My Mama is not to be trifled with. She and Dad left suburban life broke, but determined to give their kids what they never had. Owning land, breeding animals, and growing fields in wide open spaces was the backdrop for a family that sticks together. Before my sister and I arrived Mama birthed two boys, breech.…
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“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” Romans 15:13 Are you believing in the One true God and His Son Jesus Christ — forfeit for your faults? If so, hope is an anchor for your soul. Once tossed, staggering on the waves of sins’ seductive pull, now held fast by…
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Call me crazy, but this deep-dyed introvert loves social media. Cutting ties with trusty electric keys on humming machines, carbon paper, and white-out, I was smitten with auto correct, copy & paste, edit, and delete. Clicking till the cows came home, I stopped dreading the long, hard road of starting all over again. But I’m…
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We made unkeepable promises. To love and cherish till death do us part. In 38 years, our marriage has suffered many deaths. But no death more insurmountable than the one of our own stubborn pride. We never knew poverty till after the promise. Standing at the altar of white linen and flickering candles, dim to…
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We had to do something. Filling two grocery carts, we carried 25 bags of mercy door to door on the poorest side of town. Bought styrofoam container of mud and worms for the young robin abandoned in the gutter—because we couldn’t watch one more senseless death. Still breathing here. Holding on and handing out because…
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The sun stayed up till eight o’clock last night. My front yard is bloomin’ pink petals and last year’s perennials. I’m watching tree buds turn into shoots. Coiled leaves uncurl like a newborn fist. Soft and supple, every lobe carefully carved. Form and color quietly march in right before my eyes. Sparrows and finches fill…
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Forgive me. But today I’d like to scratch all Days off the calendar. Volunteering many moons ago at a Pregnancy Crisis Center, my first director was a lovely hearted woman. She housed a host more wisdom than I. She taught me, Every appointment of our lives is God appointed. But she was blue this particular…
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I called my Mama today. It don’t matter how long it’s been since she folded my clothes—sometimes I just need my Mama. I can’t feel her hands through the phone. I miss her. I need her, but her voice will have to be enough. Affection is not something she lavishes, but if you come into…
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David (my husband) is a teacher. He is one of several teachers in the Life Learning Program for Chicagoland Prison Outreach. The Cook County Detention Center is the largest maximum jail in the country, taking up 96 acres in the city of Chicago. Two times a week a stamped ID gains him passage through guarded,…
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I was twenty-four when my knees bent to Jesus. Bringing a boatload of baggage into my born-again life. Married six years with two littles, I had a heap of bad behavior to reorganize. Cigarettes and swearing had to go. Movies, TV shows, music—all required revamping. Bible reading and morning prayer needed implanting. I had a…
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