When my husband and I were dating, we spent some time living 1000 miles apart. I was in college in Illinois, and he was attending seminary in Colorado. During those months, we sometimes felt desperate to be close to one another. No matter how many much time we spent on the phone, there was no […]
I’ve never been a Baptist, but I do love a good baptism. Christenings are heartwarming and unifying, but there’s something I relish about hearing people who have made their own choice describe their journey and their commitment to Christ, then watching them willingly “take the plunge” before witnesses. In fact, I’ll admit I need to […]
An important element to living with sustainable faith, to being expectantly unsatisfied, is understanding that what we experience is life under curse. Praise God that curse is temporary, and we are right to rejoice in this. But while it lasts, we are also right to grieve it. Living with the consequences of sin is supposed […]
If you’ve been reading or listening to what I’ve been saying about my new book, Blessed Are the Unsatisfied, you might have questions about it. After all, being unsatisfied doesn’t sound like a blessing. But it can be, for several reasons! I’ve recorded a short video with some thoughts on one of the ways our […]
Imagine it’s Christmas Day. Your loved ones have gathered; the children have shaken, weighed, and squeezed every package under the tree; and now it’s time to open them. Everyone settles in, the gifts are distributed, and the room resounds with the noise of tearing paper. “Thank you! It’s just what I wanted,” someone cries. “Wow, […]
Last year my family visited the National September 11 Memorial in New York City. It’s a solemn work of art, bringing life and a bit of peace to a place of death and destruction. As my family and I paused there, I found myself grateful that the project’s architects had not covered over the places […]
I saw it again just the other day: redemption in action, changing the lives of people affected by mental illness. Another reminder that none of us is alone. This month I was privileged to travel to Lancaster, Pennsylvania (a lovely town, by the way), to join in celebrating 25 years of service for No Longer […]
Please enjoy this new video post. It’s on the same theme as all my posts this Mental Health Month. And have a purpose-filled day!
…This post is continued from last week. Click to read Part 1. Emerging into Light Eventually I met and married a good man who has a gift for granting safety to others. I trusted him enough to make him part of my family and to start a family with him despite my greatest fear: that […]
My family never had much, and excess was not in my parents’ lexicon. Dad was a pastor, serving small rural congregations, and Mom stayed at home. We were poor, but we didn’t feel it much, surrounded by farmers who lived simply and at the whim of the rains we asked for at the Wednesday night […]
© 2015 Amy Simpson.