dumbfounded. “Two dollars?” I asked. “Sure,” he said. SOLD! I hoped my...

Audio recording of my testimony given September 18, 2025 at Clays Mill Baptist Church’s Ladies Conference. I am very thankful to have had this opportunity. To God be the glory! If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. —2 Timothy 2:21 But my God shall supply all your need according to...

Have you ever heard the phrase “living rent free in your head?” It's what people say when something takes up way too much space in their thoughts without adding any value. For example, when you keep replaying an awkward conversation and obsessing— what should I have said? How else could that have gone? Maybe you text your best friend and invite them to overthink with you and analyze someone’s faci...

There are times I wish people would just cut to the chase. No pretense, platitudes or polish. Just say what you mean. That’s one thing I love about the Lord and his Word— He doesn’t mince words. His language is exact. He plainly told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit and was quite clear— “thou shalt surely die.” The Bible doesn’t mince words with us, either. “Be sure your sin will find you out....

This past summer our family visited Gulf Shores, Alabama, and we had access to a quiet stretch of the beach. At least, it was quiet at dawn. One morning, our family was out enjoying the crashing waves, feeling almost as if we had the entire ocean to ourselves—when another family showed up. They planted their umbrellas, propped up their beach chairs, and promptly turned on a Bluetooth speaker . Lou...

When I was in high school, I dreamed of becoming a Spanish teacher and eventually, a school administrator. Because of that, I was given a unique opportunity to shadow our district’s superintendent for a day. I didn’t end up working in education, but I’ve never forgotten what Dr. Richard Hughes taught me that day: name recognition matters . While we were touring one of the elementary schools, a stu...

Sunday morning before the baptism, our church sang Take My Life and Let it Be . I nudged my husband. This hymn and the author of it has been an interesting point of study for me this summer. Frances Ridley Havergal wrote the hymn, but more than that, she strove to live out the meaning of each word. She suffered from poor health during her life, including typhoid fever, and died in 1879 at just for...

“This is the worst day of my life!” My 10-year-old daughter exclaimed before bed one evening. “I wish I could just go back to yesterday and nothing change .” In March, at a regular check up, our pediatrician suspected that she had scoliosis. We’d been through this before with my oldest daughter and thought we knew this path. A quick x-ray, a brief chat with the specialist, and we’d be good. Just e...

When I was 13, I had an unusual fainting episode and woke up with a gash under my right eye, just above my cheek, that required 10 stitches. That was also the summer I got braces—an awkward beginning to my teenage years. We did everything we could to lessen the scar—my mom was so diligent to carefully apply vitamin E oil to my skin every night. But even now, decades later, the scar remains. Most p...

As I’ve been meditating on this word grace, a thought came to me: why can I extend grace to others—but not to myself? If I have grace flowing through me, I can overlook rude or insensitive actions of others. I can forgive. I can give the benefit of the doubt. But what about those times that I ought to show that same grace to myself ? On the outside, I might come across as polished, confident, perh...

Since my mother passed, not a week has gone by that I haven't wished things could just “go back to normal.” In fact, I have come to appreciate “normal” days more than ever before, though what's normal now is far different than it was a year or two ago. I long to pick up the phone and call her throughout my day. I miss letting my girls FaceTime her whenever they want. Talking to her had a way of ma...

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. —2 Corinthians 2:11 There can be no doubt that we have an Enemy who seeks to discourage and destroy us. The Bible tells us not to be ignorant of his devices, and, speaking from experience, I think one of his most cunning devices is the small, unintended thing. Those subtle jabs that were never intended, but can still...

As I was reading Psalm 77 this morning, a word leapt off the page. (This happens a lot—I'm convinced my Bible is full of words waiting on little springs to jump up and grab my attention and arrest my meditation.) “I complained,” says the Psalmist. I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.— Psalm 77:3 But wait, I thought, didn't the children of Israel m...

We recently upgraded our minivan to a 2019 model, and it has this fancy modern feature called “adaptive cruise control.” If you’ve never experienced this, it’s sort of wild. You set the speed you want to cruise at, let’s say 75 mph, but as you drive, the car uses radar to detect vehicles ahead of you. It calculates their speed and distance and adjusts your speed accordingly. It will never go faste...

This is the final part in the series, Too Much, Not Enough, but Still Valuable. Go back and read Part 1 or Part 2 if you missed them! So far, I’ve explored how Peter’s boldness made him seem like “too much” and how Moses doubted his call, claiming he was “not enough”. At the end of Part 2, I mentioned that God did not chide Moses for his doubts and say “you’re right—I picked the wrong guy.” Instea...

This is Part 2 in the series Too Much, Not Enough, but Still Valuable. Click here to read Part 1. In my first post, I discussed the life of Peter and how I love his boldness: not cowering in fear but asking to walk on water; not merely looking in to the empty tomb, but rushing right inside. At times I feel like Peter, bold yet bumbling, passionate but prone to overstep, charging ahead when others...

I read my Old and New Testaments concurrently throughout the year and sometimes the pairings fall in interesting ways. Recently, I was in both Exodus 3 and John 20. As I reflected on the lives of Moses and Simon Peter, I found some interesting similarities in both their personalities and failures. Over the next few posts, I’d like to share my reflections and what I learned—especially when I feel l...

When I lost my first set of twins, Rebekah and Rachel, in 2011, a dear friend sent me a sympathy card. In closing she wrote, "Though my words be clumsy tools, I remain your devoted friend." Those words were anything but clumsy. They were a beautiful sentiment that has stuck with me all these years. Sometimes words can just feel clumsy , though, can't they? Especially when someone is hurting or goi...

My husband was recently promoted at his job, a promotion which I’m incredibly proud of him for achieving, but as I reflected on his success, I was struck by a sobering thought: there are no promotions in motherhood. No annual evaluations. No bonuses. No ladder to climb. And sometimes, that makes it intensely difficult to know if we’re doing this whole ‘motherhood thing’ right at all. We do laundry...

I love looking over my past prayer lists and prayer journal notes. I fell down a rabbit hole this morning, recalling where I was this time, spring last year. One trivial thing on my March 2024 prayer list was matching oak nightstands. We currently have 'cheap' laminated particle board nightstands that I paid $5 a piece for at a Goodwill over 12 years ago. Mine has been leaning for a few years. I d...