Breaking Free from Body Shame
Whether you struggle with illness, injury, or just insecurity: I believe God’s Word can be a balm for our souls and a pathway to freedom. It’s one thing to know in your head that you were created in the image of God. Yet it’s quite another to experience this belief in your body, against the cultural ideals of a woman’s worth. And between the two lies a world of frustration, disappointment, and the shame of somehow feeling both too much and never enough in your body.
Survival Guide: Melissa Niednagel Wolmarans
While I have experienced a fair amount of loss in my 35 years of life, I am not someone who is a victim of unjust suffering. am the person who has caused it.
World Stroke Day
Before April 21, 2008, Jay and I knew nothing about strokes. Do you? My guess is no. When my life and recovery hung in the balance, you better believe we got pretty educated on it. The sad thing is that many people may not have the chance to understand what a stroke is before it takes their life or changes it forever.
Redefining Ability
We are not alone in disability. It’s a reality all of humanity shares at its core. But more than that, we are not alone in our disability because God is there with us, to show us himself in ways that are hard to see when we are blinded by the illusion of our ability.
A Mother’s Day Card
The simple words on that Mother’s Day card belied a deeper meaning, a revelation that James was developing into a little boy who recognized his life and his Mommy looked a little different from those of his friends.
Making Peace with Letting Go
If the alternative to a broken heart is an "unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable" one, then I suppose the choice is clear, but when our heart has been broken as the result of loving something then having to say goodbye to it, we can't help but question if the love was worth the pain.
My New Face
Now I know my face tells a story far deeper and richer and more intentional than good genes or expensive makeup. My faces tells the story of survival, second chances, and suffering strong.
Why I Love My MomBod
Beneath our pursuit of external beauty and eternal youth is both a deep fear—to escape death—and a deep longing—to be loved without having to earn it.
Walking Away from Shame
We are beautiful because we are made, re-made, and loved by Jesus—beauty made manifest.
Opening Our Hands
What we find on this side of the journey is that loss, in its purest form, is a fear of death. The good news is that when we are connected to Jesus—resurrection personified—we need not die at all.