Pray together. Pray privately.

Twelve people. I can keep eight. Officially the announcement is next Tuesday. I have known for three weeks and have been carrying it alone, which has not been good for my sleep or my marriage. Three of the four I have to let go are people I respect deeply. One is a single parent. One has a chronic illness in his famil…

Memory and peace under pressure. Pray for steadiness.

Seen, even when it is quiet. Held, even when no one knows. May this prayer find you wherever you are sitting tonight, and may it land like a hand on your shoulder.

Nine months in. The CV is now in a folder that I open less often. The early kindnesses from friends have settled into a quieter awkwardness — they don't know what to ask anymore. This week I almost took a role I didn't want, just to be employed. I talked it over with a friend and slept on it and said no. I'm proud of …

It still doesn't feel real most mornings. I open my phone to text her about something silly maybe twice a week. Then I remember. Some days I am okay. I work, I cook, I laugh at a thing on the radio. Other days I am ambushed by a song or a smell or someone who looks a little like her from behind, and I have to sit down…

Pray for clear thinking and the right people showing up.

We have come through one almost-match and one full match that fell through at the last week. We don't know what to call any of it now — hope, grief, tiredness. All of those at once on most days. Pray for our future child wherever they are tonight. Pray for their first family, whose own story we will never fully know. P…

We didn't tell them how stretched we are; they wouldn't accept the help if they knew. Pray for sufficiency for everyone. Pray for me to do this without resentment, even on the months when it is hard. They gave us everything they had once.

It still doesn't feel real most mornings. I open my phone to text her about something silly maybe twice a week. Then I remember. Some days I am okay. I work, I cook, I laugh at a thing on the radio. Other days I am ambushed by a song or a smell or someone who looks a little like her from behind, and I have to sit down…

Pray for rest for the whole household.

We hadn't spoken properly in four years. Long story, dumb story; it started with an argument about our father's money and ended with neither of us willing to be the first to call. I called yesterday. He picked up on the second ring like he had been waiting. We talked for two hours. We cried. We laughed about something…

Seen, even when it is quiet. Held, even when no one knows. May this prayer find you wherever you are sitting tonight, and may it land like a hand on your shoulder.

Seen, even when it is quiet. Held, even when no one knows. May this prayer find you wherever you are sitting tonight, and may it land like a hand on your shoulder.

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second year. For tenderness to come back. For the small habits — the goodnight, the hand on the shoulder, the laugh at our share…

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second year. For tenderness to come back. For the small habits — the goodnight, the hand on the shoulder, the laugh at our share…

Two real options on the table. Both could work. Both have shadows. Pray for clarity rather than certainty — I keep waiting to feel sure, and the feeling isn't coming. Pray for the wisdom to choose with the information I have, and the courage to live with whichever choice.

Pray for grounded confidence and the right words.

We hadn't spoken properly in four years. Long story, dumb story; it started with an argument about our father's money and ended with neither of us willing to be the first to call. I called yesterday. He picked up on the second ring like he had been waiting. We talked for two hours. We cried. We laughed about something…

It was not the year we imagined. We had two job losses, a small loss in the family, and a long stretch where we both just survived next to each other instead of with each other. Pray for the second year. For tenderness to come back. For the small habits — the goodnight, the hand on the shoulder, the laugh at our share…

We didn't tell them how stretched we are; they wouldn't accept the help if they knew. Pray for sufficiency for everyone. Pray for me to do this without resentment, even on the months when it is hard. They gave us everything they had once.

We didn't tell them how stretched we are; they wouldn't accept the help if they knew. Pray for sufficiency for everyone. Pray for me to do this without resentment, even on the months when it is hard. They gave us everything they had once.

Three years almost to the day from the diagnosis. The doctor said the word 'remission' and I think I said 'thank you' four times before I could pull it together. I am not the same person I was three years ago. I am quieter. I am less impressed by some things and more impressed by others. I cry at the smallest pieces o…

Pray for one good conversation this week.

Memory and peace under pressure. Pray for steadiness.

She has been with us as a foster placement for fourteen months. Today the judge said the words. We cried in the hallway and a stranger handed us a tissue and didn't ask why. She is three. She has a small bag of things she came with that we have kept exactly the way it was on the day. We will tell her about her first …