in the love of Christ

This conversation happens every time I pick up the hair brush in our home. Daughter: Brush my sister's hair first! I don't want you to brush my hair! Me: I have to brush your hair now please come here before it dries and let me brush it. Daughter: It will be okay without brushing. I don't want to do it! I have tried a thousand ways to get to the hair brushing point without crying. I use distraction. I buy the fancy hair products. I therapeutically discuss, at other points in the day when we are all calm and well fed, why we brush hair and how necessary it is. We have even talked through the options of cutting hair so brushing takes less time. But, nearly every time, the hairbrush comes out with sounds of anguish and fury (too dramatic...or completely accurate?). I remind them that, in our home, brushing hair is not a "want to" but a "have to" activity. There are a few sentences that I hear my mouth repeat during a hair brushing. Phrases li...

It is hard to be so far away from people you love so dearly. For years, I have read the letters written by the Paul the Apostle in the New Testament and thought it was so sweet how much he loved the churches he was teaching from afar. He pours out beautiful prayers for them and makes it clear that he has been endeavoring to keep up with the news there. He is definitely not the only one who loves his brothers and sisters deeply, but he is the one on my mind today. When we landed in Ireland over a year ago, I started to feel that longing for our families and our friends back in the States. I was watching on social media as the church we had just been serving for four years was changing, growing in answer to so many teary eyed and heavy hearted prayers. I was in the group texts still hearing the prayer requests and praises of women in whom the Lord was mightily working. I longed to see it with my eyes but knew it wasn't my place to be there in that season. From afar, I pra...