Broken & Beautiful Retreats

A Case for a New Pace

“Hurry is the death of prayer and only impedes and spoils our work. It never advances it.” — John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry I was delighted when a friend asked me to join a book club. (Thanks Lorna!) Me, an author, being

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Be the Anomaly

There are a handful of things that bring me immense joy. Watching my children belt out deep belly laughs that are uncontrollable and ridiculously authentic is one of them. Knowing that, at that very moment, they don’t have a care in the world allows my

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Be Bigger Than Your Fear

My friend had a new pep to her step that day. She brought her family over for a playdate; something that has become so rare in pandemic times. Her eyes lit up like an inner light was turned on from within. It was exciting to

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Color Today Pretty Blog Photos

Seeds of Possibility

There is truly nothing better to me than a crisp spring breeze, the subtle smell of fresh air and sunlight intermingling, and the annoying yet satisfying feeling of having God’s rich earth covering the cervices of your hands, deep into your fingerprints and farther down

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Just Try

When I picked up the watercolors at my kid’s favorite toy store, secretly I was just as excited for my daughter to open them as she was. I had been vying the pearlescent beauties for weeks, and when she decided to spend the money her

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Three Presents

Your Three Presents

I’m giving it one more day before it all gets taken down and gently repackaged into the decade-old boxes that are still holding together by just a few fragments of cardboard. Each ornament will get tucked away until the season emerges again next year. The

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Mini Paint By Numbers

Life is Like a Paint By Number

Some people have a junk drawer, filled to the brim with odds and ends of all sorts. If you go perusing, you may find a solitary Band-Aid or a pen that’s been chewed on and doesn’t work anymore. Or a hidden individually wrapped chocolate bar

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Mini Seed Of Hope

A Small Seed of Hope

While the rest of the world was worried about making their way to the grocery stores to stock up on their life’s essentials, I found myself panicking about a different, but similar, need. It was imperative that my family had enough food on hand to

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Forts and Castles

All sports practices are cancelled and so are our children’s weekly Saturday swim lessons. Birthday parties are no longer opportunities for our kids to socialize with others. In fact, the social distancing mandate has called for new forms of socialization altogether. We had a whole

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I love you happier.

Occasionally, late at night or early in the morning, I scare my children. No, I don’t hide behind cracked doors, awaiting the perfect moment to shout “boo!” I don’t hide plastic spiders in dark crevasses to merely take their breath away. Nope, I don’t do

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Her Box of Rocks

It had been a long day, and she could sense my exhaustion just by looking at me. It was evident, I am sure. Working long hours and trying to navigate the world’s new unknown had already started taking a toll on me, and we were

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But, I never left you.

Even among the chaos there was a sense of peace. Boxes were piled up everywhere … in the garage, down the halls and in each bedroom. I felt like I was on an episode of Hoarders, but instead, we were just a family trying to

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