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When Christian Love Needs to be Tough
By Vanessa Rasanen There is much about this life in faith that seems confusing to those who live outside it. This shouldn’t shock us, of course, since God tells us quite clearly that His word is folly to those who don’t believe. They won’t understand why we give so much of our income to the church — even before putting any into our own savings. They don’t get why we wake up early every Sunday to get to church even when there’s a foot of snow outside. And they certainly cannot fathom why we would dare to share something as personal as our faith with those who have no interest…
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Skinny People Have Feelings, Too
By Vanessa Rasanen Imagine you’re in your office break room heating up your lunch. A coworker walks in and pulls out a frozen meal. You look at her and at the less-than-nutritious food in her hands. “You really should have a salad instead,” you note, adding a smile to let her know you mean well. She shrugs silently. “You should try to take a walk since you sit all day. It would really help you lose the weight.” She makes a comment about how she does exercise regularly, but the weight is slow to come off. “You disgust me,” you say with a chuckle so she knows you’re being funny…
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Nine Lessons Learned In Our Recent Move
By Emily Cook In the fall of 2015, my husband took a call to a new church in another state. We packed up our children and our stuff, said a million tearful goodbyes, and left the place we had called “home” for many years. It is now spring in the new place, and we are on the other side of the upheaval. Here are some things God has been teaching us as He dragged/carried us through these past few months. I hope it will be helpful to others who are unsettled today! It’s OK to be sad A move means saying goodbye to a season of life, a place full…
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The Elusive BFF
By Vanessa Rasanen What’s wrong with me? This is a question I’ve asked myself often. Sometimes after I’ve managed to royally stick my foot in my mouth and insult someone — again. Or perhaps after a particularly stellar display of gullibility at believing some made-up claim from my husband. (I’m learning on that one, though… albeit slowly.) Or it could also be following another moment when I stumble and trip over my own sinful feet and treat someone — a friend, my kids, a stranger — in a not-so-nice or neighborly manner. But usually it’s for the simple reason that I seem to be the only woman on the face of the…
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Stuck in a Bad Mood
By Vanessa Rasanen My house is currently in disarray. Our to-do list seems to grow right alongside the pile of packed boxes in the corner and my nearly-third trimester belly that has long-been hiding my feet. We are, perhaps crazily, working to get our house ready to put on the market in hopes of moving out — and up — before this fourth baby blesses our home and family with cute coos and sleepless nights. As if that wasn’t enough on our plate, we are also — all of us — adjusting to my husband’s new full-time work schedule in addition to national guard duty, an online course, church commitments,…
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Conversation and Consolation of the Brethren
By Vanessa Rasanen I have a confession. I’m not the most patient person. Shocker, I know. I get easily frustrated with others — including (and perhaps especially) with those closest to me, my husband and my children. Even my dogs. I let the day-to-day irritations of life get under my skin more than I should, and I yell, fume, and even — sadly — stomp my feet. To make it all worse I will sometimes vent to friends, privately complaining about the mess the kids made, the struggle we’re having with the kids’ manners, or even the annoying habit of some stranger on the road or at the grocery store. My…
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Easter Afternoon
By Allison Hull Everybody’s in the house. All right. We need to eat. Peanut butter sandwiches for all, and you can get your own drink. Mommy and daddy are just going to lay down for a few minutes and just shut our ey… And they’re out. Is this anyone else’s Easter Sunday afternoon? After going full force through Holy Week and then getting up early for the Sunrise service, smiling, keeping the kids in check, running up and down the choir loft stairs 5 times, then trying to keep the kids’ clothes clean while they eat messily and do it all again for the second service, and finally walking out…
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Married with Friends
By Vanessa Rasanen My best friends in kindergarten were dudes. Twin boys, actually. Sure, I went on to have girl friends, but throughout school I usually felt more comfortable with the guys. Being an engineer certainly made it easier – if not a necessity – to befriend guys, and even after my husband and I were married, I still remained friends with the guys at work. Now most of my friends are on social media – no judging, please – and I have a nice mix of men and women in my friend pool, most of whom are not mutual friends with my husband. Many have warned me about this – especially as my blog garnered…
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When Christians Let You Down
By Vanessa Rasanen We Christians are the light of the world and the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13-14). As such we are to show Jesus to those around us, to live out our lives as testimonies to the amazing grace He bestows, and to help others hear His Word and receive this saving faith of the Holy Spirit. Funny thing about us, Christians, though. We kinda suck at it. We pretty much muck everything up (just like everyone else). Though clothed in the righteousness of Christ, while we walk this earth we are yet still sinners – plagued by our Old Adam who beckons us to come and play. Bottom…
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Good Friends For The Day
By Debra-Lynn Swearingen Words between sobs are difficult to understand. Substitute teaching for elementary children gives me practice. On a regular basis, a little girl comes to me crying over the way her friend is treating her. In order to mediate I point to an overall desire for kindness and inclusion. And like most teachers dealing with childhood drama, I attempt to force reconciliation so the class can move forward. Sometimes it’s successful, sometimes not. Either way, I remain convinced that growing up female is fraught with friendship woe. You don’t have to look far beyond the school playground to find that women hold an idealized view of friendship. In fact, we…
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