STACEY BOOTH|GUEST “Mommy, did God plan for your mom to die?” The question from the backseat of my car sends me into a tailspin. She’s four. How do I explain to a tender heart just how broken our world is? How do I explain that people die, floods come, and the “boo-boos” that took my… Read More
PATSY KUIPERS|GUEST Probably not the heading you’d expect for a reflection on two decades of widowhood… at least not until you complete the title of the cherished hymn, ’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus and recall its first verse: “’Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, Just to take Him at His word, Just… Read More
CHRISTY GAMBRELL|GUEST I learned the word “miscarriage” as a child when an acquaintance lost her baby. I remember thinking it was sad, but that no one really knew that person yet anyway. At that time, miscarriage seemed rare, and also very hush-hush. But when I went through it myself, I learned a new definition for… Read More
RENEE MATHIS|GUEST While not as heartbreakingly tragic as The Pearl or as deceptively tempting as “The Necklace,” or even as fraught with good and evil as The Lord of the Rings, my tale of jewelry is one that has caused more than a few tears. Despite what all the bridal magazines said he “should” spend… Read More