Living Between the Lines

Last week, I got an email from a friend that emails me on a pretty regular basis.  But I’ve noticed that lately, I dread reading her emails because in every one, she is complaining and being negative.  On impulse, I emailed her back and asked her to stop complaining and to start counting her blessings.  I [...]

I felt like an intruder as I backed my car into the high grass.  A red van and a white car followed me into the parking lot and then passed me, rubbernecking to look at me.  I stared down at my hands on the steering wheel while they passed and thought about leaving, but the [...]

I only had a few seconds before I had to walk out the door, but when the headline caught my eye, I stopped, frozen in shock, pain, and disgust.  “Four Boys Accused of Raping Girl, 8” I read the article, which described the brutal sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl at the hands of four [...]

“If I hadn’t been there when she was born, I’d swear she wasn’t mine!”  Ella smiled down at her three-week-old daughter and then at her laughing husband, Nick.  I’ve never been very good at looking at a baby and telling which parent she looks more like, but even I had to admit that the dark-haired, red-faced [...]

The church where we ministered on the third day of our mission trip… Romans 10:12-15 (NASB) There is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  How [...]

I was born for the sea.  There is no place in the world that I feel more free and alive than out on the ocean.  Put me in the bow of a boat with the wind tangling my hair and salt water spraying my face and I’m a happy woman. Sadly, it’s rare that I [...]

I read a book once that defined guilt and shame and told the difference between them. Guilt is when you feel that you have DONE something wrong. Shame is when you feel that you ARE something wrong. I think that most of us have experience in both. This week, I met Gloriana. Gloriana is four [...]

What a difference a year will make!!  Last year, when we returned home from the mission field, I was sad.  In fact, I was so sad that I was mildly depressed for several weeks because it was hard to find meaning in my life/ministry here in NC after seeing and ministering to the needs in [...]

What a whirlwind trip!  We just finished our final day of clinic.  We haven’t got the final tally yet, but I believe we treated around about 800 patients.  We had several come to Christ and we had several voo-d00 practicers that renounced voo-doo, prayed with our pastors, and allowed us to burn their voo-doo charms!  [...]

I know that every mission trip–even to the same place–is different.  But can I just say that EVERYTHING is different this time.  Different hotel.  Different food.  Different clinic locations.  Different patients.  Different translators (except our good old faithful friend Smith).  And to add to the differentness, I’ve had to step up and take way more [...]