Job is perhaps the closest equivalent the ancient world had to a jet-setting, mansion-residing billionaire. Considered the “greatest of all the people of the east,” he had “7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female don keys, and very many servants” (Job 1:3). And if that weren’t enough to make him great,…
Suffer Strong: Post-Traumatic Growth
In sharing our story, we’ve given many people permission to share their stories back to us. Those stories cover all the ways a person can hurt — loss of a child, divorce, financial struggle, cancer, dysfunctional relationships, addiction — and naturally, many of them are stories similar to ours; that is, they’re related to stroke…
The Beauty of Not Waiting Around Anymore
Singleness is hard. But it’s also so beautiful. It’s filled with growth and service and so much time. My adult single years have been the greatest source of refining I’ve ever had in my life, and that’s after experiencing tremendous personal loss. God is glorified in my unfulfilled longings, and He alone sustains me on…
How We Can Be Better Together
In The Creative Brain Dr. David Eagleman says that “creativity is imagining something that isn’t real yet.” Rather than one set of skills, creative people have mastered the art of taking ideas from one place and using them in another. Far from creating things from ‘nothing’ the best creators are ‘remix’ artists. Like the one…
You’ll Never Regret the Pursuit for More
As I sat in my tiny apartment, tears ran down my hopeless cheeks. My freshly washed, yard sale pot and pan sat upside down draining on my twenty-five cent Goodwill dish rag. I had just tucked my eight-year-old daughter into bed, plopped like a deflated balloon onto a kitchen chair and cried. Is this all…
God’s Gospel Has a “Whoever” Policy
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. — John 3:16 Whoever unfurls 3:16 as a banner for the ages. Whoever unrolls the welcome mat of Heaven to humanity. Whoever invites the world to God. Jesus could…
Names Reveal Value and Meaning
For years, I didn’t really know the significance of the name that had been chosen for me. Similarly, I’m afraid we have lost the significance of naming in our culture today. Many of us don’t appreciate the power inherent in names that confer meaning and value. That wasn’t true of those we meet in the…
Trusting in the Master Gardener
Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east in Eden. — Genesis 2:8 The Butchart Gardens of Victoria, British Columbia, enjoy a worldwide reputation. Begun in 1904 in Mr. Butchart’s abandoned stone quarry north of the city, the gardens now contain fifty acres of year-round blossom and sculptured greenery. I first visited…
Good Success
Have you ever experienced outward success while privately battling internal feelings of insignificance? Have you ever smiled for the camera after receiving an award or recognition, but struggled with emptiness and worthlessness afterward? Have you ever hustled your way to professional or personal success, only to find fatigue and frustration on the other side of…
Blooming Grace
“Love and beauty pour from the words and art on the pages. Morgan’s book is a balm for healing, a step toward joy, and a reminder to care for and be gentle with ourselves and each other. The world and my soul could always use more of that!” ~ Amena Brown, Poet, Author of How…