Read Part I first here
Last week I shared how I’ve been feeling like a failure of a writer. This is the conclusion of the three truths I want to be engrained in my mind. Continue reading “Why You Should Keep Trying Even When You Already Failed II”
Category: devotional
Why You Should Keep Trying Even When You Already Failed I
Can I skip the whole start-with-a-great-sentence-thing and just tell you what’s on my mind?
I feel like I’ve failed at writing.
(sigh)
I started this blog, bursting at the seams with ideas and creativity and longing for articulated lessons and ideas to bless others. But now, not even 10 months later, weeks go by where the only connection I have with this space is the peripheral guilt of oh yeah, I need to do that, too.. Continue reading “Why You Should Keep Trying Even When You Already Failed I”
Given Away: Giving When It’s Still Yours
I watch students for aftercare sometimes. This means I do my best to keep them safe from each other and from themselves until their parents arrive to pick them up. They’re a joy. Continue reading “Given Away: Giving When It’s Still Yours”
Exceptional Loneliness
For the last four years, my education has been online. Taking online college courses has allowed me to accelerate completion, spend months abroad for service, and schedule work without issue. I learn through reading and writing, and that’s what online education is. It works remarkably well for me.
However, there is one major drawback. Continue reading “Exceptional Loneliness”
What We Learned From Hiking a Mountain
Someone had the great idea to celebrate being together for a year and a half by doing a strenuous hike. The perpetrator rhymes with rah royfriend.
No, no, it was actually a great time. 11.72 miles, 26,000+ steps, 6,000+ calories burned, and way too little water, we are still happily together and super sore (stats brought to you by my Fitbit Blaze. Not an ad. I just love this lil gadget).
The view, though. Continue reading “What We Learned From Hiking a Mountain”
A Difficult Focus: Better Thoughts
The other day, I slipped from beneath my covers to greet my Lord on my knees. Other thoughts intruded the sacred space, and I couldn’t focus. I said “Dear Heavenly Father” approximately 15 times until I started getting frustrated. Other scenes, words, and troubles crowded my mind. But they weren’t mine. What’s going on, Jesus? Continue reading “A Difficult Focus: Better Thoughts”
Childlike Faith (Feat. My Favorite Little One)
I caught up with a friend over our favorite meal, and we shared the last few months of our lives. Both of us are working, one starting a degree while another finishing, and our families are doing fine. In passing, she mentioned a deep shadow in her experience that was beginning to lift. I asked her the cause of the shadow. She paused. “I think I just don’t have enough faith.” Continue reading “Childlike Faith (Feat. My Favorite Little One)”
Do Not Take to Heart
Teaching is hard. One difficulty is balancing likability and professionalism. True, they are both very possible. But possibility does not equate ease.
My school has a no electronics rule. As a teacher, I enforce this rule. One afternoon, I saw a student using a phone and I asked him for it. He said I was being unfair, that I should give him a chance, that I was mean. He refused for eight minutes. We took a trip to the principal’s office, and he was allowed to keep his phone. On our walk back upstairs, he turned to me, “Ms. Callie, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Why are you so cruel?” Continue reading “Do Not Take to Heart”
Cherished Plans: But God, I Want This
By my junior year of high school, I had my life planned. By age 25, I would be a nurse. I would have 2-3 children, homeschool them, and be an amazing pastor’s wife.
Years have passed. I’m now neck-deep in graduate school, striving to be an English teacher, and in a serious relationship with a businessman. Continue reading “Cherished Plans: But God, I Want This”
3 Things I Wish I’d Known as a Younger Christian
I hope this finds you well (this is how you start all of your letters nowadays). I’m proud of you for making hard decisions to follow Jesus when it’s weird to do so genuinely. Yes, the irony of Christian schooling is mind-boggling. Praise God He has reached through so many positive influences to bring you to this point! You’re enjoying Matthew, aren’t you? Yea, I’m studying John now. You’ve studied a lot over the years, but you still love the gospels.
You have a lot ahead of you, but I want you to know three things. I won’t ruin all of the surprises, but here are three to better shape your mental framework. Continue reading “3 Things I Wish I’d Known as a Younger Christian”
