Seeing the value of your skills, traits, and talents is often a matter of being in the right context — Imagine you are a banana. You’re not quite sure how you got that way. You’re just a banana. All around you are all kinds of amazing fruits — kiwis and apples and mangos and oranges. But no other bananas. How do you feel? If you said out of place, collect…

People might swear you mean something other than you do, but God looks at the heart and knows the truth — Have you ever said something only to have it taken completely the wrong way? That happened to me a few weeks ago. I was in the middle of a disagreement with someone, and I said, “I’m sorry you interpreted it that way.” Now, my intent behind that statement was genuinely…

God doesn’t bypass answering others directly, so why should we? — Ever since I started the Faithful on the Clock podcast, I’ve been working ridiculously hard to stay up to speed on social media with it. I post new content every day. Some posts are entirely my own concepts and images from start to finish. Others are my thoughts on curated…

True vulnerability means taking the risk to show your sadness, joy, irritation, boredom, and everything in between As companies have begun to stress mental health and better ways to lead, the word “vulnerability” — which connects to words like “real” and “authentic” — comes up a lot: Admit when you…

When you’re back at square one through no fault of your own, God still knows what He’s doing — With Christmas behind us, most of us will be focusing on the New Year. As part of that process, you’ll probably consider how you can start over in different ways. Maybe that means a new job, organizing your house, or not drinking anymore. Those are all good things. But what…

You and God are a team, so don’t just sit around and do nothing. — Have you ever gone through a rough time and had someone tell you that you ought to pray that God would rescue you? That He would remove the difficulty from your life and lead you beside still waters? It sounds innocent enough. And over the past few weeks, I’ve been…

More than one person can convey a lesson, and that’s a good thing — Last night, I had parent-teacher conferences at my son’s school. Since my son is in 8th grade already, it’s one of the last conferences we’ll have. We did the usual grade check, and then the teacher gave my son a kind-but-firm talking-to about not handing in assignments. My husband and…

Tradition reflects on the past, but it also influences our present and future — A few days ago, I realized that it was high time for me to get my Halloween decorations out of storage. I don’t do a ton in this arena — some artificial fall vines and flowers, some pumpkin chair covers, etc. Yet, when I looked at everything on my agenda…

They’re common, but also disrespectful and a source of potential hardship — Freelancing is on the rise, not just because people are trying to make financial ends meet, but because they’re on the hunt for greater personal autonomy and fulfillment. And business leaders also now assert that the rise of the gig economy is having a positive influence on the social status…