Courage, Dear Heart

In one moment, my life was changed forever.  I was only 19, and I still needed my dad. Seeing him that night was more devastating than I can ever express. My dad was an Iron Man and a seven-time half Iron Man - how could he have a heart attack? And didn’t God know that  I still needed my dad? Didn’t God know that the world needed my dad? Didn’t God know that my church needed my dad? Didn’t God know?  My dad would never meet my husband. He would never walk me down the aisle, and he would never be the one to marry us. He would never see me get my first job, or graduate college against the odds. He would never see me finally get a real diagnosis, after 13 years of being sick without answer. He would never see me decide to go into the ministry field instead of education. He’d never see me discover my truth worth. He’d never make it to his 46th birthday .  Come on, God. Didn’t you know?  God knew.  God knew that my dad would only be here on earth for 45 years. God knew that we would hurt, b

If you know me at all, you know that my all-time favorite author is C.S. Lewis. I’m 26 years old, and my favorite book series is still The Chronicles of Narnia. His brilliance in retelling the Bible through a children’s series has reached around the world - to people of all kinds of faiths. I don’t think there is another author or series that could come close to what Lewis has done for the understanding of Christianity and Jesus’s sacrifice.  I chose to revamp my blog because of all of the darkness we are currently facing. “Aslan and Shadows” echoes so much of what I believe about Jesus. In “The Silver Chair,” Lewis writes,  “They turned and saw the Lion himself, so bright and real and strong that everything else at once began to look pale and shadowy compared to him.”    Similarly, in the book of Revelation, John writes,   “The City does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp” (Revelation 21:23, NIV).  I love that pic

If you have kept up with the news, you know about Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor (and her boyfriend), and George Floyd. You know about the peaceful protests and the riots. Or, maybe you’re staying away from the news and social media; maybe it’s too hard to hear, or too sensitive an issue. For the longest time, I did the same thing. I knew about the issue, and yet I covered it all with a blanket. And in my actions – in my silence – I hurt so many. I cannot be silent . We cannot remain silent. If we don’t fight this injustice and violence now, what happened to Ahmaud, Breonna, and George (along with hundreds of thousands of others throughout history) will continue to escalate. We must do better. Unfortunately, I have noticed that social justice gets a bad reputation amongst Christians; but if you read the Word, it becomes obvious that Jesus was a true representative and advocate for social justice. Listen to the story of the Good Samaritan: In this p