Uncompromised

The Quiet Ache in the Crowd It’s been a while since we caught up, my last post was back on March 17! A lot has happened since then, as I spent the last few weeks in Brazil visiting family, wandering through vibrant markets, and soaking in the incredible specialty coffee and cafe culture of São Paulo. I'm still a big city girl in the heart, and I confess it was refreshing! I have so many beautiful stories and pictures to share from the trip, but we'll save the travel journal and the local cafe finds for a separate post soon. Getting back to the quiet reality of our everyday lives, though: we have never had more ways to reach across the globe, yet we have never felt so far away from the person sitting across the table. I was sitting in my favorite booth at a local cafe the other day, nursing a warm matcha latte, watching the room fill up with people. It’s a familiar scene, everyone together, yet remarkably alone. So many times, a person is surrounded by a crowd and still feels co...

What We Mean When We Say Family We use the phrase church family so easily, and I have used it myself more times than I can count. But I have been asking lately whether we truly live as though it means what we say it means. Because family does not disappear when it becomes inconvenient. It does not quietly withdraw when someone is no longer in the same season or no longer easy to be around. In a real family, distance does not erase love, and disagreement does not cancel care. And this is true not only within the church walls but inside our own homes. There are families with prodigals, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, spouses, who are alive but far, breathing but distant, once close but now gone in ways that have nothing to do with miles. Some of them walked away from faith altogether. Some never had it. And the temptation, after enough silence or enough rejection, is to quietly let go, to protect yourself, to stop reaching. But our side of it does not change based on their r...

Do the Next Thing As I wrapped up Easter promos for a couple of churches last week, this part of an old Saxon poem came to mind - the one Elisabeth Elliot made famous: "Do the next thing." She didn't mean being busy for the sake of busy. She meant faithfulness. Trust Christ and do the good work in front of you. Active faith, not passive waiting. Just like Psalm 37 teaches. Scripture reminds us: "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10 Elisabeth Elliot learned those words from an old Saxon poem found scratched on a wall. Do the next thing. Not the grand thing. Not the perfect thing. Just the next one. She lived that out in some of the hardest circumstances a person can face and came out the other side not bitter but faithful. Because faithfulness isn't a feeling. It's a decision you make before the feeling ever shows up. Nobody feels faithful every day. That's actua...

  More Room for What Matters Spring cleaning. Decluttering. Minimalism. Call it what you want, but what if God is using all of it to teach us something far deeper than a tidy closet? My friends, This morning I stepped outside with my iced coffee (yes, iced!), because it is already warm and glorious here in Mississippi and I am not sorry.  The sun was doing that beautiful thing it does in (almost) spring, the kind of warmth that feels like a exhale after winter. My cat Moe was right there with me, completely unbothered with life... until a squirrel strutted across the fence like he owned the property, and Moe absolutely lost his mind. I laughed out loud, just me, my coffee, and this silly cat. And then, the birds. They were back. I had my app open, identifying them one by one. A Carolina Wren. A mockingbird. A flash of a goldfinch. And something in my chest just settled. That quiet, full-hearted joy that only comes when you notice that life is returning. That new things a...

The Grief No One Prepares You For My Friends, There is a kind of grief that has no funeral. No casserole dropped at your door. No cards in the mail. No one dressed in black, sitting beside you in silence. It is the grief of watching someone you love become someone you no longer recognize. Maybe it's the friend who chose bitterness over healing and now lives in a permanent state of offense. Maybe it's the family member whose heart has grown so hard that kindness bounces off like rain on concrete. Maybe it's the person you prayed with, laughed with, dreamed with, who is still breathing, still posting online, still living their life, but is no longer here in any way that matters. They didn't die. But you lost them anyway. And the world expects you to act like nothing happened. This week, I sat with a dear friend who is walking through this kind of grief. As she shared her story, my heart ached for her. Not because of obvious tragedy, but because of the slow, quiet ...

  Words Spoken in Secret My Friends This past week, I had phone conversations with two incredible women who are suffering deeply. As they shared their stories, my heart was heavy. It was not because of obvious enemies or public conflict, but because of quiet conversations, whispered words, and gossip that slowly caused real harm. It reminded me how easily our flesh is drawn toward what is sinful. Gossip often feels “harmless,” even caring at first, but it enters the mind like poison. Quietly, without us realizing it, it reshapes our hearts, our words, and even the way we see and treat others. God’s Word is loving, but very clear. “Do not be deceived: bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) Gossip is not entertainment. It is spiritual decay. It fuels suspicion, stirs division, provokes arguments, and spreads slander. Scripture also warns us about those who thrive on controversy, even wrapping it in religious language for attention or gain. “If anyone teaches fa...