My Story

I never imagined this life that I live.

(You, too?)

The plans I gripped in my twenties look nothing like the life I live today.

A few decades later, and I am starting to enjoy this wildly unexpected life.

I Love Words.

As a pig-tailed girl, I spent hours in the swivel chair in our sunroom, escaping the world through a story. I didn’t know that my craving for books would turn me into someone who created them. I read poetry daily. I often study the Word in mere phrases. Each year, I spend an entire 365 days studying one book of the Bible. And with just an hour free to slide away to a coffee shop, I take a stack of books with me.

I love reading wide and deep.

Though I don’t write fiction, I write about Him in one of the ways I learn best about Him … and life. Through story. Zondervan has graciously housed all of my books: Every Bitter Thing is Sweet, Unseen: The Gift of Being Hidden in a World that Loves to be Noticed, and (my newest) ADORE.

With my storytelling on-page, comes a passion for telling the story of Him as I speak. We created a series called The Gift of Being Hidden, where I do both.

I Love My Family.

I lived a decade-plus of married life with a barren womb, and we grew our family through international adoption. We fell in love somewhere in there, too. (I often say we fell in love after seven years of marriage; newlyweds, there is hope for you yet.) Then, God surprised us three times over with little people that grew inside of me while my hair grew gray. We have seven children to be exact. (Pause. Gasp. Laugh … we have too.) My best friend, Nate, a glutton for adventure, wants a dog, and I keep telling him that there’s no more room in this crazy inn.

I Love Him.

I’m learning to find Him in the unseen … in life’s middle minutes. I signed up for “radical” when I became a Christian and assumed all sorts of things about the look and feel of “radical” that are quite far from the daily life I live. The zeal behind that desire hasn’t changed; I now realize, though, how radical it is to love God at 2:32 on a Monday afternoon when life’s demands are unrelenting.

So the merging of my love for words, for Him, and for the beautifully unforeseen family we have between these four walls … is my writing.

Come Along?

My favorite places to write are within the pages of a book and in my not-always-monthly newsletter. Both are a little more private, a lot less hasty, and a lot more me.

BUT … if you like the snippets – the quick reminding of Him – you can find me on Instagram, where I daily post my adoration to God.