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Let the Game Changer Change the Game: Part 1
Okay, friends, today I’m really getting bare here and showing you the beginnings of a pretty intense process. I’m doing it because I feel like some of you may need to join me in it, so here goes … A...
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A Haines Home Companion: Jars of Clay
This may be one of the best weeks of my life. I keep having new beginnings. That how it is with Jesus. New every day. It sounds cliche until it’s not. Yesterday I texted my dear friend/therapist and...
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Poor and Powerless: My First Time to Speak
I walk up to the edge of a canyon and hear “jump,” and I see with my eyes that I can’t make it across. “Jump!” He says, but I’m held to the ground by fear of a million things. One by one I cut free,...
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Let the Game Changer Change the Game, Part 2
Working through what I processed in Part 1 of Let the Game Changer Change the Game has been such a leap toward freedom for me. I’m still working it out, so Part 2 of this conversation is over at...
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A Rock Home Companion: Through My Fingers
The property here with this rock house has many old buildings. The outhouse is at the very back with a tree through the seat. It’s caddywompus, leaning in the same direction as the chicken house....
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On Learning to Enjoy
Something strange has happened the past few months. Come on over to (in)courage and let me tell you about it!
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Learning How to Eat (and a giveaway of Mom in the Mirror)
My friend, Emily Wierenga, has been one of the kindest online friends I have ever had. The proof is in the pudding, how she has treated me time and again. I do believe so often that we learn to be...
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Needing the Quiet
I’m not sure I’ve ever endured such actual physical chaos. I’m wild-eyed, ready to pounce. Watch out. I’ve got a sharpie marker and a tape gun in my back pocket. Before long, I’ll start tally marks on...
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A Glimpse
Two of our favorite people on this planet are Matt and Ginny Mooney, who founded 99 Balloons. Many know Matt through the story of his son, Eliot- whose 99 days on this earth were commemorated with 99...
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What it Means to Take Heart, Part 1
My first-born son has deep-grey eyes and a thick chest like his purple-hearted great grandfather. He’s come to learn a few strengths as the oldest of four sons while he’s patiently taught his brothers...
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What it Means to Take Heart, Part 2
I’m on a bench at the park. The shadow around me is a tree, and I have a notebook. There’s a bush just here where bees kiss sweet white buds all over. It smells like sugar and autumn, sounds like buzz...
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How the Light Peeks Through
I’m not even sure I know how to tell you how glad I am to be writing. I am at my own desk, in my own room, in my own house that has a driveway and a dishwasher and a laundry room. Glory. A while back,...
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Fan into Flame
Fan into flame the gift of God. A few months ago I stopped by the church office like it was the emergency room. I felt like I was having earthquakes inside myself. That was just the burritos, right?...
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The Laugh, The Brave, The Small
Once in a while, I hope to start some serious link love and would love for you to click click click these links. They are the things that have inspired me this week. They are few but good and worthy,...
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At the Crux
Forgive me, but it’s the only metaphor I have right now, the one of surfing, though I’ve never laid eyes on an actual huge wave. I’ve felt the waters dip and rise before, but now it’s the waters...
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On Losing Place
I begrudge my little dog at 5AM because she needs a walk, and it feels like I just went to bed an hour ago. Most of the time, Seth takes her, but this morning, I woke at a lovely 3:45, too excited to...
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What to do with Temptation
It’s a universal truth that women have spiritual moments in the shower. I made that up, but still I bet it’s mostly true. She can think she’s about to take another regular shower, though they be rare,...
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Want to go in on a van with me?
When I think of Paris, I think of crisp air, grapes, baguettes, and barets. Cappuccino, bistro, and the language of love. In black and white, the handsome man fit with a clean suit and a side smile...
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A Haines Home Companion: On Leftovers and Becoming Whole
When my Isaac was little, I made charts and taught Bible verses and poetry to him. I was awesome. When I had a newborn baby Jude, I found out I was pregnant once more, with my Ian – thank you Jesus, a...
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When She Looks Like Jesus
Once she loved me. She had held my face and known me like a mother knows a child: the smirk, the thumb smearing dirt from the face, leaning her forehead into mine. She was with me. She put her hand on...
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