I’ll never forget the first time my husband accused me of being a nag. To hear that word come out of his mouth was upsetting, even disturbing. In my newlywed mind, I thought I would never end up like that … and so soon after our wedding, too! I don’t...
Everyone was particularly chatty the night my husband and I went to my parents’ house for dinner. The pre-dinner conversation was filled with stories from years gone by. We brought up a bunch of “remember whens,” and we all enjoyed reminiscing and bonding together as...
I sometimes wonder why I love my camera so much. I have so many pictures in my house I literally don’t know what to do with them all, and yet I keep snapping pictures. One night, after about two years of marriage, my husband, David, and I were looking for some...
My children were just babies when my husband, David, was killed in a head-on collision. Ben had just turned two, and Katherine was only three months old. I was worried sick about how the lack of a father would affect them, mainly because of all the articles and...
Not long ago, I was in a discussion group of singles, but there happened to be one young married couple in the mix. Having been widowed for a couple of years now, I love to watch how husbands and wives interact. Their behaviors are slight, yet they speak a thousand...
Sarah was new to church. She listened wide-eyed each Sunday, soaking up wisdom, wondering why no one had ever told her these truths before. It might have saved her from her life of abuse, from her unplanned pregnancies, and from the many men she had been involved...
As parents and followers of Christ, my husband and I make careful choices about how we observe different holidays. While Halloween is a secular holiday for most in our culture, the same could be said for Christmas and Easter. One may even argue that the secular...
My husband, Robbie, and I were helping host a stepfamily event for our church’s surrounding area. One Sunday, a man in the congregation approached me. He said, “Why have a separate event for blended families? Why can’t they just be ‘family’?” His question...
When my husband, David, died in a terrible car accident in 2010, I grew close to my mother-in-law, Joy, who shared my grief, not only for her son, but for her own husband, who had died 30 years prior. Our stories mirrored each other—both widowed in our 30s,...
I was only married to David Beasley for seven years when he was struck and killed during a work trip. When the seventh anniversary of his death arrived, it overwhelmed me to consider he had been gone as many years as we were married. I shared the irony with my...
My five-year-old son looked at me in defiance. Ben did not like his new stepdad ruining his life—watching his TV, making rules in his house. When I didn’t jump to appease my little boy’s angst, he roared, “You love him more than you love me!” My heart gasped. At...
According to a study by Barna Research Group, only 52 percent of born-again believers share their faith at least once within a year. The study didn’t include the reasoning. Perhaps people struggle the same way I do. It may be a result of the awkwardness of starting...
