Sep 8, 2012 | Being a Minister, Motherhood and Ministry
I made a promise over the summer. I promised I would iron appliqués on the girls’ backpacks to celebrate the new school year. The girls and I shopped for the appliqués, and I stored them in the pockets of the backpacks and promptly forgot about them. Then I had sinus...
Aug 31, 2012 | Finding God in the Everyday, Motherhood and Ministry
As the summer began, my girls and I visited my sister and her new baby. Cooking dinner is one of the standard gifts for new moms, so the girls and I prepared grilled chicken, boiled new potatoes, and fresh cantaloupe. I had promised myself I would keep the menu simple...
Aug 23, 2012 | +Pam Durso, Encouraging Words
Every couple years I put on my accountant hat and crunch numbers. Not my tax-paying accountant hat—I put that hat on every year by April 15 and sweat over numbers. My number-crunching-accountant hat is the one I put on when I start counting up the number of women...
Aug 7, 2012 | Encouraging Words
I almost missed her. She thought I had left. And she could have left, too, but instead she sought me out so that she could give me a gift. I had just preached my first sermon at Covenant Baptist Church, where Kyndall Renfro serves as senior pastor. She was an elderly...
Aug 6, 2012 | Community, Finding God in the Everyday
It was a holy encounter . . . one I did not expect and almost did not show up for. I suppose that is how such holy encounters usually happen, unexpectedly and nearly missed. With her cheeks near my ear I heard, “I don’t know if you remember me, but . . . ” As soon as...
