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Our Unexpected Birth Story & Blessings
Our son Noah made his debut on July 26 at 2:54 in the afternoon. Three weeks early. Though the nursery was ready and the hospital bags were packed, I was emotionally and mentally unprepared. Due to my track history of Jesus needing to teach me patience, I figured Noah wouldn’t arrive until his due date or later. An unplanned induction had me in tears in the hospital admitting room. It just seemed unreal. James almost hadn’t gone with me to my doctor’s appointment because it was so routine. But at the last minute, I asked him to go with me because I wasn’t feeling great, and I’m so thankful he…
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How We Met: My Real-Life Romance Story
I’m delighted to be a guest on Shannon Vannatter’s Inkslinger blog today to share the story of how James and I met–and offer a glimpse into the setting of my upcoming novel, Take My Hand, releasing this December. Be sure to follow the link to Shannon’s blog and enter to win a Kindle copy of one of my currently published novels! post excerpt I love God’s creativity in pairing two people together. As much as I enjoy the creative challenge of writing fiction, I would never have thought to begin my romance story the way He did. In my early thirties, I found myself still single, though wanting to find…
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Encouragement in the Waiting Rooms of Life
By nature, I’m not a patient person. You can just ask my husband. If the world operated in Kristen time, there would be immediate results to all our efforts, quick answers to prayer, and a tidy answer for every question. As convenient as Kristen time would be, I’m grudgingly grateful the world doesn’t work on my schedule. If it did, I would have no need to lean into prayer more, depend on Jesus, search His Word for guidance, and stretch my faith. I truly believe those are all reasons God chooses to make us wait and that He does so for our good. Back in January, I listened to an…
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Peace Pirates: Review & Giveaway!
You might be surprised to see this book on my blog. I’m kind of surprised myself. After all, this is not a mom blog. (Hello, I’m not a mom yet!) However, this blog is all about thinking truthfully and living daringly in everyday life, and when I reviewed the book concept for Peace Pirates, I realized it fit our theme here perfectly. Ashley Willis’ premise with this book is to fight the “pirates,” or anything that steals the peace from motherhood, by using biblical truth. It’s such a simple concept but so powerful, because every day, all of us (mothers or not) face choices, confront thought patterns, and deal with…
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Ruth: Overcoming Others’ Expectations
Yesterday, I had the privilege of talking with the ladies of Connersville Baptist Temple during their women’s ministry event. We unpacked the topic of expectations, dealing with our own and the ones that other people place on us. Whew, letting go of unhealthy expectations and learning to embrace God’s is so refreshing and liberating! One of the Bible characters we examined was a woman named Ruth in the Old Testament. She was able to overcome the negativity surrounding her heritage and bloom into the woman God designed for her to be. Ruth’s Backstory Ruth was a Moabitess woman, and the Moabites did not have a G-rated history. In fact, there…
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God Cares for You
The other night, I woke up at 4 am, wide away and overcome with a sense of anxiety. It wasn’t a panic attack, but my heart wasn’t buying my head’s coaxing that everything was fine and to go back to sleep. Finally, I tossed off the covers and retreated to my quiet place. Opening the Psalms, I started reading in the last place I had left off and just prayed that the words would soak into my insecure soul. The enemy was feeding me lies: You’ll never be enough. You’re not doing a good job. A personal story Transparency moment: I’m an easy-going person who finds pleasure in life’s simple…
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Making the Manger Personal
Last September, I had the opportunity to travel to Italy with a colleague, work remotely, and research my next novel. During one of our day-tripping adventures, we visited a place called Civita di Bagnoregio, a place sometimes called “the dying town.” This city rests atop a hill that is slowly eroding, and the place itself is breathtaking. As my friend Maria and I explored the city, I suddenly stopped short. There, to my right, were the remains of a manger. A manger. The scene seemed taken right out of a nativity story set in Bethlehem, and yet here we were in Italy. As I soaked in the moment, a few…
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Theme for 2018: Wait and See
Like many of you, each year I write goals with the understanding that God can shape and change them however He sees best. For the last few years, I’ve also chosen a word that I hope will capture my prayers and dreams for the New Year. Lately, God’s been showing me that I need to lay aside my expectations and embrace the reality that His plans may be different than I imagined. And that’s okay. In fact, His ways are far better. However, I still struggle sometimes. “Lord, but I thought …” or “But isn’t this a good expectation?” Yet I imagine I’m somewhat like Job who thought he had…
