Truth be told, I am kicking myself for agreeing to write on this particular topic for this series on Sustaining Hope. A couple months ago when I put my name down for this and typed the words “finding hope in the unknown” as my choice of topics, I thought I would...
“It’s because he has not yet found his people, Gretchen.” This was one line that stuck with me all last year when I was agonizing over switching my oldest son to a school specifically for learning differences. They were words spoken by an educator helping me with...
Have you ever wondered if God really sees you? Have you wondered if God is watching you right now? Have you wondered if God is aware of how much you are struggling? Have you wondered if God notices when you do well? If God rejoices when you rejoice? If God cries...
When I contemplated this familiar passage about Mary and Elizabeth to write this post, I found myself lingering on the very first line: “Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste…” To be honest, it was a part of the passage I had never stopped to...
I bolted upright in bed, my hand clutching my chest. It felt like my heart would beat right out of it. I took deep breaths trying to quiet the thump, thump, thump resounding in my ears. My heart felt so loud in the quiet, dark room. I touched the sheet, the...
I remember so clearly how the chapel looked back then. It was kinda tiny - a little sliver of a thing parked between two bigger parts of the high school campus. One of the long sides of the narrow rectangular room bordered the library where the Campus Ministry...
After a particularly difficult day of second grade for my oldest son this year, I was walking him to the car hoping to provide some encouraging words to combat the rain pouring outside and inside of both of us. I began to tell him tidbits about his new school. “You...
After a particularly difficult day of second grade for my oldest son this year, I was walking him to the car hoping to provide some encouraging words to combat the rain pouring outside and inside of both of us. I began to tell him tidbits about his new school. “You...
Have you ever seen DaVinci’s work The Adoration of the Magi San Donato in Scopeto? The most fascinating thing about this artwork to me is that it is unfinished. Leonardo DaVinci had thirty months to complete this altarpiece for the Augustinian friars, but before he...
I have found over the years that prayer can be a mixed bag - sometimes it can be easy, straightforward, and abounding in grace. Other times, many times in fact, it can be difficult, confusing, and bring forward even more questions along the way. It is easy to keep...
