When I was twenty, I spent months praying one request repetitively, “God, if we are not mean to be, I pray you make him not ask me on any more dates. If he isn’t supposed to be my husband, I don’t want to move forward. Make it clear, please?” As a girl who was devastated [...]

Dearest friends, Exciting news! Michael & I would love to come speak at your event this fall. Whether it’s a singles group, college, a church, a retreat, a nonprofit event–we’d love to come. After emails started coming in about us speaking (mainly on college campuses), we prayed and cleared some things out of our schedule [...]

Hi Friends! Since I know many of you will be traveling this summer and perhaps find yourself in need of a stunning novel, I’m giving away three copies of one of my new favorites When Mockingbirds Sing. I could tell you about how wonderful this novel is, but how would you like to watch the [...]

Dearest Husband, It was just two short years ago that we said “I do” under the birch trees in your parent’s backyard. It’s hard to believe isn’t it? These past two years have been so full of joy. My heart overflows just thinking about how lucky I am to be your wife; to laugh our [...]

She is screaming and stomping her little tanned feet. “Daddy, daddy, dadddyyy!” She hollers and waves her arms perched on the edge of the sandy boardwalk. I determine she’s about four or five. Her dad is the one with the terrible sunburn, in the blue shorts. I know because I’ve noticed him come down to [...]

I was supposed to write a blog post about Oklahoma tonight. I tried, but the words didn’t come. I watched a dozen different videos about the tornado (this one is my favorite where an elderly lady finds her dog!), read others posts about the event, and tried all my usual tricks–coffee, dessert, prayer, music–to start [...]

I’ve spent most of my life feeling guilty for not doing more or being better, cooking like her or saving the homeless community like him. But the last two years for me have been about unwinding the guilt, the shame, the commitments that this week or this day will be different because I will do [...]

The sky turned black within seconds. We sat perched by the doorway of a muggy noodle shack, watching the tanned Asian faces stir the big steaming pots that rested on the floor. The storm was coming, my friend, “Small Moon”, told me and we weren’t going to make it home before it hit. So we continued [...]

How do you know if the guy you’re dating is ‘the One’? Will you “just know”? The scary part about marriage is most people make this decision of gargantuan proportion in love, which by definition means your mind is hazy from all the 3am make-outs and sheer thrill thinking no one has ever loved like [...]

Occasionally, I just need to make a list of things I love around the internet. Here goes! LOVE RUNS Remote 5k In lieu of presents and parties for her 30th birthday, my friend Ally Vesterfelt is raising $30,000 to build a classroom in Gulu, Uganda with Bob Goff and Restore International. Pretty amazing, right? This [...]